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Revell 1/72 F/A-18E Kestrels CAG 2009


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Cockpit done.... I initially thought I might try to dry-brush the IP rather than using the decals, but it looked horrible, so I simply used the decals to cover up my failure... LOL!

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I decided to try a different approach from the instruction sheet for the intake. I glued half of the intake/trunk to the engine nacelle first, so that it's easier to line up.

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Dry-fitting the other half of the intake trunk showed my attempt might actually pay off...

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Sprayed the intake walls with Tamiya gloss white...

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I have a feeling that I may have to re-spray these, since I expect seam lines that need filling once they're glued on....

I've also glued the cockpit to the lower fuselage half....

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Edited by Mike C
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OK... I really, really dislike the intake.... One tip... DO NOT bother painting the inside before putting it together and patching things up. I stupidly did this, and ended up wasting my time and effort. Although, truth be told... The seam lines on the intake trunks are not really that visible once the jet turbine is installed. The gap on the side wall is much more problematic...

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Jet intake turbine all done... Brush-painted with Mr Metal Color Dark Iron, then "polished" with another brush that had Mr Metal Color Stainless dried on the bristles...

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Exhaust turbine sprayed with MM Non-Buffing Metalizer Gun Metal.

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Alrighty... I put together all the parts for the front fuselage. All I can say is... AMAZING! Great fit!

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The only problem is of my own doing: I used a bit too much Tamiya Extra Thin, resulting some "spillage" that will need to be sanded off. I will still need some putty for the radome, though, I think.

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  • 2 weeks later...

All fuselage parts are on... Getting close to painting stage. Just need to patch things up here and there...

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I dislike how Revell did the vertical stabilizers. Both stabs are joined together, and will need to be installed when the top and bottom main fuselage halves are mated. This makes patching up seam lines around that area very very tricky.

Edited by Mike C
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Nice work! Looks like you are addressing the issues well as they come up.

I've built the Hasegawa Rhino in this scale and the Revell kit seems to have some advantages. I'll be looking to get one of the Revell ones now too.

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I've built the Hasegawa Rhino in this scale and the Revell kit seems to have some advantages. I'll be looking to get one of the Revell ones now too.

I've built 2 of the Hasegawa "F", and am currently building another "F" and a Growler in parallel. They each have their own pluses and minuses. I'm not yet decided which one is easier to deal with overall.

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OK... This is annoying... The canopy that came in the box had molding issue. There was a clear circle mark. Didn't see it at first. I only noticed it when I was masking it. I submitted a part request on Revell's website. Hopefully they'll send in a replacement. Until I get a replacement canopy, I'll have to put this one on hold. Will most likely not able to finish this before the end of GB.

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I'm having a string of bad luck at the moment. I just realised that there's another problem with this kit... I somehow lost one of the front wheels. It must've fallen out of the box and accidentally got vacuumed. I think this would not have happened if I wasn't working on so many parallel projects at the same time. So, after this, I think I'll only be working on, at most, 2 parallel builds.

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  • 1 month later...

I got a very very pleasant surprise today. I received a replacement clear sprue from Revell in the mail!!! WOO HOO!!!! HUGE KUDOS to Revell post-sales customer service! I sent part replacement request through their website on 10 August, got an automated response stating that for Revell of Germany parts, it would take at least 12 weeks. But it's only been... what? 6 weeks? THAT, my friends, is GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!!

So, now I can resume building this bird! Yay!

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Originally, I was planning to build this bird wheels down, but since I somehow lost one of the landing gears, I might build this in-flight instead. Before I make that final decision, though, I'll see if I can somehow graft Hasegawa's landing gears onto the Revell struts.

Edited by Mike C
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Great job till now Mike!

I'm very sorry for your wheel...

The RoG kit look better of the Gawa in respect of the intake ducts.

And about the customer service of RoG i agreed with you: sometime ago I contacted the producer about the loss of the clear part on my F-16 kit and after some weeks I receveid the replacement,great service!!!

I keep to follow your build.

Gianni

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Now, Revell has done quite reasonable job with most of the weapons/ordinance... Except for the HARM missiles! Both HARM missiles that came in the box had this really bad sink mark at a really odd place. And somehow I missed the darned thing!! I only noticed it when applying the yellow stripe decal.

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Speaking of decals for the HARM missiles... I think Revell also screwed up pretty badly on this front. Based on the pics I've seen, HARMs should only have 2 stripes: Yellow at the front, and red right at the back. Revell's yellow stripe positioning is too far back from the nose. Also, instead of thin red stripe at the back, Revell supplied brown stripe, that is way too wide, and the positioning is way too forward.

Hasegawa also got it somewhat wrong, but still much better than Revell's.

EDIT:

Thought Revell screwed up the decals at first, but I think I passed judgement a bit too quickly. Found some pics that clearly showed HARM with brown stripe roughly at the position that Revell called out. However, Revell didn't supply any decal for the thin red stripe near the rear fins. I'm still fuming about the bad sink mark, though.

Edited by Mike C
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can you attach the missile so that the sink mark gets covered by the pylon?

Nope. Unfortunately not. But, no matter... I'm going to hang AMRAAM instead. I'm tossing up between the following loadouts:

Option 1: AIM-9X, AIM-120C, Mk 83, Tank, Tank (centreline), AN/ASQ-228, JDAM, Mk 83, AIM-120C, AIM-9X

Option 2: AIM-9X, AIM-120C, JDAM, Tank, Tank (centreline), AN/ASQ-228, JDAM, Mk 83, AIM-120C, AIM-9X

Option 3: AIM-9X, AIM-120C, JDAM/Mk 83, Tank, (no centreline), AN/ASQ-228, Tank, JDAM/Mk 83, AIM-120C, AIM-9X

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Option 1 sounds cool

I'm leaning more towards Option 2, because I prefer having 2 JDAM's. But.... It also depends on how I'm going to mount this thing on a stand. I might have to go with Option 3 if I have to use the centreline as mount point.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I've been concentrating in trying to get the Revell Jolly Rogers finished, so have hardly spent time on this. But today I decided to give this bird some lovin'...

I worked on some odds and ends that weren't worth taking pics for. E.g. spraying the AAM's with Gunze H308, sanding off some seam lines, started painting a pilot figure (from Hasegawa F-16), etc.

Since I'm building this bird in-flight, I glued on all the wheel covers. I also performed a minor surgery to create a slot for the display stand.

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'Later!

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  • 3 weeks later...

All painted up with Gunze Aqueous H307 and H308. I brush painted the gun panel with Mr Metal Color Iron.

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I also did a bit of post-shading with H307 highly lightened with some H311 (FS36622) and a couple drops of flat white.

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