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1:72 Hasegawa Hornet (Spanish EF-18A)


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Hey everyone, looking forward to my first group build here, and I'm playing along with an F/A-18C in 1:72 from Hasegawa.

I'll leave the final marking up in the air for the time being, but I've ordered sets of decals from Eagle Strike (VFA-37 Bulls, VFA-105 Gunslingers, VFA-204 River Rattlers) and Microscale (VFA-113 Stingers CAG markings). I'm leaning towards either the Gunslingers or the Stingers CAG bird, and I'll decide as we get started! I'll be building this one in-flight, gear-up, no muss, no fuss, with an as-yet-to-be-determined weapons load.

I can't wait to see what the other participants accomplish, and to share my work here as well! 'Til then, :punk:

-JL

Edited by plasticWerks_JL
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I've decided to do the VFA-113 CAG Hornet, and now I just have to wait for the decals to show up in the mail!

I've started buttoning up the gear doors, airbrake, and getting the basic assembly together. I would've liked it on the ground, but someone really needs to make a flaps-down set for the Hasegawa Hornet (lookin' at you, Wolfpack!), and I'm not skilled enough to cut 'em off myself!!! I'll hopefully start painting the cockpit over this long w/e and get some initial pics up! All the other builds look like they're off to a rousing start. Best of luck to all!

-JL

EDIT: Didn't have to wait long, just got my decals in the mail today, and ready to make some progress this w/e!

Edited by plasticWerks_JL
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Would anyone have a really good pic or be able to confirm if the nose gear doors in the closed position has this small angled gap between the middle door and the rear? Not sure if I should close this up:

IMG_0933_zpscf82a937.jpg

Big thanks for any help!

-JL

Edited by plasticWerks_JL
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Thanks, Matt! :thumbsup: I appreciate you looking that up for me...

I started filling seams and throwing black paint around (no photo set-up, just some snapshots with my phone). I spray most of the cockpit items black as a base for the other colors that will lay over it, and it makes it easier to see what I'm spraying grey on the items that need to be sprayed grey:

IMG_0939_zps78eb1d85.jpg

IMG_0940_zpsb744888d.jpg

Thanks for taking a look, more to come soon!

- JL

Edited by plasticWerks_JL
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hey everyone,

been busy during the week, so not too much progress, but here is a little early w/e update. I'll hopefully get a wash and flat coat on all these items by the end of the w/e and get some better pics:

cockpit:

IMG_0958_zpse88e4c59.jpg

seat:

IMG_0956_zps2f25f785.jpg

pilot figure:

IMG_0954_zps46aaad1e.jpg

I've decided to stick with three gas bags, and leave the other hardpoints empty. I've added a bit of plastic to simulate the rails on the wingtips:

IMG_0959_zpsbeddb438.jpg

I'll have another update soon. Thanks for looking!

-JL

Edited by plasticWerks_JL
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Jl

Did you have any warping in the intake/side pieces? The two legacy birds I started had a really bad fit and drove me to sitting them aside for now. After I get my Super Hornets done I will revisit them before starting any others.

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yeah, tosouthern, the intake fuselage parts are being a pain. I wouldn't call them warped on my kit, the fit just isn't very accurate. I've had to fill some gaps in the gear doors with bits of plastic, and there's going to be a lot of sanding to get things looking acceptable. Both sides look really ugly as they are right now (also due to some gluing mishaps). I'm trying to work slowly and only glue sections at a time. If I get a chance, I'll upload some pics of all the horror and (hopefully) the cleaned-up final product.

-JL

Edited by plasticWerks_JL
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JL

What I mean as warped is on mine. If you line up the back side by the tail the front(intake end) is like 3mm or more away from the fuselage. I tried glueing the back 1st then the front and the back popped back out. And that was using CA. I then tried some restore bottle glue and clamps and it still wouldn't stay. I like Hasegawa's kits, but these days it seems there is more bad fitting kits than before.

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Made a small amount of progress due to limited time at the workbench, but I should really get cookin' after this week.

Here is the bottom of the fuselage with the wheel wells:

IMG_4154_zps5d1c0537.jpg

I've filled the seams with putty and CA, and started sanding everything down. I'll unfortunately have to re-scribe a lot of this area, but overall it should turn out okay.

I finished up the cockpit, and the CAG seems to approve (probably because his arms are attached at last!) :thumbsup:

IMG_4138_zps1ed25ca3.jpg

I didn't plan ahead enough to put his throttle hand a bit lower, DOH! It'll hardly be noticeable installed, but still! :whistle: I'll get it right next time.

