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RAAF Super Hornet. Finished.


ericg

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By the way Eric, you should think about casting the modified fuselage pylon - looking really good here!

If I had some moulding silicone I probably would!

 

Thanks for the comments guys. Will be doing lots of work to this one.

 

Eric.

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If I had some moulding silicone I probably would!

 

Thanks for the comments guys. Will be doing lots of work to this one.

 

Eric.

 

Eric, if you'd cast them, I'd certainly buy a set or two and I am pretty sure I'm not the only one!

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Will see what I can do.

 

Onto some more modifications. I honestly picked up this kit not expecting to have to do much to it, but practically every part that I pick up has to be checked against numerous photos to work out how I am going to have to modify it in order for it to look correct. Here is a really good example. The Aussie Supers are equipped with two Joint Helmet -Mounted cueing system sensors on the left hand side canopy frame, (one for each crew member.) Trumpeters designers would have the pilot having one sensor on either side as per below, which is very wrong, and the sensors look really bad anyway. Rather than do it properly, they have simply mirrored one of the sides.

 

51D9C002-9295-4C78-BB1A-EC5715F6012C_zps

 

5874DFDC-311B-4EE5-A5DF-ADDBF3040DFD_zps

 

I took some time to scratch some new ones, mounted in the right locations this time.

 

BF1D4FB7-CC56-4F3C-8D97-371C371D8145_zps

 

The kit undercarriage doors are a bit lacking in detail. In particular the nose gear door is missing the ADF sensor.

 

9D896754-3F34-4B8E-A4BA-46AAFBED14B9_zps

 

Here is the new door, skinned with Eduard Photo etch plus some copper wiring.

 

81F7B2A8-53ED-4042-9962-7859BC6BCD69_zps

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Another aspect of the kit that has come under close scrutiny is the undercarriage. I seem to be doing lots of work correcting this part of kits lately and this one is no different. In fact, some of the stuff that Trumpeter have thrown at this one is pure fantasy. I am not sure how these things slip through the folks that sign off on these kits but if a moderatley skilled modeler from the back blocks of Brisbane can get them sorts right, you would think that the big guys would be able to, right?

 

The main undercarriage is quite a noticeable feature of the Hornet jets and was one that I reckon needed to be done a bit better than what was out of the box. A fair bit of scratchbuilding has gone into getting the springs and various details onto the legs, and there is still lots more to come.

 

IMG_72731-1_zpsfr02g56m.jpg

 

Using an appropriately sized punch and copper wire various springs can be would to suit.

 

IMG_72701-1_zpslbbppxjk.jpg

 

Here is the part that inspired me to do the correction. The part on the right is the Trumpeter prod/spring assembly. Notice the lack of detail in the spring? More importantly, notice the bend in the part that should even be there? The entire read part of each main gear leg has required surgery to get everything to line up to allow my new straight rod/spring to fit.

 

IMG_72721-1_zps2kfqvcxh.jpg

 

IMG_72751-1_zpsgvettw8l.jpg

 

The J shaped rod at the front of the gear has also been modified, to look more rounded.

 

IMG_72741-1_zpstw6i1egf.jpg

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Eric, this is brilliant. Great work on the gear springs. I use guitar string to simulate springs, and I like them because the spring wiring is really tight, but not sure if they'd be straight enough for something like this.

 

One day I'd like to tackle a Trumpy super hornet, so it's awesome to have this as an accuracy manual!

 

Cheers

Jim

Edited by ClumsyDude
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Just caught up with this thread and I'm glad to see you building it again. I just picked up this kit in a trade and need to see what all is in need of help. You sure are doing great work this beast. To bad, it didn't get the attention it deserved from the AM industry. Not like some other subjects. Oh well, your make up the difference with your scratch building skills :thumbsup:

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