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1/32 F/A-18C Hornet Diorama


Mark Jackson

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A roll cab was distressed and some stickers of the base plus squadrons applied.  FOD bins with liners (I even looked up what was the usual bin liner colour in Japan! Sad :mental: ).

 

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Even though there would be automatic  foam extinguisher system in the hangar I made some hand-held ones at designated fire extinguisher points.  The label around the neck is the service/check card to record that it has been tested.  The wall chart provides mandatory operating instructions.

 

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I bought a hand truck from Aires (Aerobonus) but it was so tricky to put together and keep together that I replace lots of parts with plasticard.  The ring binders on the top include one for VFA-97 (assigned to MAG12 at Iwakuni), SDLM and VIDS.  After reading through lots of NATOPS documents it was clear that a paper and computer trail followed each aircraft around.

 

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The gun was scratch built except for the barrels which were brass and a pig to assemble  :fight:

 

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This shows the gun and drum minus the ammunition feed belts.  The stand was made from plasticard.

 

The tricky part was keeping three items in scale; the gun, stand and the size on the MHU-191 trolley.

 

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Very detailed work Mark, you're putting all those minor details into your project most don't even worry. Nice work on the pylons however there is the receptacle for the air probe right beside the fuel one as you can see in this pic:

 

http://www.arcair.com/awa01/501-600/awa583-F-18-Sengco/46.jpg

 

Also for the ext tank, when they were removed covers were placed on the fuel and air probes, sometimes just a clear plastic bag and tape:

 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Flickr_-_Official_U.S._Navy_Imagery_-_Sailor_moves_an_F-A-18_Hornet_fuel_drop_tank_through_hangar_bay..jpg

 

also the electrical receptacle got covered as well, a plastic plug worked fine. Here is the right side of a F/A-18C ext fuel tank showing some details:
 
 
Keep up the great work.
 
Jari
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The kit provides a nice APG-65 radar unit which can slide in or out of the forward fuselage, some of the detail is good, some not so good.

 

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So a large part of the kit parts were replaced with plasticard as the level of detail was a bit clunky.

 

 

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The forward fuselage section was detailed and this took forever matching the structural ribs up, the AOA sensors, the cabling etc.

 

 

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This topic is taking longer to complete than Brexit (If I have broken a rule by using a political term - I'll get my coat now).   :innocent:

 

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Perhaps it's me but every kit I build seems to need tons of filler.   :hmmm:

 

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The kit has a rather nice canopy frame which can be painted to give a good effect.  I was obviously feeling masochistic and replaced the moulded cables and some of the details on it.  The sides were also lengthened to run to the front edge of the canopy.

 

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Damn! insane....

 

:)  Yep, but isn't everyone that makes models?

 

 

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The floor was created in Paint Shop Pro and printed on to white card.  

 

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The drill needs to be wired in to the switch box on the wall.

 

 

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I was pleased with the finish on the metal venting.

 

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The kit's engine nozzles are good but the inner lining lacks two details, the small holes on each plate and the actuator that you can just about see between the inner plates and the outer nozzle.  Both were easy fixes - drilling and applying a strip of plasticard to the exterior of each plate so that when the nozzles are in place you see a slight outline of the actuator.  Both the nozzles and inner parts were sanded to provide a thin edge which lined up.

 

 

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