1/48 Hasegawa F-18C VFA-113

[Janissary]

Finally finished with the flight deck also! I tried to capture the last few steps in the pics below. The cat track is absent of all the interesting details found on the real thing, but at least I think I hit the color and various tones I was aiming for. I configured the arresting wire a bit off the center strip for asymmetry. This whole thing was to depict the Hornet at the very end of the landing. For that, the wire needed to form a tighter angle at the apex but I just eye balled everything. 

 

The Stingers were on USS Carl Vinson during the 2014-2015 if I'm not mistaken. As part of building up inspiration, the pics here were useful:

 

https://www.seaforces.org/usnships/cvn/CVN-70-USS-Carl-Vinson.htm

 

 

Caution: Don't use a Dremel tool to twist the wire into a braid unless you have a very slow speed setting. My first attempt was that and it spun so fast it broke loose on the plier side and the wire - still chucked to the dremel - whipped my bare leg multiple times. It hurt and bled pretty badly.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by Janissary

[Janissary]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm happy to see this finally finished! In the next few days, I plan to take the final pics and share it here!

[Janissary]

And after staring at the above pose for a bit, I decided that the supports for the wire were too distracting. Also, with this entire scene, I was trying to capture the moment that the aircraft comes to a full stop at the end of the deck (fully stretched cable, forming a narrow V). The wide angle of the wire gave the illusion that it'd just trapped, which was not my intent.

 

So I removed the supports, narrowed the wire, and glued it to the hook. This will be final configuration and this is how it will sit on the flight deck. I hope to have the final pics in a few days!

[Janissary]

Just wrapped up this build. Thanks for following along. Final pics:

 

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/318512-148-hasegawa-f-18c-vfa-113/

 

[Gator52]

Really a terrific build, thanks for chronicling it so thoroughly for us.

 

I might have missed it, but what shade of blue did you use on the inert bombs?

 

Chris

[Janissary]

15 hours ago, Gator52 said:

Really a terrific build, thanks for chronicling it so thoroughly for us.

 

I might have missed it, but what shade of blue did you use on the inert bombs?

 

Chris

Thank you. For the blue bombs, I used a 1:1 mix of Tamiya XF-2 (white) and XF-8 (blue), maybe a little heavier on the white side. For both bombs, after the main blue, I did a little bit of post shading with the airbrush using slightly lighter and darker tones of the main base color. Then, for the -31, I did a little bit of sponge chipping with green. For the -12, after the main color and shading, I did a little bit of oil weathering using dots of white and brown at the top, and pulling them down with a mostly dry brush. 

Edited September 15, 2021 by Janissary

[Gator52]

Ok thanks.

 

Chris

[Dutch]

I love the fact that you have the arrestor cable hanging in mid air!  Nifty way to make it also!  Brought back my days as a Boy scout when we would make our own rope from twine by triple stranding it with a drill, much as you did. Congrats on a beautiful model with a stunning presentation. Kind regards, Dutch

[Janissary]

Thank you Dutch!

[Solo]

On 9/18/2021 at 12:01 AM, Janissary said:

Thank you Dutch!

Janissary, could you please write something how did you paint your exhaust nozzles?

[Janissary]

Hey, assuming you are asking about the outsides: After Surfacer 1200, I sprayed Alclad stainless steel all over, then sprayed Alclad pale burnt metal. I may have then post shaded that with a few other similar alclad tones, but can't remember. Then, using a piece of Tamiya tape, I masked the hard edge of each petal and lightly sprayed Tamiya Nato black to the masked edge. That creates the darker lap regions between the petals with a hard edge one one side and soft edge on the other. I just used a single piece of tape and kept spraying and moving to the next petal.  Finally, I very gently sanded with micro mesh 3600 (or so) and a fine grit on a flex-i file to reveal the lighter steel color on the raised regions of the petals. That didn't really abrade through the top layer of alclad, so was not successful, but it kind of blended everything together. No other coats of clear or oils as far as I remember. 

 

I think with many jet exhaust petals, it is best not to create super-shiny metallic effects. These petals tend to be pretty dull (but smooth). I like Alclad over regular gray primer as it dries pretty dull than shiny. Sanding can bring up the sheen as desired and that's what I was trying to do. 

Edited July 11, 2022 by Janissary

[Solo]

Perfect answer and perfect model Janissary.

[Solo]

10 hours ago, Janissary said:

Hey, assuming you are asking about the outsides: After Surfacer 1200, I sprayed Alclad stainless steel all over, then sprayed Alclad pale burnt metal. I may have then post shaded that with a few other similar alclad tones, but can't remember. Then, using a piece of Tamiya tape, I masked the hard edge of each petal and lightly sprayed Tamiya Nato black to the masked edge. That creates the darker lap regions between the petals with a hard edge one one side and soft edge on the other. I just used a single piece of tape and kept spraying and moving to the next petal.  Finally, I very gently sanded with micro mesh 3600 (or so) and a fine grit on a flex-i file to reveal the lighter steel color on the raised regions of the petals. That didn't really abrade through the top layer of alclad, so was not successful, but it kind of blended everything together. No other coats of clear or oils as far as I remember. 

 

I think with many jet exhaust petals, it is best not to create super-shiny metallic effects. These petals tend to be pretty dull (but smooth). I like Alclad over regular gray primer as it dries pretty dull than shiny. Sanding can bring up the sheen as desired and that's what I was trying to do. 

You know, I am now making Legacy Hornet and trying to reach that specific, little brownish shine of those nozzles. And I can not do it properly. I think your nozzes are extremely close to original ones, so it is so important to know how you did it. Don't you remeber those additional Alclads clours you used?
Maybe you have step by step photos of that painting process?

Edited July 11, 2022 by Solo

[Janissary]

I can't remember unfortunately. I don't have a lot of Alclad's. If I created lighter and darker tones of the pale burnt metal (which is the brownish base), I must have added Alclad burnt iron and thinned the mix to create light mottling. But the chances are I mixed a bit of Tamiya acrylic flat black with Alclad then thinned it with MLT, and then repeated the same with flat white. I have mixed these things in the past and they have worked ok especially because it is a very dilute mix anyway. 

 

What I am quite sure is that I did not use any oils, pastel / makeup sets, dry brushing, or water colors. It was all airbrush. 

 

However, you could try the following, which I have in the past in other nozzles and had worked fine:

https://www.quill.com/crayola-ultra-clean-washable-markers-broad-tip-assorted-10-pack-58-7855/cbs/55333886.html?effort_code=369&sfcp=1&gclsrc=aw.ds&&cm_mmc=SEM_PLA_SHOP_OS_7p_55333886_N_N_HIGH&mcode=SEM_PLA_OS_7p_55333886_N_HIGH&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsNvLzOfx-AIVBr_ICh2JAg0NEAQYBCABEgLUwPD_BwE

 

These are water based, not alcohol. You could simply use a fine brush to get a bit of the ink on the tip of the marker and gently work that into nozzles. Having a dull/flat base to work with is better as the in kin these markers don't spread well on shiny surfaces. You could clean up with water if something goes wrong. I'd use very light orange, blue/purple and brown. I think that would give a nice effect. If I were to do it again, I'd probably do this myself. 

 

I did this on the tips of the -9X and 9L (green / purple). A bit overdone in this case, but they leave a nice, workable layer of ink to create mottled shading.

[Solo]

Thanks a lot, I think I will tray your way.

 

[Scooby]

Beautiful build! Just stumbled on this now!

[Janissary]

Thank you, it was a very enjoyable build.