First came the weapons, I chose a mixed load out of
smart and dumb bombs, mostly because I wanted to use
the canted ejector racks that come in the BB set. I
applied super glue to the surface of the bombs and
after they dried I used my razor saw and dragged it
along the surface to rough them up and give texture to
approximate the ablative coating that all US Navy
bombs have to prevent shipboard fires. This is the
third technique I have tried in making this coating
and although it worked I am always looking for
something better, whatever works though. I added fuse
wire to each of the Mk 82s and painted some in green
and some in Grey and then mixed and matched as it
would be on the ship. I also reshaped the nose of the
J-dam to correct them.
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I detailed the Sidewinders by adding some plastic
strip and drilling out proximity fuses along with
making protective caps for the seeker head from
plastic rod.
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I had wanted to fit an AIM-120 on the shoulder station but was unable to because the flaps were
lowered too much and I decided it wasn't worth
changing. It made me wonder if the real jet can't
lower it's flaps all the way (and slow down for
landing) if there is a BVR missile fitted? I also
loaded the tanks in "goofy gas" configuration, this is
very common now and is done to allow the FLIR to have
a better view to the side as well as underneath.
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I added wires for the hydraulic lines and placards
to the gear of course.
I detailed the inside of the canopy using the parts
from the Eduard set along with some scratch built
items (the lipstick cameras). The PE stuff didn't fit
as well as I would have liked, so I cut it in half to
get it to fit, not perfect but better than no details.
I noticed that the kit only includes the early style
Angle of Attack sensor which looks like a little wing,
but most Hornets now have the new needle type. As both
of my jets used this latter type I came up with a
simple solution, I cut off the front half of two
needles and inserted them pointy end out, it perfectly
matches the real thing and is stronger than a plastic
part. I painted and applied future to the UHF antennas
and then applied the "do not paint" kit decals, in
this scale the decals are very readable and look great
on the finished product. Even though I inserted steal
wire into all the weapons to brace them I continuously
broke off bombs and fuel tanks handling the kit, no
matter what you leave off until the last minute there
is always something to break!
I really enjoyed building this kit (and the second
one too) and think it is worth every penny of the high
price, like everything else in life, you get what you
pay for! I am looking foreword to their release of the
F/A-18D (AW) kit and maybe if we all hope enough they
will tackle the Super Bug in this scale too (I hope
Academy is reading this!) before Trumpeter or Tamyia
beat them to it. If you like modern Navy jets as much
as I do then this kit is a must have, I can't
underline that enough, just go get it and you will be
as happy as I am, after all, the photos of how great
the kits look says it all!
Everett
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