1/72 AirfixF-18A Hornet

[stillp]

Picked this up at an autojumble last year for £8.

The vendor had taken the brushes and cement out ( ) but left the paints (). A few parts removed from the black sprue, but they seem to be in the box. The rest of the sprues were in a sealed bag, but were filthy:

They'll need a good wash before I start.
Clear parts:

And four grey sprues.

They look well moulded, with raised but subtle panel lines, and a reasonable pilot.

Nice set of decals, printed by Cartograf, in perfect register. Fingers crossed they behave!

Right, off to wash some sprues now!
Pete

 

[boatman]

Picked this up at an autojumble last year for £8.
View attachment 367755
The vendor had taken the brushes and cement out ( ) but left the paints (). A few parts removed from the black sprue, but they seem to be in the box. The rest of the sprues were in a sealed bag, but were filthy:
View attachment 367756
They'll need a good wash before I start.
Clear parts:
View attachment 367757
And four grey sprues.
View attachment 367758
They look well moulded, with raised but subtle panel lines, and a reasonable pilot.
View attachment 367759View attachment 367760
Nice set of decals, printed by Cartograf, in perfect register. Fingers crossed they behave!
View attachment 367761
Right, off to wash some sprues now!
Pete

LOOKS a nice little kit Peter good luck on the build i'll have a look as you progress
chris

 

[stillp]

It looks as if there should be a second decal sheet with stencils, but that's missing. Just as well really...

Pete

 

[stillp]

I think most of that subtle raised detail is going to disappear when I sand the fuselage seam!

Still, it's getting on a bit:

I'll have to try progressively gluing the fuselage halves together while holding them in alignment. Need to paint the cockpit first though. Looks like dark grey IP with a lighter grey on the floor and sides, and the seat cushion in olive green? I think a 1980s Marine pilot's flight suit would be olive as well?
Pete

 

[Jim R]

Hi Peter
It seems that in 1982 Airfix didn't believe in making a kit that fitted
You'll no doubt get it all sorted.
Jim

 

[JR]

Hi Peter, good luck with that. must have been trainee mould makers.
Sure you will beat it into shape. Going to sit at the back , well out of the way from flying parts.

 

[stillp]

Hi Peter, good luck with that. must have been trainee mould makers.
Sure you will beat it into shape. Going to sit at the back , well out of the way from flying parts.

Welcome John! Plenty of room. I'm more likely to beat it to a pulp than beat it into shape!
I don't know about trainees, I think the fuselage halves have warped with age. The brown marks were the devil to get off - I think they'd used old sump oil as a release agent.
Pete

 

[Jakko]

With those angular sprues the kit gives me a distinct Matchbox feel. However, they never made a 1:72 F/A-18 and the pilot definitely isn’t in the Matchbox style, so it’s not like it could be re-issue of one of their kits.

 

[stillp]

According to Scalemates this boxing dates from 2009, so the mould tools had 27 years of wear and abuse before this kit was made! I added some bits of plasticard to help locate the fuselage halves.

I also added some weight on the nose - I don't think it'll be a tail-sitter, but I've been caught out before!
Just waiting for the paint on the pilot to dry now, before I start closing up the fuselage.
Pete

 

[Deleted member 7181]

Good idea with the locating strips as it doesn't look like that will want to fit together nicely without a fight.

 

[stillp]

I'm sure it'll put up a fight Andy, the two fuselage halves have warped in opposite directions.
The horizontal stabilizers are meant to pivot - you can see one of the shafts in the photo above, just by the number 16 on the edge of the mat. Now I don't plan to pivot them as I run around the room holding the model above my head while making jet noises, but it might be easier to get an even coat of paint if I can move them. If I don't glue them in though, I'll have to juggle those while struggling to align the fuselage seam, so I might just hold them in with some blu-tak.
Pete

 

[stillp]

Well, here goes:

 

[prichrd1]

Now I don't plan to pivot them as I run around the room holding the model above my head while making jet noises,

Spoil sport - what's wrong with doing that??


Paul.

 

[stillp]

what's wrong with doing that??

I'm too old to run!

A bit more progress - it took a bit of head scratching to work out where exactly parts 15 and 19 should go, as the instructions are a bit vague, as is the shape of the parts:
Adding them later made a bit more sense, but these intakes were a real pain.
The warped fuselage made fitting these fairings that extend the wing up to the cockpit (there must be a better name for those!) a pain, but they're on now.
Then a few hours of fill, sand, fill, sand, prime, swear, fill, sand... I'm sure you all know how that goes.

Getting there slowly though.
Thanks for watching.
Pete

 

[stillp]

Forgot to mention another problem - I was going to have the canopy closed to stop dust getting into the cockpit from all the sanding, but it won't fit - the pilot's head and seat back are about 3 mm too high to allow the cockpit to be closed!
Airfix have told me they don't have any stock of the decals, so at least I won't have to fit dozens of stencils, so that's good news.
Pete

 

[Jakko]

I’d say the main lesson here is to buy a F/A-18 from another manufacturer next time You’re doing well with this one, though.

 

[yak face]

The warped fuselage made fitting these fairings that extend the wing up to the cockpit (there must be a better name for those!)

Theyre known as LERXs pete ( Leading Edge Root eXtensions ) , great progress , its not going to be a walk in the park but keep at it , cheers tony

 

[boatman]

IM addin my pennys worth Pete you are doin great as the guys have said an from me some would have binned it by now but not you as I know you have the patience to make it into a premier model you keep at it as I like the hornet
chris

 

[stillp]

I’d say the main lesson here is to buy a F/A-18 from another manufacturer next time You’re doing well with this one, though.

I think the main lesson is actually to stop buying cheap "bargain" kits at boot sales and autojumbles, but thanks Jakko.

Theyre known as LERXs pete ( Leading Edge Root eXtensions ) , great progress , its not going to be a walk in the park but keep at it , cheers tony

LERXs eh? Why didn't I think of that? Thanks Tony, every day's a school day. I wonder if I'll ever need to use that word?

IM addin my pennys worth Pete you are doin great as the guys have said an from me some would have binned it by now but not you as I know you have the patience to make it into a premier model you keep at it as I like the hornet
chris

Thanks Chris, not so much patience as stubbornness! You're the one with patience.

Pete

 

[Jakko]

I think the main lesson is actually to stop buying cheap "bargain" kits at boot sales and autojumbles

OTOH: if the kit’s parts just fall together with no work required, where’s the fun?