Kinetic CF-18 Hornet - DONE! - New Photos - 27 Nov

[AX 365]

Next we move onto the HUD.  Clear pieces are nice and thin but there are no supports on the PE to hold the clear parts in place.  I used clear parts cement and a pressure clamp to keep things in place while they dried.  I roughed up the surface of the PE part to allow the paint to adhere better.  The part installed onto the IP coaming quite nicely.

 

The rudders are separate from the vertical stabilizers.  I glued them in showing a neutral position.  There are also two PE stiffeners.  One for the outside port and one for the inside starboard.  A web reference photo showed me where they should be positioned.

 

Next, the canopy and windscreen.  The fit of the main canopy is very good.  The fit of the front windscreen; insert MANY of your favourite curse words here.  I'll have to break out the Dremel to remove some excess plastic on this.

 

Thanks for looking folks.  As usual, comments and constructive criticism is always welcome.

 

Mike

[Trojan Thunder]

Thanks for the detailed update Mike 

 

May I add a quote from a prominent Trek character...., 'the needs of the many are out weighed by the needs of the few, or the one' 

 

Thanks for being that one!

[Grandboof]

Great work Awesome detail work 

Martin H

[AX 365]

Well...it's time for another update on this saga, I suppose.  With the number of difficulties I have faced with this build, I had a severe case of "Feck it!"  syndrome.  Up until a few days ago, I hadn't touched this kit since my last update.  To those who have provided encouragement, thanks very much.

 

I have managed to get the windscreen and canopy on - which was no simple feat.  There were a few self-induced foul ups and a couple of kit design foul ups.  I worked the front windscreen and got it to a point where I liked the fit at the front.  Unfortunately, due to fit issues, I pulled out the HUD and tossed it.  It was bending out of shape while getting the windscreen part to sit flush on the fuselage.  Then, to top it off, while using TETC to glue the windscreen in place, the cement bled onto the IP coaming.  The resulting cement on the inside of the windscreen caused MANY swear words to be uttered.  Truth be told, I almost threw this thing in the trash.  Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed.  So I screwed up?  Who gives a flying fig?  With this kit, not me anymore!  The canopy was glued onto the frame and then onto the model in the closed position.  It looks ugly but the ugliness will be covered by paint so I'm not concerned about that.

 

 

The main gear were a bit of a pain.  A nice feature is the separate part for CF-18 main gear legs.  They're different from regular F-18's.  The assembly sequence is unclear and after dryfitting and studying the diagrams, I went with this sequence:  O 1 with H 11 glued in place first and then H 26.  If you look at the instructions, you see a small nub on parts H 26 and H 22.  To fit onto the CF-18 main gear strut, these little nubs must be cut off and the surface sanded flush to allow the part to fit properly.  I then held the gear leg in place in the wheel well and glued H 21 onto the gear leg at the proper angle so the parts would ft properly, instead of bowing, when the glue was dry.  As you can see, Kinetic mislabeled part numbers.  It will happen again later.

 

 

I've decided that I'm going to attach some stores to the underside on this build.  AIM-9's on stations 1 and 9.  GBU-12's on stations 2 and 8.  Fuel tanks on stations, 3, 5 and 7.  SNIPER XR pod on station 4.  Station 6 will be empty.  When building the SNIPER pod, the front parts need to be assembled first.  The head is designed to swivel.  I decide that it will be stationary.  As you can see, again, one of the clear plastic parts is mislabeled.  Surface detail on the ordnance and pylons is nice.  Some clean up still to be done.  Another nice feature of this kit is that sway braces can be attached to the ordnance / gas tanks before painting.  There are then good sized lugs that will fit into holes in the bottom of the pylon or into the fuselage.  Nice idea.  It should make for securely attached stores.

 

 

PE parts nicely recreate vents on the top of the port side fuselage and chaff dispensers underneath.

 

 

Thanks for looking and as usual, comments and constructive criticism are always welcome.

 

Mike

Edited October 7, 2017 by AX 365

[AX 365]

Progress is slow but sure.

 

No photos for this update but the paining is almost done.  Masked the canopy and windscreen with Tamiya tape and sealed it with liquid mask.  Masked off painted exhaust nozzles and white intakes.  All Model Master Enamels except for a few small things; exhaust and gun ports.  Primed with Light Grey (36495).  There are a few seams but as stated previously, at this point, construction is good enough for this experiment.  Undersides, pylons, SNIPER pod and fuel tanks painted with 36375 and upper sides with 35237.  I free-handed the demarcation lines on the back end and the vertical stabilizers and I think I did p a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.  Wheel wells, inner gear doors and AIM-9's are Insignia White.  GBU-12's are olive drab.  The only thing left to paint are the walkways and the false canopy.  There are decals for the false canopy but painting it will be easier, I think.  It was for my previous Hornet builds.