Dry fitted together with the IP:

IMG_4150_zps8de4356b.jpg

Painted up the exhausts, next up will be a coat of Future and a wash:

IMG_4148_zps1eeb1ff3.jpg

I used gunmetal over a coat of chrome silver for the nozzles, and the color is a bit too silver and dark. The real thing has a brownish tint to them. I think a thinner coat of the chrome over a copper-colored coat would turn out more accurate, but if anyone knows an accurate color for the Hornet nozzles out-of-the-bottle, I'm all ears!

Finally, I sprayed the vertical stabilizers flat black, ready for a coat of Future and those colorful decals!

IMG_4160_zps0bf158dc.jpg

These are the item I'm most looking forward to getting done on this build, since I've been practicing getting my techniques right, and these large decals will be a big test.

Thanks for taking a look, and I'll post again as soon as I get some more done!

:cheers:

-JL

Edited by plasticWerks_JL
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Dude... Awesome work so far! How the heck did you get the IP decals to wrap around like that? Are they OOB? The pilot also looks great! Again, is it OOB? It doesn't look like any Hasegawa pilot figures that I've seen.

Good idea about the wingtip rail. Did you use the Evergreen strip? What size?

As far as exhaust colour goes... Apparently, Alclad II Jet Exhaust is pretty awesome. Personally, I use Mr Metal Color most of the time, dry-brushed rather than sprayed. In the past, I've mixed up some Mr Metal Color Dark Iron with some Aluminum, and came up with some brownish tinted metallic colour.

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Thanks, Mike! Everything is OOB, and the pilot comes on the extra sprue with the -C model parts. I'm not much for including figures, but I'm actually happy with the way it turned out. I went a little heavy on the weathering (especially the seat), and the overall cockpit color is noticeably too dark, but it's all part of the learning curve!

For the decals, i didn't do anything special, I just used some MicroSet to lay the decals down, then a few coats of MicroSol to try and blend the decals down as much as possible. A coat of Future and flat, and they were done!

The evergreen strip was actually from a sheet I've had for a long time, that survived my hiatus from the hobby. I don't have the bag for it, so I'm not sure of the thickness, but it's very thin. I just cut a thin strip off and eyeballed the installation.

Thanks for the info on the paint, I may correct some of these issues and give another one a go if this bug gets done quickly. More to come!

-JL

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Hmmm... I've been using Tamiya Mark Fit for the decals, and I can never get them to wrap around that well. I think it might also have something to do with my somewhat lack of patience... :woot.gif:

Looking forward to seeing more! :thumbsup:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just a bit of progress on this bug. I was hoping to have this finished up by the middle of August at the latest, but on top of limited bench time, I've lost a bit of steam. Seems to happen on every build, especially when it gets to puttying and sanding. I have a ton of kits started that get shelved once I reach this point, but I'll persevere and not worry too much about finishing quickly.

I managed to finish up the vertical stabilizers. There were a couple issues: both sides of the decals cracked around the section under the nav lights (near what I assume is a vent of some kind??); I had to track down orange and yellow paint to cover up the troubled spots. I also ran into an issue with a very light oil wash I attempted. I think I'll stick with acrylic "sludge" washes from now on <_<. Overall, they look pretty good, although the gloss coat under the decals came out a bit pebbly, and the flat coat over top seems to be the slightest bit cloudy. No complaints, though, just need to refine my skills and techniques to make it all work. A huge thanks to those who have provided tips and advice so far!

IMG_1022_zps7d413c65.jpg

The big hang-up so far has been filling and sanding the main gear doors and intake area. I loathe having to re-scribe through putty, so after puttying, I've been filling the lines with CA and scribing through that. Tedious work that slows me down big time.

IMG_1023_zps430ebd13.jpg

Thanks for looking, and I'll try to get another update on here soon!

-JL

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay, quick update... thanks for looking, everyone!

Finally got the underneath somewhat together...

IMG_1059_zpsc65c7159.jpg

...and the fuselage closed up:

IMG_1058_zps9918c4de.jpg

big steps to fill on the sides due to my lack of planning and/or skill :whistle:

IMG_1057_zps9b1ab1e0.jpg

Next up is to fix the seams on the fuselage as best as I can, add the wings, splitter plates and canopy, and start pre-shading and painting. Then comes fiddly-bits (hardpoints/fuel tanks, antennae) and decaling/weathering, etc. I'm really enjoying what little time I get to spend building, and I'm glad I'm on schedule to finish this one up on time! I was a bit concerned I wouldn't be able to finish.

I also just realized I don't have a finished pic of the afterburner cans after weathering, so if I think of it next time I'm at the bench, I'll upload one. Enjoying the other builds, as well!

