ALF18 Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Hi all. Doing a commission build for a good friend. He flew CF-18s for several years, and we worked together on a project to put in place modern CF-18 simulators on both Canadian Hornet bases in the mid to late 2000s. He is now retired, and wants a Hornet model to go with a real Hornet stick grip he happened to acquire. Don't ask him how he got it... he might have to drop an LGB on your house. The kit is the Hobby Boss 1/48 F/A-18A. I will be using some AM decals (not sure which set yet), plus some PE for the cockpit, and a resin set with the V/UHF whip antennae and CIT "bird slicer" antennae. Will post details soon. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 OK, here we go. This is my work space. Those antennae (radio and CIT) are here in resin. Have had these for a long time; better use them before they get lost in limbo somewhere in my kit stash. Doing the cockpit is my least-favourite part of a kit. Happily, I have some PE to help out. Love this stuff. I first used it on a CF-18 cockpit in 1/32, for a dual-seat aircraft, and I really enjoyed the experience. Here is the PE with the kit's MIP. Of note is that the PE says it is for the Kinetic kit, which I don't have. I've ordered some CF-18A/B versions of the Kinetic kit, which are coming (literally) on a "slow boat from China." I can't say for sure, but it appears that the Kinetic MIP is not as 3D as the Hobby Boss one I have. Some of the parts, like the paper, transparency, and PE parts for the left and right DDIs are one piece. Looking at the kit's MIP, I will need to chop everything into two parts and do the top and bottom parts separately. Still a whole lot easier than trying to paint the tiny details in this scale. This is the paper part. I started with number 3, which has the right-hand DDI at top and the lower right side panel (here we see part of the standby attitude indicator). I chopped out the paper, and trimmed it after it had set in place with CA glue. Next came the transparency, which has the lower part of the standby AI, plus the standby altitude, airspeed, and VSI. A close-up of how it is supposed to go together. Beautifully engineered PE. I scored part number 11 (strangely, the only one without a number, situated between parts 10 and 12). Then I bent it several times until it came apart, and I had the lower right side panel to glue into place, making it look like the real thing. Did I mention I love this stuff? At only about $10 US or so, it is definitely worth it. The separated part is visible at the upper right. Notice I left the majority of the 3D in place; I did not flatten it out. More MIP work in the next post. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 I thought the PE's DDI/HI background colours were bizarre, so I just coloured them in with a Lumocolor permanent marker. They will be in shadow, anyway, and look darker than they do in this picture. Right hand eyebrow PE in place, waiting for the DDI bezel. Sorry for the fuzzy pic. These things are quite small. Right DDI portion complete. Done for the PE. I just have to trim some of the lower side panels, and paint the outsides black. MIP installed into the cockpit tub, with the left-hand side panels. Nose wheel well installed into lower forward fuselage. It's important to ensure you clamp it to the sides before allowing it to dry; the initial assembly gives no guidance as to the angle of the side walls when you glue them in place. My first go at this kit, I forgot, and ended up with the side walls bent toward the inside, and had some gaps. Cockpit installed. Of course, I will wait until the very end before putting the seat, stick, and throttles in place. Otherwise I will surely destroy them. That's all for now folks. More soon! ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Scooby Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 Looking great Alf! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 Frightening box art, but you have it coming along nice! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 3, 2017 Author Share Posted April 3, 2017 On 02/04/2017 at 2:25 AM, Scooby said: Looking great Alf! Thanks Scooby! 9 hours ago, phantom said: Frightening box art, but you have it coming along nice! Very true, Shawn. Quite the ugly box, for sure. More progress made. Fuselage top/bottom go together nicely, followed by the side panels. Pretty good fit. This, however, did not fit well. Will try to fix it up, but a bit of filler will certainly help out. Very small gaps around this side panel. Of course, this kit does not have easy provision for the ID light, but it does contain a shape for it. I chopped out this part, and will use the transparent part for the glass. I will install the blanking plate, as was typical of Central European CF-18s back in the day. One thing I forgot to mention was this build represents a slightly fictional aircraft. The friend I'm building it for (nicknamed Coyote) flew with 409 in Germany, and since they closed down the base in Baden, he has been inconsolable... as have most of us! He wants an upgraded CF-18 because he can be considered the "father" of the ADCTS or Advanced Distributed Combat Training System, which was the project that provided state of the art CF-18 simulators in a networked environment. The other "father" of ADCTS was an Engineering Officer. Back in the early 2000s, having two fathers was somewhat unusual... not that there's anything wrong with that! Coyote wants the post ECP 583 configuration, which will have a mix of A/A and A/G stores, as if he were flying back in Germany, but in modern times. Here I've chopped out the circle (OK, not a perfect circle, but after application of filler it will look like one), and glued in the transparency. Next is a bit of sprue used for the blanking plate. Some filler, and this will look dandy. Next up, further assembly of the fuselage and landing gear. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 3, 2017 Author Share Posted April 3, 2017 This kit is obviously made for either a single or a dual. The panels that cover up the rear cockpit area fit very nicely. Nose to fuselage fit. Ugh. Will need some filler here as well. Luckily, a lot of this will be hidden under the windscreen area. Main gear are nicely detailed. I will use colours (i.e. silver) to demarcate the piston area; the bracing oleo is not a separate part, but luckily it is moulded relatively symmetrically to make it easy to double as a CF-18 rather than a USN style oleo. Nose gear strut before trimming of excess plastic. I am blown away by the nice detail on this kit. Easily as good as the Hasegawa offering. Thanks for stopping by. Time for exam marking. My academic year is coming to a close soon! ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wolfgun33 Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 Nice work on the cockpit. I've always wondered about the Hobby Boss Hornets so I'll be following with interest. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
