1/32 F/A-18C Hornet Diorama

[Mark Jackson]

A few years back I had one of those ideas, you know the kind - bordering on delusional and totally outside the scope of one's skill, patience and ability.  A diorama of a 1/32 Marine Corps Air Station hangar with a legacy Hornet letting it all hang out whilst personnel went to work on her.  

 

 

Let's start with some scratch building:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone for a cold drink?

 

 

Some of the printed items which had to be non-uk (signs and safety labels etc).

 

 

The whiteboard(s) had the correct date for the diorama, Feb 23 - 2005 which matched up with the VFA-97 decals when it was stationed at MCAS Iwakuni.  I even researched what movies were out at this time and created posters for the base cinema.

 

 

The boxes above were printed on to paper and made these:

 

 

Paint Shop Pro was used to design and scale the bits and bobs, all the packing, postage, shipping, handling and manufacturer graphics were sourced from the web and scaled down.  The pallets were made from actual wood which was aged and detailed.

 

The MCCS notice board:

 

 

 

 

 

Most hangars have a foam fire retardant system in place which protects everything inside.  It's basically a tank or tanks which link in with a fire alarm system and will produce masses of foam to basically cover the entire hangar.

 

 

Enough of this non-aircraft skulduggery I hear you cry, where's the thing with the wings?

[Mark M]

   

[Squizzy 78]

I haven't seen a plane yet, and yet I know this will be to watch!

[F`s are my favs]

That is fabulous!

[Jim Barry]

Oh, Too much! 

[Mark Jackson]

 

 

 

The kit seat is quite acceptable with a bit of detailing.

 

 

So too the cockpit.

 

 

 

 

 

The plan is to show this panel hinged open, detail the radar and show the M61A gun and it's ammo drum outside the aircraft on a maintenance stand mounted on an MHU-191 cart.

[Mark Jackson]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.  

 

I bought a NAN-8 cart by Verlinden but was really surprised at how poorly formed some of the resin parts were, in the end I cut my losses with the chassis and used plasticard.  Even the top storage boxes were misshapen.

 

 

 

Whilst making the boxes I thought that it would be just as easy to show them open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark Jackson]

The hangar would have a main wall which would have steps going up to maintenance squadron offices, in 2005 the Commander in Chief was George W Bush so it was only fitting to put his photo on display in the small corridor along with the maintenance squadron's emblem.  

 

 

 

I tried to get the signage and fire alarm points as American as possible.  The corridor has a false ceiling to it and frosted perspex light covers.  The small void above has small bulbs wired in to a hidden switch and battery power supply.

 

 

The hardest part was making sure the light only came through the light fittings and not any micro gaps in the ceiling or through the plastic itself.

 

 

All hangars have CCTV systems, this was fun to make.

 

[LSP_Kevin]

I think we have a wolf in sheep's clothing here, folks!

 

Kev

[Jasta 14 addict]

..............he even put a picture of Bush on the wall.............really..........this is just simply said excellent stuff to watch Mark, nice mate.

 

Greetz

 

Danny

[A-10LOADER]

" A few years back I had one of those ideas, you know the kind - bordering on delusional and totally outside the scope of one's skill, patience and ability."

 

It seems to me that you've got this, WOW, phenomenal stuff !!

 

Steve

[Mark Jackson]

No weapons for obvious reasons but the seven pylons/launcher rails were given a few extra bits of detail.

 

 

There are two centreline pylons in the kit, one for early lot/block "C" models (below Bureau Number 163985) which has a square front edge.  The later "C" Hornets have a diagonal leading edge.  One point to note is that if you are planning to build this kit don't assume that you can attach a painted centre pylon at the end of the build.  The pylon has to fix to the point where the kit main fuselage joins with the forward fuselage; you get a slight angle.  I had to pack the top of the pylon with shaped plasticard to obtain the correct profile.

 

 

 

After painting you get these:

 

 

 

The LAU-7 rails are lovely but are spoilt by being in halves with the join running down the middle which is okay should you put AIM-9's on them but these ones have to be empty.  The simplest solution was to scan the LAU-7 and create a graphic of the rail with some details.  This was printed off on normal paper and looks the part.

 

 

 

A can of WD40 anyone?

 

Edited April 8, 2017 by Mark Jackson

[A-10LOADER]

AMAZING STUFF, WOW !!!

 

Usually when a jet goes to phase the weapons racks will be removed from the pylons by the back shop personnel. They in turn will rebuild the racks and reinstall them on the jet when the jet is finished it's phase inspection. At least that's how we did it in the USAF.

 

Steve

[Joel_W]

Mark,

  The level of detail on each piece you've scratch built is simply amazing. Even something as elementary as a door with it's hinges has been expertly modeled down to the screws in this case. :wow:Can't wait to see more, and hopefully the overall scene to get a sense of it's scope and size.  

 

Joel

[Shawn M]

umm what.....holy cow this is some great detailing