Bowcat's Meng 1/48 F/A-18E Super Hornet - Top Gun: Maverick

[Mr Bowcat]

Good morning all.

Will be making a start on this one.

For those who don't know, Top Gun is a 1986 film starring Tom Cruise, and centres around his character Peter "Maverick" Mitchell's training at the US Navy's Fighter Weapons School, known colloquially as Top Gun.

Top Gun: Maverick is the 2022 sequel which depicts Mavericks return to Top Gun, this time to train an elite group of Top Gun graduates to destroy an enemy held unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant, located in an underground bunker at the end of a canyon. The weapon of choice for this mission is the F/A 18E Super Hornet.

If you have not seen both films, shame on you, go and watch them now. :D

So, before we begin, what's in the box.

It's a good excuse to re-watch the film so I can get the weapon loadout and weathering correct.

 

[boatman]

HI Bob yes ive seen both films an yes they were great but the first top gun there was to much lovey dovey bits with kelly magills for my likein an not enough flyin seqences but the second one in my opinion the film theme to me in my opinion was taken from 633 sqr but i really enjoyed the films an ive got both on dvd
will have watch them both again soon an lookin forward to your build of this bueatifull hornet as this again in my opinion knock spots off that ole F35
Chrisb

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Chris.

Personally I like the F-35, it has a particularly lethality to it. From what I read they couldn't use the F-22 or F-35 for the movies as they are too top secret.

 

[boatman]

Cheers Chris.

Personally I like the F-35, it has a particularly lethality to it. From what I read they couldn't use the F-22 or F-35 for the movies as they are too top secret.

WELL Bob what i dont like on that F35 is that its only got one engine an if a flame out then there is only one place you will go in that but the hornet has got 2 engines so if a flame out on one engine the plane will still fly on the other an on that awfull F35 THAT cover over the lift fan to me seems a great drag on the planes take off speed as lookin at them on vids it looks as though it struggels to get airbourne well thats my thought on it
chrisb

 

[Jim R]

Watching with interest Bob. Looks a nice kit, certainly a lot of parts.

 

[Jakko]

I guess Top Gun is the winner of this GB Awards for Most-Picked Subject

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Morning all.

Made a start on this yesterday. As is tradition, work started with the cockpit and front wheel well.

The decals were really nice, I was worried about them conforming on the IP as some of the screens are relatively deep (couple of mil), but with plenty of extra strong setting solution they mostly settled down quite nicely. Looks a bit weird in the photos, but at normal viewing distance the effect is nice.

I didn't do a lot in the nose bay, just coloured in some of the pipes and wires, and gave it a Starship Filth wash.

 

[langy71]

Off to a great start, those IP decals look brilliant, especially the moving map in the centre..

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Chris.

Did a bit over the weekend. Unfortunately I found the bottom part of the airframe was broken into two pieces. When I got the kit the box (both kit box and the outer cardboard box) was damaged, it looks like the corner of another another box had fallen on mine. At the time I checked the contents and all seemed OK, but clearly not.

It was a clean break so no major issue, some plasticard on the inside gave some support for the glue, and once the wheel wells and upper fuselage were added this further strengthened the entire piece.

Although I'm well known as a Meng fanboy, the fit of the kit is not up to Tamiya standards. Some remedial sanding and scribing will be required.

 

[Jakko]

If you hadn’t pointed out the broken part, I don’t think it would have occurred to me that it was

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Morning all.

Pressed on with this yesterday. Got the fit issues sorted with a little filler, sanding and scribing. This may need some more work but I will wait until the primer is down as this should highlight any rough areas.

With that out the way I got the wings and control surfaces done. The kit comes with a lot of options for straight or folded wings, and with flaps retracted or deployed. I was boring and went with straight wings and flaps retracted. The vertical stabilisers are workable but I will probably end up gluing them in place.

On to the undercarriage and the various sensors and probes next.

 

[papa 695]

That’s looking very nice indeed, and a great fix with the broken piece Bob.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers Ian.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Morning all.

Back to work on this after a short break. I finished off adding the final lumps and bumps, and got the cockpit closed up.

I had a stab at hand painting Mav's helmet, pretty crappy up close but passable at normal viewing distance.

And with that done everything got primed, and I made a start on the mottling.

 

[Mickc1440]

That's superb work Bob, great looking aircraft

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Morning all.

Pressed on with the painting this weekend. I'm black basing, which I like to do for grey aircraft, so first up was mottling.

Then top coat and the black bit at the top, which took forever to mask symmetrically.

Decals next.

 

[Mickc1440]

Really nice paint job Bob

 

[Jim R]

That is a quality paint job Bob. That mottling preshade is effective.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Cheers gents.

Jim, the additional spray booth was a godsend for this, so much more space to spray in.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Morning all.

I've spent the last few modelling sessions applying decals, ~243 of them.

All done now, so will get everything glossed in preparation for weathering. I'm not going too heavy with this, the aircraft in the film were relatively clean.