VMFA314Knights Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 Some nice work on that CF-18 ALF - Thanks for posting the Canadianization of the HobbyBoss kit. Cheers, Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted April 4, 2017 Share Posted April 4, 2017 Looking good sir. What do you prefer; Hobby Boss or Hasegawa? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 4, 2017 Author Share Posted April 4, 2017 17 hours ago, Wolfgun33 said: Nice work on the cockpit. I've always wondered about the Hobby Boss Hornets so I'll be following with interest. Thanks. This is my second Hobby Boss build. Pretty good kit overall, but I don't like the forward nose to fuselage join. Hope you get a better idea of the pros and cons of this kit from my WIP. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skyhawk174 Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Hey Alf thanks for posting this. I had not even considered this kit from Hobby Boss since I really hated the box art and it was one of their first issues I think. However it does not look too bad but the engraving looks a touch soft. By the way, what the heck is that long plastic thing on the nose gear? Should be the torque link but it is way too long I would think. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adam1818 Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 Looks great so far! Always love seeing the Canadian hornets! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 7, 2017 Author Share Posted April 7, 2017 On 05/04/2017 at 0:59 AM, skyhawk174 said: Hey Alf thanks for posting this. I had not even considered this kit from Hobby Boss since I really hated the box art and it was one of their first issues I think. However it does not look too bad but the engraving looks a touch soft. By the way, what the heck is that long plastic thing on the nose gear? Should be the torque link but it is way too long I would think. This kit is relatively OK, but you will see some challenges with the flaps soon that might change your mind... :( It is soft plastic, but the detail is OK. I am doing the filler with the nail polish remover and Q-tip technique, so I hope to avoid sanding. The long plastic thing? Are you talking about the thick upper one (which is the Drag Brace) or the lower thinner one (torque link)? The lower one might be slightly distorted by the proximity of the camera angle. I'll post a pic soon of the finished version, so you can see the multiple tiny parts that get added to it. On 05/04/2017 at 4:13 PM, Adam1818 said: Looks great so far! Always love seeing the Canadian hornets! Thanks Adam. I've only ever built one American Hornet, but I can't even count how many Canadian ones I've done. There ARE no other kinds I like to build. :) ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jester292 Posted April 8, 2017 Share Posted April 8, 2017 I'll be watching! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 14, 2017 Author Share Posted April 14, 2017 (edited) On 07/04/2017 at 9:35 PM, jester292 said: I'll be watching! Welcome aboard, Jester! All persuasions are welcome here - even Wings fans. This year was a tough one for you... so I'll be gentle. Time to catch up on progress. I marked a bunch of exams before Easter, and I only have two more final exams to give in the next few weeks, so summer vacay is almost here. While I waited for the gear parts to dry, I started doing some filling. First up were the little ECM ovals behind the cockpit. Only C/D models have these, so I filled in the scribing around their anchor points. I use the nailpolish remover technique; swab on the putty, move it around and clean up with polish remover and a Q-tip, and no sanding to do. Then I filled in these huge gaps around the nose cone attachment point. I also had to fill in some scribing for EW bulges under the LEX that should not be there on the CF-18. Starting to look more like a Hornet Landing gear ready for white paint. The insides of the newer CF-18 exhausts have the light-coloured ceramic plates. This kit had zero detail in this area, so I used a pencil to scribe some demarcation lines and fasteners. The final bit for the nose gear, which needed to be attached vertically. Next up, the weakest part of this kit: flaps and ailerons. ALF Edited April 14, 2017 by ALF18 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 14, 2017 Author Share Posted April 14, 2017 Flaps. Hoo boy. CF-18 trailing-edge flaps (TEF) and ailerons always droop. As soon as hydraulic pressure is off them, they droop to full down on the ground. Even if they were up when parked, they droop within an hour or so to fully down. That's why it's surprising that this kit is set up to only display the TEF and ailerons fully up, which is a condition that they are almost never in, even in-flight, where the TEF are drooped with AOA (angle of attack), and will be about 5 degrees down in cruise, and are only fully up at either very high speeds or when accelerating in full afterburner at zero G in air combat. Here are the instructions for the flap and aileron installation. Here are the flap and aileron hinges. Some surgery will be required on these. The first thing I did was glue the TEF and ailerons in position. Without the hinges, they are a bit too tight to the wing structure, but it won't show. I used tape at times to get the droop angle right. I set the flaps/ailerons aside to dry thoroughly, and left the tedious job of hinge surgery for another day. Here are the pylons: Coyote wants to have a centreline tank with 4 wing pylons and a mix of A/A and A/G stores. In Central Europe where he flew the Hornet, everything was close by, so it was quite feasible to have only one fuel tank and a bunch of bombs and missiles. The exact weapons load will be determined soon, depending on what I have available in the bomb dump. Then it was time to glue the intakes in place. Intakes drying, as well as flaps. Like the Hasegawa kit, it comes with the tiny braces between the splitter plates and the fuselage. