Ryan

Ye old 72nd scale trick....... HTH

Good idea Tony, or take a gander at the 1/48 resin offerings.

I won't be, just wasn't sure who had made a set for this kit. Ryan

Glue the tops of the wings to the fuselage sides first, then glue the bottom wing to the finished fuselage wing assembly. You'll get a tighter joint that way. And welcome to the forum. Ryan

Yeah man just found your build and signed up.

BBetty, the pit was from Super Bug...now I remember. http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/thread/1305054324/Trumpeter+F-18+E,F,G,+1-32+scale

signed up, nice mods so far. Ryan

Thanks Gary, I'm OK with the black, just harder to make out the details and shapes on the sidewalls.

Yes there is a aftermarket pit. Cant think of the name right now...it's not a big name producer like Aires etc. The glare shield is too egg shaded also, but I'm OK with the ht. of it. Once you start sanding down the hump it doesn't look as bad. Yes your right about those missing panels up above the CRT displays. I'm suspect of the angle of the side panels also, it just looks off, but in Jake's book you can sort of see the panels are ramped on the sidewall side. So far I have bought the Aires seat and Quick Boost stick for it, still thinking about intakes and exhaust. For now the pit looks like it's all up to the builder! This is a great thread let's keep it going.

Yes the kit has some missing detail, I guess all kits do! To my eye the cockpit looks to tall in relation to the sidewall. In other words if you dry fit the pit in the side walls loo too tall. Also the IP panel could be pushed back a little to get it under the glare shield. Speaking of the IP panel, it has different, refined detail as opposed to the tub. The tub looks more like a toy than the IP panel does. Then there is the out of scale joy stick! Good points are the hell hole cover, it looks like it could be block sanded from below to add screen detail etc. Overall the kit looks like like it will be a fun blank canvas to detail.

May I suggest getting a new seat for the cockpit. At least in my example the headrest just looked odd! Ryan

Hello, From what I can see the Super Hornet Cockpit Side Walls above the instruments are now Black. Is the structure esentially the same as an F-18C Hornet? Are fuselage ribs and other features the same on the side walls on both models? I ask because it's very easy to see the details on a grey side wall (a-la F-18C) and the black painted ones. Hope this question makes sense. Ryan

Nice internals Mark, definitely worth the effort. Ryan

Hana from HPH got me all fixed up...set orderd! Thanks Artful for the email address. Ryan

Thanks Heinz, Just to be clear, I'm not complaining about the fee...if it costs that much to send it, then it costs that much to send it. It's possible I misunderstood the directions in the HPH check out. I've checked all of the leads given to me and so far no luck with the set. I do like to buy direct from the manufacturer (when possible). Thanks for all the input on this! Ryan

Ok viewers get your popcorn ready.....received this today from Sierra Hotel! image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr I'll push the Mustang aside and get started on this thread. Ryan

Thanks Andy, I have an evil plan on how to keep them in step....info soon.

Thanks for all the good leads. I'm looking for the Hobby Boss Spitfire Correction set, so far haven't had any luck. Ryan

Your so right, and if it was a large kit the shipping fee isn't as bad. In my case it was a correction set for the Hobby Boss Spit....very inexpensive and light. And yes I think an email wouuld be in order, thanks for the address. Ryan

Any one order these fine products though another source other than HPH themselves? 29 Euro min order shipping fee seems high for a small upgrade set. (unless I read it wrong.) Ryan

Been there man. You'll get it all sorted out and it will look fine. Ryan

KUROK had asked about the fit of the rear assembled tail cone as it fits to the rest of the air frame, well here it is. Fit is very good with only a panel lines gap...great engineering. image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Of course this is just taped together and will be even more true and straight once I glue them up. And here under hard lighting....once again the tape and assembly is a little flexible so any shadows should level out once I start gluing. image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Thanks Ryan

Pascal, I actually tried to mix my Tamiya color to the MM paints, thanks for the comment. Peter and Mal thanks very much! More soon, Ryan

Thanks all....oleo still bugs me though, glad it's on the bottom! Ryan

Evening builders, Finally got all my detail painting done on the tail gear and happy to say it's done. image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Not my best work...the long oleo at the rear was really hard to paint. When I build the next one, i'm going to cut it out and put in a new part that is fully round. The kit part is sorta fused into the knuckle at the bottom and very difficult to paint cleanly. And here we are finally in it's new home. image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Whew glad this step is over...on to the cockpit! Ryan