Academy F-18A/C advice

[andromeda673]

Hey guys, like the title says I recently acquired an Academy F18, I'm planning on building this gears down door open obviously and pit open/nose open, wings folded. I was looking at some aftermarket goodies and so I thought I'd ask you guys and see if anyone here had some first hand experience with these products, or offer some advice on something else that might be better or more suitable. 

 

Here's what I'm thinking about adding or using for the build 

-Aires wheel wells, are they worth the price? 

-Eduard photo etch rear burner exhaust set

-Sierra Hotel Models seamless intakes, apparently the kit ones suck? 

-Metal landing gear, after looking at the kit ones which include metal supports I'm thinking this might be a waste. 

-Aires rear burner cans

-Scratch building some exhaust covers/intake plugs

-Eduard cockpit colored photo etch kit

-Aires Ejection seat and cockpit kit 

-Eduard photo etc ladder 

-Eduard photo etch stencil kit, I'd like to try one instead of all the pesky tiny decals for the "no step" placards etc. 

 

I've never gone nuts on aftermarket goodies for a build like this, but since I got such a good deal on the kit, I can somewhat justify dropping the coin. I'm still undecided about a decal sheet, I'm thinking low viz and weathered heavily. But we will see, that can come later. I'd like to find a decal sheet of VX-9 "Go Navy beat Army 2006" but I won't sweat that right now. 

Edited June 20, 2015 by LSP_Ray

[Dave Williams]

Skip the Aires burner cans. They are noticeably smaller in diameter than the kit rear fuselage. Personally, I don't think the Aires wheel wells are really needed. Seamless intakes are good to have, as is the G-factor metal gear.

[Lee_K]

I built this kit recently and am of the opinion that even though the Academy 1/32 scale F/A-18C kit is now a decade old, it still is one of the finest jet kits ever made, regardless of scale.  That said, the only aftermarket item that is really needed is an ejection seat, and that is a general rule for nearly every large scale jet kit I build owing to the nature of the three-dimensional properties that resin can provide.  I have a friend who made the mistake of adding the Aires wheel well set to his model and had so many fit problems that he ripped them out and restored the kit pieces as best he could.

 

I used a Rhino Modelworks intake set on my model, and that was mostly for convenience as it allowed me to skip the tedious step of filling the seams on the inside of the kit pieces and making everything seamless.  Of course if you are going to scratch-build intake plugs then aftermarket intakes would be totally unnecessary.  Rhino also conveniently provided resin wheels in the set which I used, but I would have been just as happy with the kit pieces.  Like Dave's response above, I don't believe exhaust the exhausts need to be replaced as the kit pieces are just fine and the small aperture for a Hornet at rest won't allow much ability to view the extra detail that Eduard's photoetch provides. I think the kit landing struts are plenty strong enough and do not warrant replacement.

 

This really is a fantastic model kit right out of the box and I wish you good luck as you build yours.

 

[andromeda673]

thanks for the info and the advice, I'm also really looking forward to getting this build going, Looks like then I'll do the seamless intakes for sure, and then a ejection seat as well. The only other thing that I was really hell bent on doing was aftermarket wheels, and then the eduard color **** pit kit. But if I'm going to be building this as planned with wings folded and then nose open, the plane would be powered down and the computer/nav screens would be turned off. 

 

Looks like I'll be saving some money on aftermarket, and thats a good thing. 

[LSP_Ron]

I built it last year as a CF-18, I used Avionix's cockpit and G-force metal landing gear.  It's nice kit and fun to build.  Here's a link to mine

[EmperorKai]

If you need just the wheels, Northstar Models (Ukraine) makes resin wheel sets for all marks of the Hornet.  They also make single cast wheels or "no mask" sets with the rims cast separately.  They have a website, but you can also order from them off EBay.  I have their AGM-65 Maverick sets (outstanding) and had no problems ordering from them.

 

Kai

[Rob Colvin]

I built it out of the box......i only added a resin seat. i grabbed the GBUs from another kit.

 

[Lee_K]

This demonstrates how good the kit is right out of the box, and in the hands of a great modeler like Rob, looks magnificent.

[Rob Colvin]

Lee your bird looks sharp! Anymore pics?

[Lee_K]

Thanks, Rob.  Complete review and lots of photos over on Modeling Madness. 

 

http://modelingmadness.com/review/mod/us/usn/kolf18.htm

[Rob Colvin]

Very nice indeed! I almost went with mavs under my bird. The Academy F-18 is about as good as it gets for a big 32nd Jet. i wish they would blow up that 1/48 Phantom to 32nd.......That might break me.

 

 

Rob

[andromeda673]

thanks for all the help guys, I can't wait to get rocking on this build, I hope I can do it justice! 

[mydesign]

Made a model more than 10 years ago, check out to get an impression my webpage at:

 

http://designer.home.xs4all.nl/models/f18-32/f18-32.htm

 

 

regards, Meindert

[andromeda673]

I've been doing some research here off and on, what are you guy's thoughts on doing aftermarket fuel tanks and weapons for the Academy kit? 

[Dave Williams]

Don't think it needs aftermarket tanks, and I'm not sure anyone even makes them. For the weapons, I don't think it's really necessary unless you want something not in the box, like Zactoman's AIM-9X. You can always get more detailed aftermarket weapons if you want, but what comes in the kit is pretty decent IMHO.