"NWP 3-22.5-F/A-18E/F"
(that is: “Google, I want this term exactly”) yields precisely two results for me: one is the PDF linked to above, the other isn’t useful here.HI Barry NO NO NO NO PLEASE PLEASE DONT BIN IT as id love to see this plane through completion ? as I must admit ive not properly looked through my super hornet kit an wont till ive finished tiger but you binned the AV10 an that was a shame an im sure you had your reasons as you said that you've never had such a bad fittin kit well ok on that but im sure the hornet is not that bad is it ?I have moved on to fitting together the main airframe sub-assemblies. This really is not a good kit, the fit is terrible. I had a hint of a problem from how the many wing parts came together and various test fits. I have taken this slowly, test fitting, trying different approaches but found issues every way I turned.
Some pictures:
Due to difficulties I found in test fits getting the wings into position with the top and bottom fuselages joined, I decided to cement the wings to the top half of the fuselage first. It seemed the best way but, if I did it again, I would have used the bottom half to do this though in some ways it would have been more problematical.
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I am not sure whether you can make it out but I could not get a good fit at all. Get one part in the right place, another would be out. Nothing properly fitted the space it was meant to fit so I cemented it into position as best I could having checked to see if the bottom would fit over it. It seemed as if it would... Until I came to do it of course. I could not get it evenly clamped and it somehow must have shifted out of position and that added to my difficulties. Eventually I managed to bodge it together.
The top
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The bodging seemed to have done the trick and once filled, as in the photos, it does not look too bad though looking closely through my optivisor I can see a lot of issues.
Next the bottom part... Again nothing really fitted but I got it into place, lots of sanding and filling being needed. There were some big gaps that had to be dealt with. It was clear I might have issues with the nose so I left some 'wriggle room' a the front.
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Then the nose. It is not the best of fits generally to the top fuselage but looking at the place where it joins the rear fuselage I really dont think I left enough 'wriggle room' to get a fit.
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Test fits told me that would be bad but it is even worse than I expected. The two photos above also show up some of the wing fit issues I contended with.
Later today I will try to force it together and glue it in place. I have a horrible feeling about this, I dont think the 'slack' is enough but I will try.
If it does not work then, no sweat I will just bin it. I only bought this kit because I could not get the Kinetic or Academy legacy F/A-18 and I could not be bothered with the awful Revell release, so I wont really consider it a loss. If I see the Kinetic one day I may well get that.
Watched this space - will I bin it or will it proceed to completion?
Nice pic thanks - i have decided to fit one to the left shoulder with a AMRAAM on the other with a load of 4 GBU-12's and two JSOW.Found some info.
The AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR (Advanced Targeting Forward Looking InfraRed), is the main electro-optical sensor and laser designator pod for the Super Hornet.
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By U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Airman Apprentice Timothy C. Roache Jr.
I all depends Chris. I will get in there later and provided I can get a reasonable join between the front and rear fuselage then thats great. I do have my doubts though, you can see the gap and I dont know whether brute force will get it to line up.HI Barry NO NO NO NO PLEASE PLEASE DONT BIN IT as id love to see this plane through completion ? as I must admit ive not properly looked through my super hornet kit an wont till ive finished tiger but you binned the AV10 an that was a shame an im sure you had your reasons as you said that you've never had such a bad fittin kit well ok on that but im sure the hornet is not that bad is it ?
chris
I all depends Chris. I will get in there later and provided I can get a reasonable join between the front and rear fuselage then thats great. I do have my doubts though, you can see the gap and I dont know whether brute force will get it to line up.
The Bronco was a real shocker in every sense, much worse overall than this one but this particular problem, if I cannot correct it, is a potentially fatal one.
SEE Barry a litte force an you are back in business again as for me it was a heartstopper when you said you might bin the model as im hopein to see this hornet out to sting an in wonderfull colours as you make some cracker of some models so lets forget the bin thing an onwards an upwards lol an while I think of it lets just hope that whatever went crack is not noticeableWell, sometimes the right solution is the application of brute force....
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There was a loud clunk as I beared down on the model, a seam had split, but I do believe that if the cement holds problem is over.... a bit of a gap to fill but that is nothing to worry about.
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