 

I'm going to try my hand at weathering on this build.  Once the painting is done and dried, I'll spray MM Glosscote Lacquer.  Once decals are applied, it will be MM Dullcote Lacquer.  Finally a panel wash and artist's oil streaking and staining will be applied.  I'll post a couple of photos once the painting is complete.  Hopefully within the next couple of days.

 

Mike

[AX 365]

Painting is pretty well done.  I think the only thing left to do is the heads on the GBU-12's and AIM-9's.  The head of the GBU-12 appears to be a mix of silver and gold while I've read from different sources that the heads on the AIM-9's are steel tinted with olive drab.  The paint callouts suggest flat black.  Not right in my opinion.  As noted previously, I like how the vertical stabs turned out (freehand airbrushing).

 

 

The false canopy and walkways were masked and sprayed with MM 36118.  The dark bit around the radome is part of a mask.

 

 

Thanks for looking and as usual, feeedback and constructive criticism is always welcome.

 

Mike

 

 

[AX 365]

Thanks to my friend ALF, the AIM-9's are now painted grey.  He informed me that the AIM-9 missiles carried by CF-18's are the same colour as the undersides of the aircraft.  Further, most of the MM gloss coat lacquer has been sprayed.  Another top coat and it will be time for adding stickies, as The Boss calls them.

[Emvar]

Looks great......

 

E

[AX 365]

On 11/2/2017 at 6:10 PM, Emvar said:

Looks great......

 

E

Thanks pal.

 

Gloss coats applied.  Decaling started.  I'm doing it up as '747' from 409 Squadron.  So far, so good.  Decals are printed by Cartograf.  Very nice.

 

Now for the not so good part.  Kinetic / Cartograf didn't supply enough #71 decals, the little footprints with the X through them, for the entire topside of the model.  They're short 16 of them according to the decal placement guide.  I've applied them to the starboard top and a couple of others on the port side but there aren't enough for the top of the port wing and horizontal stabilizer.  I have a few Leading Edge CF-18 sets but I'm not about to break those open to finish this model.  I also have a set of Hasegawa CF-18 decals but the colour of the footprints is all wrong.

 

 

I'm going to send a note to Raymond Chung to see if I can get two more sets of decals as I have another of these kits in my stash.  I'll let you know how I fare.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Mike

 

03 January 2018 - in today's mail, I got a package from Kinetic Models and it included two complete decal sheets for this kit and another one I have in the stash.  Excellent response and customer service from Raymond Chung and Kinetic Models.

Edited January 3, 2018 by AX 365

[Emvar]

That sucks....... send me your addy and I'll send you all the foot prints from my kit. 

[AX 365]

4 hours ago, Emvar said:

That sucks....... send me your addy and I'll send you all the foot prints from my kit. 

Really?  Thanks pal.  I really appreciate the help.  PM on the way.

 

Mike

[Emvar]

Lol...... and give you an excuse to stop the build. I'm a sick man. 

 

Cheers.

[Thadeus]

Nice work. Very nice paintjob. Can't wait to see it finished!

[AX 365]

Thank you, Thadeus.  Just waiting for the foot print decals so I can finish this up.  No rush.  I can always put everything together and add the decals when they get here.

[Emvar]

On their way bro.... Cheers.

[AX 365]

4 hours ago, Emvar said:

On their way bro.... Cheers.

Thank you, my good man!  Putting things together so I can finish it up when the decals arrive.  Another sore point in the assembly is the minimal amount of glue and mating surfaces for the landing gear doors.  A couple of muffled curse words but slow and steady wins the race.

 

Mike

[AX 365]

On 11/24/2017 at 4:04 AM, Emvar said:

On their way bro.... Cheers.

Got them in the mail today.  WOW!!!!!!!!!!

 

PM sent.  Thank you so much.

[AX 365]

Thanks to Emvar, I've placed the missing footprints on the model and I'm calling it done.  I said I was going to weather it but I lied.  Maybe next time.  As alluded to, this kit wasn't without its vices but there were some nice things about construction as well.  I have a second one to build and I'll take the lessons learned with this one and apply them to that one.  Here's my CF-188A, s/n 188747, assigned to 409 'Nighthawk' Squadron, RCAF.

 

 

It'll never win any prizes and that's okay.  It makes a nice addition to my Hornet display.

 

To those who popped by and offered comments and constructive criticism, thanks very much.

 

Mike

[ALF18]

Nice work, my friend. If I can do an equivalent job on my upcoming Sabre builds, I'll be quite happy.

ALF

[bikerider]

Looks good... I'm working on two at the moment and I like the kit. Thankfully I followed your build and was ready for the challenges.

 

[AX 365]

bikerider and ALF,

 

Thanks very much, gents.

 

Mike