Hi there,
I wanted to do an OOB build, and
also have been eyeing this 1/72 kit that has been sitting in my stash for a
while. I normally build 1/48, but I'm also running low on display space, so I
figure if I'm going for variety in markings....I might as well build more 1/72;
it'll save me many dollars anyway. When I mean OOB, I really did try to be OOB,
except for a little sheet styrene and clay. In the end I also used Steel Beach
FOD covers, which I'll review later.
I was quite surprised by the kit -
rivets galore! Also, it's pretty expensive for a 1/72 kit I'd say, and I think
Hasegawa could have included say photo-etched for the pit for the price
they're selling it at. Much has been going on in the forums about Revell's
1/48 E model, flaps and all, so I decided to try my hand at cutting the flaps
on this one. One thing about fowler style flaps like Hornets have - it's not
such an easy task as just cutting and reinstalling the flaps at a different
angle - you need to do some major grinding and reshaping, of which I have not
done entirely. I also cut the rudders, and the slats for repositioning - the
rudders were scored with an x-acto blade then bent to the angle desired,
instead of removing them totally.
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I did all the
cutting and filing before painting, with the flaps off. Cockpit installation
needed a few bits of styrene, sheet and bars, to fill up gaps between the tub
and the fuselage. I had to make some seat belts from tape, and busy up the area
behind the rear seat. I also attempted to fill in some of the panel lines and
rivets to make it more "in scale", but in the end I succumbed to
temptation and rescribed them all back in, albeit a little smaller (i used a
finer needle). I also filled in the gun port and drilled it out facing the right
way - otherwise the pilot would be shooting upwards!
Weathering was kept to a minimum
- it's a CAG show bird! I was running very low on gunze 36375 (but I have
restocked since then, though I had to ship 4 bottles in from spruebrothers.com,
not local stores) so painting a 1/72 bird really helped me to economise on my
paint. I masked with blu-tac snakes, but then went back and sprayed diluted
36375 all over to kinda' blur the edges... I kept the loadout simple, so I have
extra 1/72 AIM-9X, AIM-120s, and fuel tanks for future use I guess.
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Decalling went fine, but in this
scale, Hasegawa's thick decals look thicker than ever. They were set with
micro set and sol, and then I used this opportunity to try out a chalk pastel
wash also (I normally use oils, but sometimes I don't like how the oils
permanently stain the paint a little), and I quite liked the relative easiness
that I could sludge it on and wash it off. Clear coats were future, flat was
gunze flat clear. Bare metal areas I painted using Gunze's lacquer metalliser
line - I used aluminium for the gun port, dark iron for the exhaust. The
exhaust FOD covers were made from modelling clay, sculpted and then painted
red.. I think they're still a little out of shape to me. The intake FOD covers
were from steel beach - not easy at all to put them on, especially since my
intakes were already on the aircraft. There was a little bit of fitting
problems that I managed to hide, but overall, a bit disappointed there as
Darren usually maintains sky high standards.
Thanks for looking, hope you
enjoy it. Next of this kit I build, I'm gonna attempt a wingfold!
David
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