Academy F18D Hornet 1:32 "Night Attack"

[Mel]

On 3/12/2024 at 4:46 AM, themongoose said:

Those screens are looking, pretty smart!

 

On 3/13/2024 at 12:49 AM, ALF18 said:

Nice job so far. The cockpit looks great. The D model comes in two flavours: two-stick pilot trainer, or night attack with WSO in back. The pilot trainer has a control stick like the front cockpit (like in the reference pic, showing the black rear instrument panel from the model next to it above). The night attack version would have a joystick on each side console, that the WSO uses for weapons aiming. That version is not intended to be flown from the back, and the backseater is a true weapons operator, not a second pilot. 

I found a good picture on a DCS forum site that shows the left console controller, and the fact there is no pilot control stick in the back on that version: https://forum.dcs.world/topic/200160-fa-18d-usmc-night-attack/page/2/

 

I flew CF-18 A and B Hornets for 10 years in Canada, and I followed the upgrades closely with the C, D, D night attack, then E, F, and G variants closely. Anything with a centre-mounted control stick in back is a pilot trainer, not night attack with the specialized avionics and joysticks on the side panels.

 

For the displays, unless AC power was available, they would be dark (i.e. off). AC power is only available when at least one engine is running with its generator on, or when external AC power is connected on the left side of the nose. They do look nice when they're all lit up, though!

I love the big Academy kit, and I have some of those Red Fox instrument panels for three kits I have to build soon. I'll be following this, to refresh my memory on the details of the build.

If you have any questions about details, etc, you can send me a PM.

ALF

Hi guys, thank you very much, sorry for the late reply, as for you. @ALF18 

You have been an F18 pilot, you know that I admire you a lot, without disparaging other users, let it be clear, I served in the Spanish air force, I was a combat parachute operator, and my dream has always been to be a fighter pilot, but ...unfortunately I did not have the studies to enter the officer academy, but I feel proud to have served, I just wanted to convey my admiration for having managed to be a fighter pilot, as I have said it has always been my dream but I never achieved it With modeling, lithographs, books and people like you and all the users of the forum I enjoy military aviation, as for the kit I combined the Redfox panels with those from Quinta Studio, I didn't want to do it in cool and dark, I'm going to do it on, with N1 and N2 running obviously haha

As for DCS, I'm waiting to renew my PC to be able to play again, my PC is already old and I don't enjoy the simulator as I should

As for asking him... of course I will ask him any questions, as an anecdote I have a good friend who is a Eurofighter pilot in the Spanish air force, and I also feel proud of him.

I leave a little progress, although it seems that it is the same it is not, these two days I have been finishing the details and varnishing to leave it sealed and protected

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 15 by Mel

[Mel]

well guys, yesterday I thought I had finished polishing the missing details but no, I finished dirtying the landing gear bays but a problem arose, the damn cone, can any of you think of a method or idea to leave the tip of the cone right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Damm it!! :-(

 

 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

What happened to it?

 

Kev

[TankBuster]

I would tape it off sand back and paint again. Cheers.

[themongoose]

Would love to know what happened to it? Short of knowing, I’m with TankBuster, tape off the grey, lightly wet sand the tan, then respray.

Edited March 19 by themongoose

[JMann]

I noticed the screens on the exterior of the aircraft. I don't have this kit and am not familiar with academy yet. Are they photoetch part provided or were they purchased aftermarket? Definitely enhances your build. Also, where did you pick up that aircraft stand to make painting easier? I currently don't have anything like this and it would make it a whole lot easier!

 

I'm impressed with your progress of this build. I'm not modeling as often as I would like so it has been years in the making of the 1:32 kit I'm on at the moment. Enjoy it though.

Edited March 19 by JMann
forgot to add an additional question after posting the first time

[ALF18]

All military service is worthy of respect - we all know just how much we sacrificed to live that life. I say 'live the life' because it is a life, not just a job anyone does, and all roles are important. I must say there are many military jobs I wouldn't want to do, and I consider myself privileged to have done what I did. 

I'm curious - has your Eurofighter pilot friend also flown Hornets? What does he think of the comparison between the two?

 

I'm loving your attention to detail on the exterior. This is a fantastic kit, and a good modeller can really do it justice (like you).

The weathering in the gear bays is looking quite realistic, as are the screens. I suspect they are simply the ones moulded on the kit, but nicely painted. 

I did a cockpit with colour PE on the same kit. I think yours looks better.

