hpetiers

thank you gentlemen for this feedback! And specifically to Starfighter, having seen your wonderful interpretation of the Rhino from Trumpeter, that really means a lot to me. btw still planning to try out Revell's F/A-18F when it comes out in October

Hi all, thanks for that! lsp ray, that would be Nice, Thx for that honor!

indeed Shawn, a beast it was in behaviour and still is in size! thanks for your support Stokey Pete and chrish. In the bombs I put 1 steel wire stubs that can be pushed into holes in the pylons. For that price you cannot expect any Tamiya-like features!

it took me around one year, then could not get enough of it so decided to add a piece of carrier deck, but in the end completed it last week. please find below my interpretation of Revells F/A-18E with the best of my modeling skills and patience. Added aftermarket ejection seat, pilot, cockpit interior, wheels and decals and did quite some adjustments on the inner structure to make all parts fit. the Maverick missile came from Academy. The build thread can be found in the works in progress section. Thank for looking!

hi Derek B, thanks for your compliment, appreciate it! SO now I have finally finished this project. Took nearly a year but it was worth the effort. Can't wait for the -F to come in October! anyway here is the last in progress pic of the carrier deck, everything put together now: more pics will follow, lets see if I can make some photo's from my back garden in the sunlight tomorrow. Thanks for hanging in with me, it was an amazing adventure! Now, where is that Strike Eagle that I only half finished last year?

today the mail man delivered the decal that i had printed. next step is clear coat!

thank you gentlemen for this encouragement, this deck is really a paint drainer. Boy, did I underestimate the amount of work for this large a diorama! Needed to take the side wall off my paint booth to make it fit Luckily I got some things done this weekend, put on a layer of varnish and then dabbed on some very thin, very dark grey artist oil paint with a sponge. Then the result was a bit too dirty, I decided to put on a thin, diluted layer of the original colors. I think the result is realistic enough now:

indeed, the cut that I made gives some room to show the very back end of the ship with some of the netting and other bits. this is what I have worked on: mounted against the back of the ship this willlook something like this:

it took much more paint and tape than I expected, but by now the deck has been painted. I have now a squeaky clean, new-looking aircraft carrier deck: next step: making it filthy!

in the mean time I have made the frame for catching crew members if they get blown off the deck. On this frame I will apply netting by means of some medical gauze. Also did some pre shading on the deck: I dared to put my Rhino on its feet. It is almost a tail sitter!

Hi Kai, wow. thanks for sharing, particularly on an open platform like this one, takes courage. Good point, when life gets complicated, make sure you have a stable home base. Makes this build just a bit more meaningful and inspirational to me. Thanks for your offer, I will surely reach out!

Hey gentlemen, thanks for your encouragement that really means a lot. And hello mr Wolter! wow, to get this reply from you really means a lot to me! Having actually been multiple times on an aircraft carrier and making such good photo's is really something that I admire, so thanks for your input here. Your website has been a big inspiration for my model aircraft building projects in recent years. Even Jake Melampy published the ultimate super hornet guide with some of your photo's in it if I'm not mistaken. That must make you a real celebrity in the aircraft modeling world!

hi Chrish, thanks for sticking around this far into the build. I don't know about Canada, but over here they call it social isolation. I call it more time to do model aircraft building. My project is coming along a bit faster than in the last months. I finished the inlets with use of some small plastic parts to imitate the retraction mechanism: then mounted it on my Rhino: Sprayed the burner cans with Vallejo metallic steel and with Tamyia smoke on each edge of each blade: then mounted them, after which I could also glue the ailerons.

Hi Chrish, neither can I! I am indeed postponing this build quite a lot my my plan for a piece of carrier deck. But nevertheless making good progress: Put the lines on the deck and pre drilled the tie-down holes. tie downs have been printed by Shapeways in the mean time. The weld seams between deck plates were made with Vallejo putty: Then I used a yoghurt-like primer to glue tiles onto tiles. I had that stuff as left over some years ago, already then I saw how there is very fine sand particles in there and how its structure would make a good anti-slip

Hi Mark, I see your point, I selected only a part the size of the aircraft out of the whole print: I just ordered some extra tie down points at shapeways, that will take a few days before I can progress.