ClumsyDude Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 (edited) Hi everyone, I'm off with my first 1/32 WIP on the forum (and, if I'm honest, my first 1/32 kit since a hasegawa hornet back in about 1988 ... I can still remember what a mess I made of the decals). I've decided to stretch my skills a bit and go for an air show finish (because goodness knows I'm not too flash when it comes to spotless gloss). Here's the bird I'm trying to replicate: I've got the 1/32 academy kit, together with loads of aftermarket goodness: - Dmold resin intakes, - Rhino burner cans, - Aires cockpit, - G-factor landing gear, - cutting edge decals (thanks very kindly to LSP member Rohan C, who sold me the latter); and - some really beautiful Airscale cockpit decals and placards. Being a glutton for punishment, I'm going to try to find someone to turn the decals into masks and do the whole thing as paint masks ... not sure if it's brave or foolish. Haven't been able to get anyone to commit to make the masks yet so fingers crossed we can make it work. Anyway, on with the photos! I managed to get almost a full weekend at the bench last weekend as Mrs ClumsyDude took the kids up to Cairns to visit the outlaws (big win for everyone really). I didn't take photos of all the stuff, I figure y'all know what the academy hornet box looks like ... but I did get a nod to tradition with the "Washing of the Resin Bits". The quality of all of them is really superb. The Aires pit is just superb - thanks Nic (Zero77) for your awesome review. It will be a serious test of my skills to do justice to it. So construction (as the kids say) starts with the cockpit. I got going first on the Aires seat (detail is amazing) and had a crack at the seatbelts. They may be inaccurate for a RAAF hornet - I've only found one decent reference photo and it isn't clear at all what's happening with the belts. So I've gone off a really detailed set of photos I found over on Aircraft Resource Centre. Seat is likely to look like a NASA hornet, hopefully they're pretty similar to the Aussie ones. For starters, there seems to be an extra lap belt (seems weird but the photos don't lie). So I used an Aires buckle and added a belt made from a sliced up US $1 bill. Here we are with some PE origami for the main belts and buckles: SEAWARS cylinders made out of Albion alloys micro tubing Ready for primer! I had really been dreading the PE belts, but with a solid bit of annealing they turned out OK. Very pleased! More PE origami on the rudder pedals: Edited December 23, 2017 by ClumsyDude Whitey, KiwiZac, mpk and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 (edited) First cut at the etch for the IP. I added some styrene and brass rod for knobs, and also some of the brilliant Airscale placard decals. The teeny tiny switch markings make an amazing difference, I think! I initially worked off the wrong reference photos, and mocked up an IP from the NASA bird. It has a blanked off dial with some notes over it. Then, seeing how much I was loving the Airscale decals, I figured I should see which looked better for the instruments. On the left below is the Airscale option, on the right is the acetate supplied by Aires. Clear win to Airscale for mine! Masking for the main pit ... you can't see it here but it's shot from above with a slightly lighter shade of grey. Bit of cleanup needed but nothing drastic. And some detail painted. And a shot of the seat, with gloss black on the headrest and alclad gunmetal on the rest. The contrast is hard to see in the photos but it's more effective in real life. Finally - the IP mostly done. Still needs a flat coat (I don't think the semi gloss works as well as I'd hoped), but I'm really stoked with the effect I got from the Airscale decals. Wow! Thanks for following everyone! Cheers Jim Edited July 27, 2017 by ClumsyDude mpk, Cicciuzzo, Shaka HI and 14 others 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadpool Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Awesome start Jim! A stunning bird to be building! mpk and ClumsyDude 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaced Marine Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Excellent start. One of these days my Hornet kit will see the light of day. ClumsyDude and mpk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piprm Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 (edited) Looking Mighty Good Jim! I'd be happy if my 2 F-18's (waiting) were like this! Phil Edited July 26, 2016 by Piprm mpk and ClumsyDude 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted July 26, 2016 Author Share Posted July 26, 2016 Awesome start Jim! A stunning bird to be building! Thanks mate! It will certainly test my skills, but then that's why we LSP, right? Excellent start. One of these days my Hornet kit will see the light of day. Thanks ... it does look like