[W] - F/A-18C - Academy 1:32

[Gelerth]

Welcome again.

My last build MiG-29 is sitting now on the shelf so time has come to start new bird.

I was thinking about Tomcat but since it has raised lines and I do not feel like I could handle this, so I decided to start Hornet.

I red a lot of good opinion about this kit so I wanted to find out by myself.

 

First I started to work on armament. After finished all pylons, fuel tanks, bombs and missiles I got the quite big box filled with them:

 

After this it was time to build according to manual. First step was to build cockpit and nose gear well:

 

and to glue them together:

 

Next was ejection seat:

 

Now cockpit and nose well are in place and halves of front of the nose are glued together:

 

Dry fit of other parts of cockpit:

[Guest Peterpools]

Nice start on the Hornet and it's front office.

Which Tomcat are you referring to with the raised panel lines?

Peter

Edited November 22, 2012 by Peterpools

[Gelerth]

Nice start on the Hornet and it's front office.

Which Tomcat are you referring to with the raised panel lines?

Peter

All Tamiya's Tomcat are basically the same. And plane has a mixture of raised and recessed panel lines.

Mine is F-14A Tomcat Black Knights. Model number 60313.

[Ads]

Very subtly done mate nice job on the pit

Ads

[Gelerth]

Very subtly done mate nice job on the pit

Ads

Thank you.

 

In the meantime...

Wings and side panes have been glued:

 

but they needed some attention (main gear wells have been already painted):

 

I also glued front part and LERX wings (this also needs some putty and sanding):

 

Getting shape:

[Out2gtcha]

I really like your IP with the glass IP instruments............I know its not always accurate to have them "lit up" and working with the plane parked on the tarmac, but I like the looks of it that way a LOT better.

 

Good work so far!

[Gelerth]

Cockpit with a front canopy attached (rear canopy is ready and masked):

 

Nose- and main gear (it is really a lot of parts to build them):

 

There is an option to have ladder open or closed, I prefer open:

 

Air intakes are so far the worst parts of this kit, it took me a lot of time for fitting, sanding, putting and sanding and still I'm not really happy with the effect:

 

I have also decided what my bird will carry (I'm not sure if this is correct set):

 

And here is nozzle set from aires. Problem is that exhaust nozzles are about 0,4mm too small in diameter. I do not have photo of them attached to the plane but it is really visible that they are too small:

[P-51D Man]

I like what you have done so far. It is lookig really good. I am working on the same thing. I too find it difficult to get the air intakes they way they are supposed to be. It will take a lot of putty, sanding.

 

Ed

[Gelerth]

Welcome back after a long (too long break).

My Hornet was lying alone at the bottom of the closed waiting for it's chance.

Now time has come to give him what he deserves.

Model painted with hopefully correct colors cause at the beginning I was trying to use XF-25 on top and XF-66 on bottom but those were just too dark.

Finally I decided to use XF-66 on top and XF-83 on bottom, both colors were firmly mixed with some flat white:

[P Stoner]

Very nice start. will be watching to see more. I know what kind of a mood killer the Tam Tomcats are!!

 

Paul

[Guest Peterpools]

Terrific progress on the hornet.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[Rob Colvin]

Great looking.....I have built a couple of these over the years...one of the best right out of the box....

[Gelerth]

Thank guys. 

 

In the meantime I've prepared gear flaps:

 

And exhaust. I'm not quite satisfied of it, I will try to tune it up after assembly on model:

[Gelerth]

Main gear and gloss finish:

and front gear:

And for the first time on it's own "legs":

 

Mounting additional parts and equipments:

 

Top view:

[Gelerth]

Decals, decals and more decals.
Common parts:

 

and for chosen painting:

 

And result:

 

It was so far the worst part of the kit. Dry, a lot of bubbles, hard to move after few secs. Even Set and Sol didn't helped much.