Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet VFA-2 (Hasegawa)

Ekki
Watching!

Bill Gilman
I've added some photos to show the progress. I started to add the VFA-2 Bounty Hunters decals but the very first one (the forward fuselage stripes on the port side) broke into several pieces after dipping in the water. I've rescued the bits and am going to attempt to put them back together on the model. Yikes! In the meantime, the remainder of the decal sheet has been sprayed with a clear lacquer to prevent this happening again. I've never had this happen with a TwoBobs decal sheet before. Hopefully I can salvage it. Otherwise I'll have to go for Plan B - which will be interesting as I don't have a Plan B! Cheers, Bill

Maciej Bellos
Following!

Daniel
Me 3, looking great!
Hopefully the decals work out, if not I'd vote for the red ripper Plan B 🙂

Thomas Kolb
Very nice and super clean build, not sure how I missed this one. I really like the detailed build descriptions instead of just pictures.

Bill Gilman
I didn't like how my "reconstructed" decal looked, so I pulled it off the model. I found a sheet on eBay from Galaxy Model that has this same VFA-2 scheme. I ordered it from a dealer in Australia, so it will take a few weeks to get to me in the US. This is the scheme I really wanted to do, plus this sheet from Galaxy also has the stripes for the central drop tank which the TwoBobs sheet didn't have. In the meantime I'll start something else - lord knows I ave a few kits in the stash. 🙂

Bill Gilman
The decal sheet from Galaxy arrived, but it does not have the stripes! It has masks for the stripes, but they are the type of masks that require you to paint the stripes prior to the overall grey - ugh. I just masked by eye and painted the damn things on. I've uploaded several pictures that show the progress. She's coming together! I onto the fiddly bit stage now (check out the photoetch HUD in the pix) so it shouldn't be too long. Cheers, Bill

Bill Gilman
Nearing the end of this build. I have the windscreen and canopy on, and there were a lot of fiddly photoetch bits. Eduard provided the canopy latch and lock mechanism, hand holds, rear view mirrors, and the canopy cross brace. Some of these parts are very small, but I think the end result looks very convincing, especially in 1:72 scale. Check out the latest photos. Cheers, Bill

Daniel
Beautiful work Bill, looks fantastic👏🏻

Spanjaard
What a beautiful result

Neuling
Super clean work!

Bill Gilman
Thanks - hope to finish the missiles and pylons today. Cheers, Bill

Ekki
Excellent work!

Simon Nagorsnik
Good work 👌

Bill Gilman
Thanks mates. After what seemed like forever just to finish the missiles, I've finally finished the model and uploaded several photos. Hope you like her! Cheers, Bill

Bernd Grün
Very nice result, Bill. It looks phantastic! 👍

Bill Gilman
Thanks Bernd! It was a fun project - decal issues notwithstanding. Cheers, Bill

AusRam
Lovely result! Wish I'd found your build sooner, I spent most of yesterday fighting the Aires cockpit tub trying to get it into my Hasegawa kit. Like you, I just couldn't get it to fit...even with removing a lot of kit plastic and sanding the tub down. It seems too wide for the most part.. so one rather butchered Super Hornet and Aires tub later and I gave up on it. Like you, I'll build using the standard tub and some of the bits like the seats from the upgrade kit, as they seem to fit. Very annoying!

Bill Gilman
@AusRam - It's not the first time I've had that problem with Aires resin cockpits! I have a feeling that they have never tried to use their own parts. I also had a lot of "fun" making the Aires and CMK resin parts fit my F/A-18C. You can check it out here:

McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornet (Hasegawa) | Album by Navy Bird (1:72)

Cheers, Bill

Spanjaard
I love aires cockpits, the detail is just amazing, but you usually need to sand the resin until is almost transparent, and also sand the plastic a lot until they fit. But the efforts pay off when it is completed

Bill Gilman
@Spanjaard - True, but I think that a properly designed aftermarket part wouldn't require all of that, at least not to the extent you sometimes see. That said, I've had some Aires cockpits that fit just fine with minimal sanding. Anyway, it doesn't stop me from buying them! Cheers, Bill

Spanjaard
I could not agree more! It will be great if they were made to fit like a glove without sanding
But I guess that since we keep on buying them, they may not go that far 😉

Daniel
Hmm, they should start doing something in the days of Quinta and 3D printing...

AusRam
Well, I sanded the sides until they literally weren't there in places... and I trimmed, cut and sanded the fuselage as well and it still wouldn't fit... as Bill says, it really doesn't need to be that hard, surely? Make the thing a few mm's thinner. Or if there is a trick to getting it to fit, put it in the instructions...which really were pretty useless...basically "You will have to trim some plastic". Anyway, lessons learnt, avoid Aires. Rant over and sorry for venting a little on your thread for such a great build Bill! But if it helps others avoid the wasted time, money and effort, it might be worth it.

DerMattes
Fantastic build!