a very good kit, I've had a crack at assembling the front wheel well and the fit is super. If it holds for the rest of the build then it'll be happy days! Looking Mighty Good Jim! I'd be happy if my 2 F-18's (waiting) were like this! Phil Thanks Phil! I'm very much in quiet awe of the work you're doing on your Canberra, so if you ever head back to injection moulded and tackle your hornets, I'll be watching with interest. Cheers Jim mpk and Piprm 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Nice project, Jim! Glad to see you taking the Large Scale Plunge. Kev ClumsyDude and mpk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F`s are my favs Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Very nice start! The paint scheme/decals are spectacular! I very much like the contrasts in the main panel too. Keep it up! mpk and ClumsyDude 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted July 26, 2016 Author Share Posted July 26, 2016 Nice project, Jim! Glad to see you taking the Large Scale Plunge. Kev Ooh, Kev, I'm hooked ... I had plans for another big 1:48 diorama, which I still think is a pretty cool project, but I'm enjoying myself so much on the hornet that I don't know when I'll get around to it. And so the stash grows ... Very nice start! The paint scheme/decals are spectacular! I very much like the contrasts in the main panel too. Keep it up! Thanks Faves, I am thinking about how to get the prism effect that you so often see with the MFD screens ... the real thing just LOOKS LIKE a big fat piece of glass which has all kinds of rainbow effects. A decal or a plain bit of black-backed clear just won't do. Hmmm ..... Cheers Jim F`s are my favs and mpk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Very cool, looking forward to seeing more of this! ClumsyDude and mpk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F`s are my favs Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Jim, i think that if you leave them switched off - a small amount of purple to a gloss lacquer (from the same type) should work very nice. Then a very thin layer of that glossy transparent slightly purple mixture right onto the screens, and that`s it, like a filter. mpk and ClumsyDude 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 Thanks Ben! Faves - thanks for the tip, I will try that. Planning to experiment with a few different options ... I'm even wondering if it's worth springing for some Alclad prismatic paint ... I suspect not but it's nagging at me! I have a shipment of 250 micron acetate on the way and I'll have a play with that when it gets here. Cheers Jim mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_K2 Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Very nice progress. mpk and ClumsyDude 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted July 28, 2016 Author Share Posted July 28, 2016 Thanks Ron! Now that I am developing full blown AMS, I find that it takes ages to get things like this done ... but I do find it very satisfying! I just keep telling myself that I don't have enough display space to go any faster ... Cheers Jim mpk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClumsyDude Posted September 7, 2016 Author Share Posted September 7, 2016 (edited) Ok all, been a while ... I've been busy, just haven't had enough to post. I'm hammering away trying to get everything done to let me close up the front fuselage, but it's a slog to get all the details into the gear bay and the cockpit. Here's where we are at today. Been at the IP for weeks and it is finally starting to take shape. I began by spraying some matte clear over the semi gloss finish - the idea being to get some variation in shininess over the IP by using masking. Hard to see the effect in the photo - it's subtle enough in real life. Here it is with the PE attached. This looks a little dimensionless to me - the bezels for the dials are the same matte finish as most of the rest of the IP. So I painted the bezels with future, using a fine brush. A couple of thin coats gave a shine that was somewhere between the matte finish and the gloss of the dial face. Hard to see in the photo but the effect is quite pleasing. Then it was on to the MFDs. After a suggestion by Milan, I looked at reference photos and noticed the purple sheen that they often have when switched off. It's not uniform - varies with the internal curve of the screen - and it's a very deep effect. Here's how I tried to replicate. First, I took a sheet of scrap acrylic and thinned it with my Dremel until the thickness was just right to fit into the MFD recess on the IP. Then, I ground out a curve into the "back" side of each MFD, then cut it down to the right size. Edited July 27, 2017 by ClumsyDude Whitey, Uilleann, ShelbyGT500 and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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