AREA 88 : "The Final Showdown - Part 3" (F-18 Hornet)

Nils Steyaert
looks great, ive recently read about the Area 88 land carrier online, from what ive seen i think the color scheme is similar to the F/A-18 prototypes (at least from th elook of the tail and the hornet emblem on the nose). kinda gave the inspiration to do the same build, except using the newer Revell kit.
i will be following this project closely 🙂

Greg Baker
Hmmm... now that's a good idea Nils. Perhaps the newer Revell kits would work better. I've just ordered the Revell kits, but maybe I'll re-purpose this older kit to another project - the big finale Kanzaki vs. Shin in the F-20 Tigershark. That kit is equally ancient, so it'll make it more of a fair fight.😉

As for the colouring, I think you're right. The prototypes is what I'm going for as well. The B&W manga leaves colouring up to the imagination, right?

Greg Baker
Ok... so I've moved this album over to my new project "The Final Showdown - Part 2" and will re-start the Land Carrier escape once I get my hands on the Revell kit. In case anyone's curious, the Final Showdown - Part 1 will be Mickey and his F-14A vs. Mac and his MiG-21... later.

Greg Baker
I decided to wake this project up after sleeping for a year. Started to get the cockpit sorted only to realize that the clear part that came in the box is NOT the F-18 canopy that ARII intended. Now I'm not quite sure what to do... hmmm...

Donald Dickson II
Alrighty, Im in

Greg Baker
Whew! Don't here... now we can get started... well, as soon as the replacement canopy arrives in the mail.😉

The paint job for this one is probably the easiest I've ever done. Dark grey... that's it.😉

Greg Baker
It's a little strange to paint the plane without a cockpit... but here we are. I tried to add some darker grey to give it a bit of contrast. Seems to have worked well enough... hopefully that canopy arrives in the mail soon~

Greg Baker
And, just like that... the canopy arrived! Yay! I got the rest of the painting done, gave it a bit of a panel wash and added some decals. Getting close to done now.

Greg Baker
And... we're done... unless I decide to add the sidewinders I forgot on the paint stand...😉

Chaz Gordon
Reckon we've all done that. I'd just finished cleaning the airbrush last week, and spotted the unpainted Firewall on my Camaro!

Greg Baker
Hah, glad to know I'm not the only one who does stuff like that. They're half painted already, so I'll likely add them in time for the final glamour photoshoot.😉

Nils Steyaert
thats a fierce looking dogfight; i really like how it turned out, nice work 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks Nils. Painting the F-20 was trickier than I thought it'd be. I'm not fully happy with how it turned out, but I have another in the stash waiting for a C-5 to partner up with.😉

Greg Baker
Updated my blog with this project as well. strobez.ca/wp/index...down-part-3-area-88/ - You can read the manga pages upon which this project was based, but be warned... it's the ending of the entire series! Shin vs. Kanzaki... to the death!

Matthew A
Nice. Like how it shows the Northrop origins of the F-18. I imagine the F-18 saying you can be like me when you grow up (but secretly thinking it want's to be an Su-27 it's self)