Jump to content

RAAF 20th anniversary hornet - the perils of polishing 23/12


ClumsyDude

Recommended Posts

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:

 

NQAGxbT.jpg

 

GDws9AA.jpg

 

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".

 

V8EQvR5.jpg

 

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:

 

gpQllXI.jpg

 

SEAWARS cylinders made out of Albion alloys micro tubing

 

VjaYmgl.jpg

 

d2hlF9B.jpg

 

DuGnowl.jpg

 

TngZaRc.jpg

 

d2hlF9B.jpg

 

WRFN1IF.jpg

 

Ready for primer!

 

VuncxwO.jpg

 

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:

 

q7pdu5T.jpg

Edited by ClumsyDude
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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!

 

kQfsDkb.jpg

 

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.

 

NnYUmos.jpg

 

gHrdRk7.jpg

 

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!

 

MKgNJrK.jpg

 

MPhCj5b.jpg

 

WHZ6mI5.jpg

 

Dgepb1l.jpg

 

Masking for the main pit ... you can't see it here but it's shot from above with a slightly lighter shade of grey.

 

ReJqTN1.jpG

 

H0R64xR.jpg

 

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.

 

BO7nFpc.jpg

 

 

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!

 

QhqCyzt.jpg

 

Thanks for following everyone!

 

Cheers

Jim

Edited by ClumsyDude
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

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.

 

aaNC3UL.jpg

 

pG9yLW5.jpg

 

Hard to see the effect in the photo - it's subtle enough in real life. Here it is with the PE attached.

 

aYLoqr3.jpg

 

SYKBRwj.jpg

 

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.

 

7qnkHeH.jpg

 

x1eamle.jpg

 

Then, I ground out a curve into the "back" side of each MFD, then cut it down to the right size.

 

8v0CbaB.jpg

 

l7uIIK2.jpg

Edited by ClumsyDude
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...