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Help! Disaster struck with my 1/72 Hasegawa F-18F 00853...


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Hi all, with this Pandemic, I decided to get back into modeling and I bit off a little more than I can chew.  I cracked my main canopy while trying to remove it from the fuselage (perhaps it was a bad idea to use it as a mask for the cockpit - I have done this times before with no problems).  Maybe it was my first time use of the Mr. Super Clear Matt rattle can spray, it did go one much thicker than an airbrushed matt coat and gummed up and sealed the canopy fuselage connection.  I carefully sliced all around the canopy but it wouldn't budge, I kept slicing an carefully prying the canopy out (I just used a dab of white glue to secure it originally) until finally CRACK! it cracked down the length of the canopy before giving way.  ARGH!!!  To me the cockpit and canopy are the jewels that bullseye the eye to your model - and this just screams out.  There's been some many things wrong with this build, trying to shoe-horn the F-18A resin wheel wells into this 18F kit (it did pay off in the end, but it was so much work!), so much sanding and re-sanding of the horrendously poor fit of the kit, the tail fin yellow decal melted disaster, the wing tank that fell 5 times and had to repainted from scratch each time.... the list goes on and after each hurdle and trying to repair it, I finally get to this final break that is irreparable - just stings so much!!!

 

I'm pretty happy with the under-carriage especially after all that work trying to shoe horn the resin upgrades for the F-18A kit into this F-18F kit including completely re-cutting the forward well short and rebuild and shallowing up the cockpit tub to get them both to fit into this kit

ACtC-3fAoE3YJBpFBpzjZ-daPVV29uDT_ZusAP69

ACtC-3dHKLdFHiG2kU89jfPASPmCUKvrKaFPr_P3

ACtC-3f7gy-0Gms3HrZCQUNse0SpblXOdx9Xpq-s

ACtC-3eJbM_kVK_mojX_25fvbIv22CSBHVXjwq0R

 

So the good stuff, 90% of it turned out pretty good...

ACtC-3dXfnkAOxziO308CwcQdwKpSKeIMZa22dGw

ACtC-3eL-wvrz3NFE9MktboTtYmJngkWgkbMlZc2

ACtC-3dOY2A352UCsMgsKFPSDShxAR7Mh1pdmA1x

ACtC-3dEws6JL5ZUsY6t502RKhjgjDarN2ZRX0xZ

 

You can see the damage around the edge of the canopy to the paint trying to pry off the canopy

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ACtC-3fn1aHgKTN7Bd1ixq46zmj4bP1EddZaS1kK

 

So here's the cracked part...right down the middle...

ACtC-3eD7Uyma6KPp-8jyIvksp34x4tS3-QPzJnx

ACtC-3cpQjuh9af-XfYkMfrvgzczyOk3UIlVMVPR

ACtC-3dhuE8t5IvjrUA5wtHEY_V6sve6HeTw0VlD

 

The problem its an old kit, if I have to I'll try to find it to buy again just for the canopy part and decals - I've invested too much sweat and tears to give up and throw it in the trash at this point.  However if anyone has a partially built kit or parts lying around or decals I can also get again either this kit or aftermarket that belongs to this aircraft (I only need the canopy ones), I'd gladly buy them from you.  I live in Canada, so I can't order the parts from Hasegawa.  Is there an distributor in Canada that I can contact?  Would older F-18B/D Hasegawa kits have canopies that would fit (so much cheaper)?  I just wished I could walk into an old hobby store and look around for another kit I could buy right away, after so many hours and being so close, I just want to finish this puppy!

 

At this point, any suggestions would be helpful.

 

Thanks for your time looking at my sob story.

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I bet there are some aftermarket decal sheets for that bird. The Jolly Rogers are a very popular bird/scheme.  As for the canopy, I am rather doubtful a legacy hornet is very close at all. But an boxing of the 1/72 F/A-18F should work. And Academy makes and F model as well that may be cheaper and that may be similar enough as far as the canopy is concerned. 

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@ESzczesniak  Thanks, I've researched a lot of Jolly Rogers aftermarket decals, most are actually black/grey pilots lettering on the body/fuselage of the plane than white lettering on the canopy rails but I might have a lead on some decals that are more appropriate. 

 

Yes, the more I look at the F-18D canopy the more I doubt they would fit the F-18F - all the model shots seem to indicate they taper more towards the rear - a more teardrop shape than the 18F.  If anyone here has both kits, could they take a look in their stash and tell me if the two canopies are compatible?  Yes I'm leaning towards the more expensive option of getting the 18F kit (I think I bought the original kit for $20 back 2003 and now I'm thinking of buying $50 kit +$20 decals to finish it off :O)

 

@DONG  Thanks I have already emailed them, but with this Pandemic, who knows if they are still operating or replying.

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