Mike C Posted March 8, 2014 Author Share Posted March 8, 2014 (edited) After 2nd application of thinned putty... I'm happier with the result. Pity I lost all the rivets though. If I feel up to it, I might try to re-punch those rivets. Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 9, 2014 Author Share Posted March 9, 2014 (edited) Sprayed the landing gears with Tamiya flat black (including the ones for F-15DJ) Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 15, 2014 Author Share Posted March 15, 2014 (edited) I've been working on some random parts such as wheel covers, missiles, etc. As much as I love Academy's Hornet, I really dislike the stupid ejection pin marks on the inside of all the wheel covers. I installed the spine tonight. Or whatever that part is... Since I'm building an A, as per the instruction sheet, I filled the positioning pins for the two "bumps" just behind the cockpit. I also sanded the edges off a bit to blend the part better with the fuselage. Also, there was a very slight step closest to the cockpit that required some sanding with 400-grit sandpaper. Lost a tiny bit of surface details as a result. As you can also see, I've also installed the... LEX fence? Installed the windscreen too... 'Later! Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lodni_k Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 That first spine panel (we call it a turtleback) is a pain in the butt on the real Hornet sometimes. And yes, "LEX Fence" is the correct term for that part. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 (edited) Dry brushed the exhaust with Mr Metal Color Iron, then lightly highlight with Mr Metal Color Copper 'Later! Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 22, 2014 Author Share Posted March 22, 2014 (edited) Put together the... ATFLIR?? I also finished spraying the inside of the gear covers... Took me a while to get rid of the ejection pin marks. I first sprayed a couple of layers of Gunze Aqueous H311 (FS36622), then once dried, I sprayed Tamiya gloss white (X-2). Only needed to spray a couple of layers of the gloss white to get a good coverage, thanks to the H311 undercoat. :thumbsup:/> For the first time, I also decided to putty up the join between the windscreen and the nose. 'Later! Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 (edited) I think I've gone a bit mental... I don't know what came over me to want to do this.... I didn't even plan for it... Good thing it kind of worked out OK. I've even got some left overs... LOL! I counted the outer petals and came up with 12, so I made up a total of 24 "ceramic strips" using strip styrene no 114 (0.4 x 2.0 mm). Turned out only needed 9 on each burner. I sprayed the styrene with Tamiya flat white (I don't know why I even bothered, since they're already white!!!), then Tamiya Smoke. For the "dots", I initially used felt-tip pen, but they were way over-scaled, and looked really ugly, then I had a bit of brain fart... I used by "scribing tool" (i.e. cut-off needle in vise) to make those dots. 'Later! Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CorsairMan Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Paint always looks better than bare plastic. You did the right thing Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lodni_k Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 The FLIR pods used by the RAAF are the regular Nitehawk II FLIR's. The RAAF has ATFLIR pods but only their Super Hornets have the software to use them, at present. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 26, 2014 Author Share Posted March 26, 2014 I made a mistake. The pod that came with Academy Hornet is actually AN/AAS-38 FLIR, not AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR. I think I won't be using this pod after all, since all the pics of the RAAF Hornet wearing this special scheme did not carry any pod at all, just inert ASRAAMs on the wingtips. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 26, 2014 Author Share Posted March 26, 2014 OK... I just violated my own self-imposed constraint of not using after market parts in my projects.... I just bought a pair of OzMod 1/72 ASRAAM resin from BNA Model World. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mumbles Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 I think I've gone a bit mental... I don't know what came over me to want to do this.... I didn't even plan for it... Good thing it kind of worked out OK. I know the feeling, I'm pondering doing the same with 1/72 F-16 exhausts :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 26, 2014 Author Share Posted March 26, 2014 I know the feeling, I'm pondering doing the same with 1/72 F-16 exhausts :)/> Go for it! It's surprising how much better it'll make the exhaust look! A couple of tips: 1) get the strip styrene that's roughly the same width as the burner petal. As far as thickness goes, for 1/72 scale, I think 0.4mm (or 0.015") is good. 2) pre-plan how many and the layout BEFORE gluing! I didn't do the 2nd bit, lucky it worked out OK for me. BTW... I miss Wellington, haven't been there for 16 years! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 27, 2014 Author Share Posted March 27, 2014 OK... I've got the resin ASRAAM last night. I have to say that the quality is EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING! I'm gonna try to return these and get a refund. So, I'm going back to original plan of simply hanging inert AIM-9M on the wingtips... