1/72 AirfixF-18A Hornet

[Guest]

I’d say the main lesson here is to buy a F/A-18 from another manufacturer next time You’re doing well with this one, though.

[yak face]

The warped fuselage made fitting these fairings that extend the wing up to the cockpit (there must be a better name for those!)

Theyre known as LERXs pete ( Leading Edge Root eXtensions ) , great progress , its not going to be a walk in the park but keep at it , cheers tony

[boatman]

IM addin my pennys worth Pete you are doin great as the guys have said an from me some would have binned it by now but not you as I know you have the patience to make it into a premier model you keep at it as I like the hornet :thumb2: :thumb2: :thumb2:
chris

[stillp]

I’d say the main lesson here is to buy a F/A-18 from another manufacturer next time :smiling3: You’re doing well with this one, though.

I think the main lesson is actually to stop buying cheap "bargain" kits at boot sales and autojumbles, but thanks Jakko.

Theyre known as LERXs pete ( Leading Edge Root eXtensions ) , great progress , its not going to be a walk in the park but keep at it , cheers tony

LERXs eh? Why didn't I think of that? Thanks Tony, every day's a school day. I wonder if I'll ever need to use that word?

IM addin my pennys worth Pete you are doin great as the guys have said an from me some would have binned it by now but not you as I know you have the patience to make it into a premier model you keep at it as I like the hornet :thumb2: :thumb2: :thumb2:
chris

Thanks Chris, not so much patience as stubbornness! You're the one with patience.

Pete

[Guest]

I think the main lesson is actually to stop buying cheap "bargain" kits at boot sales and autojumbles

OTOH: if the kit’s parts just fall together with no work required, where’s the fun?

[stillp]

Ah yes, "fun", that's the word I was looking for.
While waiting for filler to dry on the fuselage I thought I'd make a start on the under-wing stores. Guess what - they need filling and sanding...

Pete

[Guest]

Pete .
Fighting all the way and winning by the looks of it. Well done.:surprised::thumb2:

[stillp]

Starting to look like a Hornet now:

Still a few more parts to add:

Started the painting on the Sparrows and Sidewinders:

Now, decision time; do I paint the fuselage and bay doors separately then add the undercarriage, brush paint the u/c bays, then add the bay doors, or fit the doors before painting, or finish assembling the undercarriage and bay doors then try to mask them before painting the fuselage? Any suggestions folks?
Pete

[boatman]

Starting to look like a Hornet now:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1112334[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]n1112335[/ATTACH]
Still a few more parts to add:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1112336[/ATTACH]
Started the painting on the Sparrows and Sidewinders:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1112337[/ATTACH]
Now, decision time; do I paint the fuselage and bay doors separately then add the undercarriage, brush paint the u/c bays, then add the bay doors, or fit the doors before painting, or finish assembling the undercarriage and bay doors then try to mask them before painting the fuselage? Any suggestions folks?
Pete

WELL in my opinion paint the fusealarge an I think you ought to have left off the weapons hard points as its much easiyier to paint when all flat surfaces an then fit the undercart an paint bay doors an fit so they wont be knocked off
chris

[Guest]

Could you attach the doors temporarily in the closed position (blu tack, pva etc) so they get painted consistent with the fuselage, then remove after painting and fit the legs and open doors permanently?

[stillp]

Could you attach the doors temporarily in the closed position (blu tack, pva etc) so they get painted consistent with the fuselage, then remove after painting and fit the legs and open doors permanently?

Good idea Andy - that would also let me airbrush the bay interiors without needing to mask around them. I don't know how well they fit though, so it might get a bit tricky. I'm going to have the air brake open, since that doesn't fit well when closed.

I think you ought to have left off the weapons hard points as its much easiyier to paint when all flat surfaces

Fair point Chris and thanks for the comment, but they needed a bit of sanding to fit, and I didn't want to do that again with paint on.
Pete

[scottie3158]

Pete,
Silk purse from sows ear springs to mind.

[stillp]

Pete,
Silk purse from sows ear springs to mind.

A geriatric sow at that! As for the silk purse.. we shall see, but don't expect too much.
Nice of Airfix to provide two locating pins for the arrestor hook:

Shame they forgot to tell the gut who made the mould for the fuselage:

They did tell the artist responsible for the instructions though:

Easy enough to cut off that pin on the fuselage, but I do wonder at times if manufacturers make test builds before launching a model. Maybe it was mould damage, there should have been a thin pin in the mould cavity but perhaps it broke off and someone drilled a hole to fit a new pin, than forgot.
Anyway, I think the fit is good enough for me to go with Andy's suggestion to fit the u/c doors in the closed position temporarily, not so much to get them to match the fuselage as to close off the wheel bays so I can paint them first. The fit isn't as bad as I'd thought. I'll glue them in with Maskol - I've done that before and the Maskol worked well as a temporary adhesive. So, next task is to prime and paint white the wheel bays and the inside faces of the doors. Might as well do the u/c legs at the same time.
Thanks for looking in.
Pete

[Guest]

~I'll glue them in with Maskol~

I like it, thanks Pete.

I've been trying to decide what to use for the beaufighter when I do the same. Masking fluid sounds ideal.

[Jim R]

Hi Pete
Looks as if you have done very well to get this hopeless kit to the stage you have. It actually looks like a F-18A Hornet now. I would probably have flown it gracefully into the bin but it looks as if you will complete it.
Jim