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F/A-18E Super Hornet VFA-31 (Hasegawa 1/48)


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Hi Folks!

 

I recently started a build of a Hasegawa F/A-18E Super Hornet in the Anniversary Scheme of 2010.

kit: Hasegawa 1/48

Decals: Afterburner Decals "East Coast SuperBug CAGs" and Afterburner Decals "Super Hornet Upgrade Set

Aftermarket:

Quickboost Seat

Quickboost ECS vents

Phase Hangar seamless intakes

Eduard GBU-38

Tamiya AIM-9X, AIM-120 and GBU-12 (from the F-16 kit)

 

I started with the cokpit, using the decals from the Afterburner Upgrade set. They are marvelous, although I am not sure if the grey color is correct...

 

SH_01.jpg

 

The Quickboost seat with paint and decals:

 

SH_02.jpg

 

The fuselage required some surgery to fit the Quickboost bard stacks:

 

SH_03.jpg

 

SH_04.jpg

 

The small gaps are filled with CA, and will be invisible under the paint.

 

I fitted the fuselage sides and intake lips before attaching the seamless intakes to get a good alignment of the parts.

 

SH_05.jpg

 

I carefully fitted the intakes to prevent gaps between the intake parts. As they now floated above the wheel wells and were held only by a small amount of CA at the front, I added support struts and secured them with epoxy glue behind the intake fans:

 

SH_06.jpg

 

SH_07.jpg

 

looks good so far:

 

SH_08.jpg

 

Cheers,

Markus

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Nice. These are decals in the cockpit? Looked like Eduard PE.

QB seat is for the F-14D, right? When I get around to my planned F I'm hoping on using them. Are they the same height as the kit ones? I seem to remember the Quickboost SJU-5's being smaller than Hasegawas. Frankly, I seem to remember whenever I used Aires or Quickboost seat it was at least a bit underscaled, save for one. Worked great in their cockpits though.

Nice work!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi!

 

Yes, these are decals on the cockpit instruments. From Afterburner decals.

Also yes to the QB seat. This is for the F-14D, although both seats have the same canopy breakers. They are the same height as the kit ones and fit the SH perfectly.

 

Cheers,

Markus

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I continued with the assembly of the fuselage.

I decided not to follow the instructions and first glued top and bottom halves together before joining forward and main fuselage.

 

SH_10.jpg

 

I also attached the wings to the upper fuselage first to get a nice transition between fuselage and wing top surface.

 

SH_11.jpg

 

After attaching the forwar fuselage, filling and sanding started.

 

SH_12.jpg

 

And the fuselage is ready:

 

SH_13.jpg

 

Cockpit parts added:

 

SH_14.jpg

 

On the bottom, I accidentially removed the location bar from the right wing outboard pylon, so I had to drill registration holes.

 

SH_15.jpg

 

With the leading edge flaps, flap hinges and canopy installed, the Super Hornet is ready for some paint:

 

SH_16.jpg

 

Cheers,

Markus

 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

Hi Folks,

 

I finally found time to continue this build.

I applied a base coat and did the preshading:

 

SH_17.jpg

 

I also started with the ordnance:

 

SH_18.jpg

 

The items are not yet flat coated. All are from a Tamiya F-16 kit.

 

Cheers,

Markus

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Painting continues.
Here, the underside is already painted with MRP Light Ghost Grey, upper surfaces with MRP Dark Ghost Grey
SH_19.jpg

 

First stages of a light weathering:

 

SH_20.jpg

 

On pictures, the original aircraft has barely any signs of waethering.
The bottom has yet to receive some more weathering.

SH_21.jpg

 

The tails are peinted and decaled. Som light touch ups are necessary.

 

SH_22.jpg

 

Cheers,

Markus

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  • 2 months later...

Wow, time flies. It's been a long time since the last update.

 

Anyhow, I wasn't idle during lockdown.

 

After painting and fading the TPS, I painted the skunk stripe.

 

SH_23.jpg

 

I didn't weather it very much, since on the reference pictures, the bird is relatively clean.

 

Further detail painting and a gloss coat:

 

SH_24.jpg

 

And so the decaling bagan. The Afterburner decals went on really smooth.

 

SH_25.jpg

 

Sadly, the stripes for the black/red tank were not inlcuded on the decal sheet, so I had to make my own:

 

SH_26.jpg

 

Applied to the red tank:

 

SH_27.jpg

 

And after a gloss coat, I painted the rest black:

 

SH_28.jpg

 

Cheers,

Markus

 

Edited by delayar
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On 7/2/2020 at 8:09 PM, delayar said:

Wow, time flies. It's been a long time since the last update.

 

Anyhow, I wasn't idle during lockdown.

 

After painting and fading the TPS, I painted the skunk stripe.

 

SH_23.jpg

 

I didn't weather it very much, since on the reference pictures, the bird is relatively clean.

 

Further detail painting and a gloss coat:

 

SH_24.jpg

 

And so the decaling bagan. The Afterburner decals went on really smooth.

 

SH_25.jpg

 

Sadly, the stripes for the black/red tank were not inlcuded on the decal sheet, so I had to make my own:

 

SH_26.jpg

 

Applied to the red tank:

 

SH_27.jpg

 

And after a gloss coat, I painted the rest black:

 

SH_28.jpg

 

Cheers,

Markus

 

How do you make them yourself?

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Hi!

I found some images of decals, which were included in a 1/144 kit (i think by Revell). That gave me the idea of the general shape.

I made some drawings and used masking tape to evaluate the size until I was satisfied. I then printed the black parts on transparent decal film.

I can send you a PDF file of the drawing.

 

Cheers,

Markus

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Very good show Markus. Like said above, the approach to modeling is just great. Clear modeling language!

Like to see your further finishing and display. Can't wait. Super Bugs are very high on my list of modeling challenges.

 

Kind regards,

 

Robert Jan 

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  • 3 months later...

I finally finished my Super Hornet.

After the gloss coat, I made an oil wash, flat coated the TPS area and made the final assembly.

I had a bummer nearing the end (meaning after the oil wash, right before the flat coat. The model was in an unsafe place, because I planned to flat coat it in the next hour or so. As I was looking for something in the cupboard above it, an object fell on the modell. As the canopy was still masked, I didn't find out about the degree of the damage. The nose antenna broke of, and I heard a rattling inside the aircraft. so I assumed that the HUD was dislodged.

The nose antenna was no problem, there was a spare in the kit. I thought that maybe I can remove the canopy and reattach the HUD.

However, after the final flat coat, when I unmasked the canopy, I found out that the object seemed to have hit the canopy directly and there was a crack in the canopy 😞

As it turned out, I glued the canopy in place really tight.

So I found no way to repair the damage without greater surgery and replacement parts and decals, therefore I decided to leav it as it is. It is a pity, but I think it is still a beautiful model.

I managed to reattach the HUD - the windscreen wasn't glued as tight as the canopy - but that was after I took the pictures 😐

 

More pictures will be posted in the Display Case:

 

SH_RFI_01.jpg

 

Cheers,

Markus

Edited by delayar
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17 hours ago, Mr.Happy said:

Markus,

 

Very nice build review, paint job, and final reveal:salute:

 

Please post more pictures when possible.

 

Mr. Happy

 

 

 

Hi!

 

Thank you very much.

 

More pictures are in the display case section:

 

Cheers,

Markus

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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