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 (edited) Here's a bit of update... In most of my builds, I usually installed the vert stabs after painting and decaling. But this time, I decided to install them first. Mainly because of the stiffener. Hmph... It was kind of annoying that the vert stabs had to be angled less so that the stiffener can be glued on properly. Oh well... Not much I can do there. Burner cans all painted up with Mr Metal Color Dark Iron, applied by brush. 'Later! Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 30, 2014 Author Share Posted March 30, 2014 (edited) OK... Let me first say how much I HATE painting landing gears!!!! I have to repaint all the gears, 'cuz I screwed up the first time. This is one of the reasons why I prefer building in-flight birds! Anyway, I also started looking at which dark blue in my paint stash I can use... Leading Edge instruction claimed that FS15050 (Blue Angels) is a close match. Well, I'm not sure... Looking at some pics on Airliners.net, they look pretty different to me. Blue Angels birds look... brighter. To make matters worse, Gunze Aqueous' rendition of FS15050 (which is the one I have) is different again (it almost has a tinge of grey in it). Anyway, I decided to try brushing on the 3 different shades of dark blue that I have on the wing of a trashed kit: From left to right: Tamiya Royal Blue (X-3), Gunze Aqueous H328 (FS15050), LifeColor LC10 (FS *35056 Matt Dark Blue). Unfortunately, my camera's sensor didn't quite "translate" the LifeColor that well. The actual shade of the LifeColor is actually much darker than the pic, and it's actually the closest shade to the pic on Airliners. An alternative is to use the Tamiya Royal Blue lightened with a bit of white. I might try to spray the Tamiya and LifeColor rather than using brush to get an even better idea.... At this point though, I'm more inclined to use the Tamiya Royal Blue since it'll be much easier to airbrush... 'Later! Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted March 30, 2014 Author Share Posted March 30, 2014 (edited) OK... I sprayed the Tamiya Royal Blue (X-3) on the spine of my trashed Italeri Super Hornet. It's definitely the correct shade of blue. Woo hoo!! The strange thing is, for some reason, it's a bit flat although the paint is supposed to be glossy. I thinned the paint with Tamiya X-20A. First time this happens to me actually. 'Later! ​ Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lodni_k Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Lookin' good! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RKic Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 Yikes, those missiles. Where are they from? Looks like no two parts fit, but you're wrestling it into submission. Keep up the good fight Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 Yikes, those missiles. Where are they from? OzMod resin. I got a refund for it, and the retailer took it off their catalog. Looks like no two parts fit, but you're wrestling it into submission. Keep up the good fight :thumbsup:/> Thanks. To be fair, some of the problems I encountered were really my fault for blindly following the instruction, and/or lack of pre-planning. All in all, it's still a much better Hornet kit than Hasegawa. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 (edited) Painted the landing gears... Really dislike painting landing gears.... I'll spray gloss clear to protect the paint before applying oil wash later... Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted April 5, 2014 Author Share Posted April 5, 2014 (edited) Sprayed gloss clear over the wheels. Tomorrow I'll spray the other side, then they'll be ready for weathering with oil wash. 'Later! Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 (edited) I started painting this baby when I thought that join between the vert stabs and the fuselage looked a bit unsightly, so I puttied it up with highly thinned Tamiya basic putty, then cleaned up with cotton buds dampened with nail polish remover. As you can see, I had to apply a bit more thinned putty there. It'll be interesting (i.e. challenge) to mask with the vert stabs installed... In all of my other projects thus far, I always painted first, then vert stabs installed when painting was done (in some cases when decaling was done). 'Later! Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) Gas bags all done. I'm only going to use 2 bags (the left and right ones). The one in the middle is a spare one from my first Academy Hornet build a couple of years ago, which I painted with LifeColor FS36375 rather than Gunze Aqueous to show the different tint between the two paint brands I also started painting Tamiya Royal Blue when I discovered how translucent the paint is. So, I decided to rub off the paint along with the flat black that I sprayed to check for seam lines etc. then sprayed H311 (FS36622) as undercoat for the Royal Blue. 'Later! Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mike C Posted April 20, 2014 Author Share Posted April 20, 2014 (edited) Sprayed Tamiya Royal Blue (X-3). I hope my masking was correct... Still, I'm sure there will be some touch ups required after decaling. 'Later! Edited June 8, 2014 by Mike C Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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