ALF

 

 

[Mel]

On 3/17/2024 at 9:05 PM, LSP_Kevin said:

What happened to it?

 

Kev

 

On 3/18/2024 at 3:50 AM, TankBuster said:

I would tape it off sand back and paint again. Cheers.

 

On 3/19/2024 at 3:09 AM, themongoose said:

Would love to know what happened to it? Short of knowing, I’m with TankBuster, tape off the grey, lightly wet sand the tan, then respray.

 

Hello guys, before answering one by one, sorry for the delay, some personal things have required my attention and I have not been able to make much progress, as for the radar cone, the tape simply played tricks on me but it is now repaired

 

 

 

On 3/19/2024 at 2:22 PM, JMann said:

I noticed the screens on the exterior of the aircraft. I don't have this kit and am not familiar with academy yet. Are they photoetch part provided or were they purchased aftermarket? Definitely enhances your build. Also, where did you pick up that aircraft stand to make painting easier? I currently don't have anything like this and it would make it a whole lot easier!

 

I'm impressed with your progress of this build. I'm not modeling as often as I would like so it has been years in the making of the 1:32 kit I'm on at the moment. Enjoy it though.

 

As for the exterior panels, they are from the same kit, I simply taped it with mask and painted it with Alclad II Steel, as for the support, the one I have is for 1:48 scale but it works for 1:32 perfectly, I personally recommend that I buy The one I have is a little flimsy and bad, it cost me 25 euros, there are much better plastic ones and it is not necessary to assemble it like mine, it is made of poor quality "wood", if you buy a support buy for scale 1: 32 that will serve you for the 1:32 and 1:48 scales

 

I recommend this one

 

https://ak-interactive.com/es/producto/aircraft-holder-large-msj03/

 

 

20 hours ago, ALF18 said:

All military service is worthy of respect - we all know just how much we sacrificed to live that life. I say 'live the life' because it is a life, not just a job anyone does, and all roles are important. I must say there are many military jobs I wouldn't want to do, and I consider myself privileged to have done what I did. 

I'm curious - has your Eurofighter pilot friend also flown Hornets? What does he think of the comparison between the two?

 

I'm loving your attention to detail on the exterior. This is a fantastic kit, and a good modeller can really do it justice (like you).

The weathering in the gear bays is looking quite realistic, as are the screens. I suspect they are simply the ones moulded on the kit, but nicely painted. 

I did a cockpit with colour PE on the same kit. I think yours looks better.

ALF

 

 

Thank you for your kind words, I do what I can with what I have, now you will see that the anti-slip decals are a little broken, right? They are placed on purpose so that they will serve as templates for the mig jimenez anti-slip, to simulate the lateral anti-slip

  In my case, my military life... I served 6 years, of that 6 years I had 3 detachments in Afghanistan, 2 for 6 months, 1 for 4, 6 years of my life I never set foot in my house, neither on Christmas nor on new year, nothing, you understand me.

As for my friend, he is from the new batch, that is... he graduated from the general air academy and went directly to Eurofighter (officer school and obtained the cut-off mark for the combat pilot specialty, that is, in Spain goes by specialty)
That is to say, the first 5 in promotion are those who have gotten the best grade and decide whether to be a fighter pilot, helicopter pilot, etc.

The specialties would be:

Fighter pilot

Transport pilot (propeller)

Helicopter pilot

and those who do not choose to be pilots go as officers to the units they want, special forces, infantry, etc.

Other pilots who flew the C15 (in this case our F18 are CASA 15 (C.15 Single Seat and CE.15 Two Seater) have never spoken badly about the F18 and even more so with the EADS improvements, but many took the transition course to the Eurofighter, I think they are going to Germany to do the training and they say that it is a delightful machine, really all combat fighters are a damn marvel haha and you know it very well, as for the eurofighter the differences are in the interface of the instruments,

Obviously the Eurofighter is more modern and is in progress, the difference is that production is divided into three models or phases with a gradual increase in capacity in each of them.

What happens in Spain is that we have few planes and many fighter pilots, they rotate among them

The F18 that we have are destined for the Canary Islands are ex-USNavy, as a curious fact, the others were purchased at the time from the former McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing

 

 

 

Edited March 21 by Mel

[ALF18]

I know exactly what you mean about endless deployments and family sacrifices. Hats off to you and others who have lived this as well.