'Til next time :cheers:

-JL

EDIT:

EWWW... bad pics! My apologies again! :wacko:

Edited by plasticWerks_JL
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hey everyone, another quick update on this Hornet! this time with better pics:

with wings, splitter plates and canopy attached to the fuselage, all the components are together. seam filling and other finishing is happening now. Here are all the remaining parts, not too many left now!:

IMG_4721_zps2b0f3a29.jpg

masked the intakes (and holes for the burner cans) with trimmed earplugs:

IMG_4729_zps2f02d138.jpg

better pics of the tails:

IMG_4733_zps9f677c47.jpg

IMG_4737_zps7d7a0edc.jpg

pics of the burner cans, as promised:

IMG_4724_zpsb801b99d.jpg

IMG_4728_zpsbbb615d1.jpg

i botched a couple areas where the main fuselage pieces join up, and obliterated some panel lines trying to correct them. i may work to fix some of these spots, but i'll probably not bother on some of them and just hint at them with pre-shading. I hope to have the fuselage finished and pre-shaded by next weekend, so we'll see! Happy building!

-JL

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  • 1 month later...

So I should probably update this a bit! No pics yet, but I'll add some soon.

Since my last post, I began painting the fuselage. I laid down preshading, then the Light and Dark Ghost Grey upper and lower camouflage using Tamiya acrylics, custom-mixed with a resource found through other posts here (Tamiya Mixing Resource -- Thanks ARC!). Not able to find a close Tamiya match for the light yellow radome, I used Model Master Radome Tan (acrylic, FS33613) over the Tamiya grey. After a break from this build for a couple weeks, I moved it back to the bench and the previously mentioned gaps, seams and missing panel lines are too noticeable to ignore. I decided to strip the paint and try to clean up the problem areas for a better finish. Another reason I decided to strip the Hornet down was some unsatisfactory results with the paint, both the application and markings (more on the paint below). I'm now working on the seams and polishing up the canopy again. Hopefully the results will be a bit better. I'll post pics when I make some more progress!

Some things I noticed with paint:

The Tamiya paint dried very chalky (using 91% iso alcohol and some acrylic retarder as thinner, and spraying in the neighborhood of 5-10 psi a few inches from the plastic). I will continue experimenting with the Tamiya, but I found that the Radome Tan (thinned with iso alcohol and a few drops of Future, and applied over the Tamiya grey) was an absolute bear to remove while stripping the paint. Using cotton wipes and q-tips with iso alcohol, the Tamiya paint softened and stripped off the fuselage immediately (turning a bit gummy as the iso dried up, but still easily removed). I've seen that the Model Master acrylic has a reputation for poor adhesion, but not only did it lay down smoother and less chalky, but I had to scrub with a bit of effort to strip it off. I masked over it with Tamiya tape earlier as well, and had no problems with the tape pulling it up.

My experience may be isolated, but I'm going to work with Tamiya as a primer and MM acrylic on the rest of this build. I'm thinking the alcohol and/or Future in the MM paint may be helping bind it to the Tamiya base coat (which in turn is much better at binding to the plastic), but maybe this was a happy accident or one-time experience. If successful, this will be my approach from here on out, since color-matching the Tamiya paint can be a hassle, and I haven't had much luck with the end results. Just thought I'd share my observations on this for others that may have issues using the Model Master acrylics. Maybe others have had similar experiences or want to experiment and confirm?

Anyway, thanks for reading along, new updates coming soon!

-JL

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Try thinning the Tamiya paint with their own thinner (X-20A). Yes, it's more expensive, but as long as you only use it to thin paint, and not to clean up, it should last a while. I bought my current bottle (250ml, I think) more than a year ago, and it's still more than half full (and yes, I'm a bit of an optimist too! :woot.gif:)

Also, Tamiya semi-gloss black (X-18) is THE BEST semi gloss black bar none!

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  • 1 month later...

I hope it won't be a problem for the GB, but it just wouldn't be one of my builds without a MAJOR change of plans in the later stages :bandhead2:

Long story short, the fuselage came together okay, but I'm just not happy enough with it to use the higher quality Superscale decals. I've decided to use the other parts from the kit and some Heller decals from the stash to finish this as a Spanish EF-18A. I'll save the -C tails and the rest of the SS decals for later. I pulled out the -A model tails from the spares and removed the extra antennas from the fuselage. The load-out will change to just a center tank and the two inboard pylons, as well.

One advantage will be that I can work on techniques for weathering this bird, since the Spanish Hornets seem to get nice and dirty.

Where I'm at currently:

IMG_20141108_170552657_HDR_zpsc77dc734.jpg

Heller EF-18A decals and Italeri formation light decals:

IMG_20141108_171214060_zpsb1523131.jpg

Despite the shake-up, I'm determined to finish this build up on time!

- JL

Edited by plasticWerks_JL
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  • 2 weeks later...

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