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 14, 2017 Author Share Posted April 14, 2017 Now for the vertical stabilizers (V-stabs). The instructions, strangely, say to install the 6 braces first, then glue the V-stabs in place. What a stupid idea. First, the V-stabs went on. Then I installed the 6 braces. These are present on CF-18s, but not on F/A-18C/D models. They were not initially there, but they were added to reduce the damage caused by high AOA flight on the V-stab attachment points. Note I've also installed the speed brake in its normal (closed) position. We almost never use it, except to control closure on rejoins or allow wingmen to have throttle play near idle during steep formation descents. Here is that strange assembly sequence, showing the V-stab braces going on before the V-stabs themselves. Now it was time to work on the flap/aileron hinges. This part is the aileron actuator, which also houses a navigation light. The location for that part is just ouboard of the wing fold, where the little holes are. I chopped up the actuator to make it fit in bent position. Obviously, I removed the locator pins from the wing side of this part, so it would fit after surgery. More soon ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 14, 2017 Author Share Posted April 14, 2017 Here's what a completed side looks like, after what seemed like hours of tedious chopping and fitting, plus some hunting around the cutting mat with a flashlight looking for tiny pieces of plastic that had escaped the grasp of the tweezers. Leading edge flaps droop as well, about 12 degrees (TEF and ailerons are about 45 degrees). Now one of my biggest concerns. Modern CF-18s always have Sniper pods on Station 4 (left cheek fuselage mount). American Hornets (for which this kit was intended) have different types of targeting pod, so I needed to find a Sniper somewhere else. I ordered 3 from Lucky Model; free air shipping. Unfortunately, they are back-ordered, and even now 3 weeks later they still haven't been restocked. I love Lucky Model for the selection and prices, but NEVER use them if you are in a hurry and something is out of stock. I went through my stash, and found this likely candidate for parts robbing. Sure enough, it had a Sniper pod, and also a huge selection of weapons like AMRAAMs and GBUs. Score! Here's what it looks like today. Centreline tank is assembled. I need now to chop up the boarding ladder to install it closed, because Coyote lives in Alberta, and it will make its way to him in a box. Too much potential for damage if I ship it with the ladder down. Thanks for stopping by. More updates soon, but both kids are back home from Montreal for Easter weekend, and I will spend more time with them than I will building this kit. Happy Easter to all! ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted April 15, 2017 Share Posted April 15, 2017 Apart from that nose joint, its looking mighty nice. That nose appears to be several scales too small compared to the rest of the model. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted April 16, 2017 Share Posted April 16, 2017 Nice work ALF. I have one of these in my stash. Thanks for the heads up about the flap hinge issues. Coming together nicely. Happy Easter to you and the family, my friend. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 21, 2017 Author Share Posted April 21, 2017 On 14/04/2017 at 8:43 PM, phantom said: Apart from that nose joint, its looking mighty nice. That nose appears to be several scales too small compared to the rest of the model. Thanks, Shawn. Yup, the nose is getting my own nose out of joint... Strange fit to it. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 21, 2017 Author Share Posted April 21, 2017 On 15/04/2017 at 9:31 PM, AX 365 said: Nice work ALF. I have one of these in my stash. Thanks for the heads up about the flap hinge issues. Coming together nicely. Happy Easter to you and the family, my friend. Happy Easter to you and yours as well, Mike. I've been off the grid for a while, what with both kids visiting for the weekend. I have made some progress. I finished up the main airframe, and have worked on the external stores. Unfortunately, Photo Bucket is pulling a temper tantrum tonight... unable to link to my pics for now. I will try again later. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 22, 2017 Author Share Posted April 22, 2017 I have changed image hosting sites. Photobucket was being very slow and crashing on me... I might have to edit this a few times before I find the right format of link to use. I started assembling the weapons. These came from the Kinetic F-16 kit - a couple smaller GBUs, and some AMRAAMs. Finished gluing the tails in place. I then hunted around on the sprues of the F-16, looking for some racks that looked OK for the AMRAAMs. Near the centre of the pic, you can see two missile rails and a rack in the middle. These will do nicely. The boarding ladder was not intended to be installed in the closed position. Filler will definitely be required. This is the big honkin' GBU. Each of the little fins is glued on individually. ALF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ALF18 Posted April 22, 2017 Author Share Posted April 22, 2017 (edited) This is what the two assembled racks and launchers look like. Here is the ladder finished. Racks installed for AMRAAMs, and a VER (Vertical Ejector Rack) for the smaller GBUs. I had a look at the Sniper, and its attachment point on station 4. I will use the attachment point on the right. Here's how it looks. ALF Edited April 22, 2017 by ALF18 Fixed image links. Learning how Imgur works. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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