I'll have to look into that anti-slip stuff from Mig. On Canadian Hornets, the anti-slip panels are often faded and indistinct, unlike the one you're modelling. I just scribble some soft pencil on the area, wet my fingertip, then rub it until it's uniformly darkened. I use the same technique to apply hydraulic oil stains and other greasy stains to the surfaces. What I love about this technique is that if I overdo it, I simply take a pencil eraser and erase it, then try again.

 

In this pic you can see how it looks when finished. I do the dirtying up before applying the gloss coat on the matte paint. You can also see the colour PE in the cockpit. I think the Quinta/Red Fox ones look even better. I built this kit for another pilot's son (a former instructor and Snowbird), who flew Hornets in Cold Lake recently.

 

ALF

[Mel]

35 minutes ago, ALF18 said:

I know exactly what you mean about endless deployments and family sacrifices. Hats off to you and others who have lived this as well.

I'll have to look into that anti-slip stuff from Mig. On Canadian Hornets, the anti-slip panels are often faded and indistinct, unlike the one you're modelling. I just scribble some soft pencil on the area, wet my fingertip, then rub it until it's uniformly darkened. I use the same technique to apply hydraulic oil stains and other greasy stains to the surfaces. What I love about this technique is that if I overdo it, I simply take a pencil eraser and erase it, then try again.

 

In this pic you can see how it looks when finished. I do the dirtying up before applying the gloss coat on the matte paint. You can also see the colour PE in the cockpit. I think the Quinta/Red Fox ones look even better. I built this kit for another pilot's son (a former instructor and Snowbird), who flew Hornets in Cold Lake recently.

 

ALF

 

 

It is hard but we choose this life, today I am at home with a quiet life, I live in a quiet town enjoying my hobbies, walking my dogs in the mountains and taking care of my mother and my brother and enjoying this wonderful hobby What is modeling and when I can I will renew my PC to be able to play DCS well, anyway, if anyone thinks I am distorting the thread please let me know.

As for his hornet, it is wonderful, I remember the time of Eduard's photo-etched parts... good times, regarding the quinta vs redfox sets, both are good, buto... quintastudios is a better product, why, why It is more complete and much more defined, the full version is obviously more expensive but it is worth every Euro/Dollar/CAD believe me, by the way when I finish this hornet I want to make my favorite, the super hornet, I had the 1:48 meng one in progress but I didn't publish it here because I thought it was only for 1:32 scales.

Regarding the mig product it says that it is for 1:72 and 1:48 scales, it also works for 1:32, only you have to put more quantity, I leave you the instructions

 

https://www.migjimenez.com/black-hole/lv426/QT_AntiSlip-AMIG2034.pdf

 

P.D: And a question if you don't mind answering... the physiological issue, the G forces issue, how do you feel? What would be the equivalent of something earthly? Is it similar to the tingling sensation when you get into a very powerful car and it suddenly accelerates? how is? which has always been "funny" as the faces are slightly deformed when they do a maneuver of many Gs

 

[chaos07]

Nice repair on the radome.  This is coming along nicely!

 

[Mel]

16 hours ago, chaos07 said:

Nice repair on the radome.  This is coming along nicely!

 

Thank you very much, today I used the masking tape to apply the mig jimenez anti slip and then paint

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 22 by Mel

[Mel]

Today I used the Mig Jimenez anti-slip, I personally highly recommend it, although it says that it is for 1:72 and 1:48 scales, it also works for 1:32 without a problem, and it is very easy to use, with a frayed sponge and apply it ,It's super easy

 

 

 

 

[Mel]

For my part it is finished, I have painted black on top with a very small amount of white, although to tell the truth the oil paints will go on top later, what do you think? be honest

 

 

 

 

 

[chuck540z3]

Hi Mel, you are doing a really nice job on one of my favorite jets.  As for the anti-skid surfaces, I would sand them down a bit so that the rough bits are knocked down a bit for scale.  This will also make the surface look worn, which is what you want.  I would then dirty them up with pastels, like Tamiya "OIl Stain", which I use on almost everything I want to make dirty.

 

Here's some reference pics I took of the anti-skid surfaces on an F-18A, albeit a Canadian CF-18 version, which should be similar to the American F-18C.  Note that small details like screws and fasteners still show through the rough surface.  Also note that the surface isn't as dirty towards the rear, where foot traffic is much less than the cockpit sides.

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

Chuck

Edited March 23 by chuck540z3