McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornet (Hasegawa)

Bill Gilman
For my next project I'll be building the Hasegawa 1:72 F/A-18C Hornet in the special US Naval Aviation Centennial markings applied by VFA-122 "Flying Eagles" at NAS Lemoore in 2011. I'm also using the Aires resin sets for the wheel wells and cockpit as well as the Quickboost seamless intakes. As you can see in the photos, there was a lot of grinding and sanding needed to make the resin fit - much more than I typically have to do with Aires resin. The time spent was worth it, though, as the extra detail is just superb. Have a look at my progress so far - all comments are appreciated. Cheers, Bill

Spanjaard
aires detail as wonderful as usual. and crazy sanding also as usual. but it is looking great. i love what you have done with instrument panel decals on the aires panel.

Bill Gilman
Thanks! Yeah, it seems there is always a lot of sanding with Aires. I sometimes wonder if they ever try using their own products - but then again I completely understand why so much modification is required to the kit.

Patrick Hagelstein
Yes! A new Bill Gilman build! 😄

Patrick Hagelstein
What I think it is with Aires is that their measurements are actually the correct ones. They measure their products 1:1, but in real life aircraft skins and dividing panels are a mere couple of mm thick while kit fuselages are also a couple of mm thick, but in 1/72 or 1/48. Sometimes one has to sand the Aires and/or kit walls back to being translucent, that would actually be those couple mm thick aluminum sheets in real life. That's just how accurate they are. 😉

Patrick Hagelstein
Bill, why did you go for the Hasegawa kit and not for the newer Academy one? I basically switched out all my Hasegawa Hornets in my stash with Academy ones because of their ease of building and very fine surface details.

Es-haq Khosravi
I'm in! Another great model is taking shape!

Spanjaard
are those Academy kits that good Patrick?... my only F-18 in stash is a Hasegawa.... 🙁

Bill Gilman
I've never seen the Academy kit other than photos so I can't really compare. I've had the Hasegawa F/A-18A Blue Angels kit in my stash since it came out, and the F/A-18C kit I'm using for this project was a gift. What is the saying - "run what you brung?" 🙂

I've ordered resin wheels and elevators (stabilitors/horizontal tailplanes - whatever they're called). I thought about dropping the flaps but I think I've already done enough cutting, grinding and sanding! Besides, I have several photos that show aircraft parked with the flaps neutral - I assume they're locked somehow in that position.

Maciej Bellos
The instrument panel is a charm! Nice progress!

Ingmar Stöhr
The instrument panel is a real eye catcher. Sadly those details are hard to see in 1:72 scale.

Bill Gilman
True that is, Ingmar. The details will be difficult to see when the fuselage is closed up. But at least I will have the canopy open. I wonder how many hours I've spent adding details that no one will ever see? Ha, too many! Even the resin wheel wells on this Hornet won't be easily seen. That's modelling!

Es-haq Khosravi
@Bill Gilman: The point is that you know you they are there 😉

Patrick Hagelstein
Oh yes, those Academy kits are good! 👍 My only let down is the inserts on the LEX undersides. Somehow I never manage to install those flush and without noticeable seams. Well, the upside is that's it's the underside. 😉

Bill Gilman
@Es-haq, you are right! I will always know they are there (and how much work it took to put them there).

@Patrick, I had a good look at photos of the Academy kit, and it looks very nice. Someday I will get one, but I have to build this one and the Blue Angel bird first. Come to think of it, I already have a Canadian CF-188 Hornet in my display case - I'll end up with Hornets everywhere.

britmodeller.com/for..uglas-cf-188-hornet/

Those tiger stripes are all individual decals. I question my sanity sometimes. LOL

Spanjaard
that Canadian bird looks really nice! nice job Bill

Bill Gilman
Thanks, @Spanjaard. That was built quite some time ago. I like tiger schemes, and I have an F-16 project coming up with a Belgian tiger scheme. Should be fun.

Spanjaard
sure it will be.

Patrick Hagelstein
That Canadian Tiger does look (p)aw(e)some indeed! I feel we have a connection here Bill as I 'bumped' into you on Britmodeler while looking for some SHAR information and saw your request for 1/72 information. Also, I'm preparing to build the 2018 Belgian entry to the Tigermeet exercise by converting the 1/72 Tamiya F-16C to an F-16AM using the Revell decals, intake trunk and fuselage spine to get the panels right for an early P&W powered F-16. Everywhere I look on internet, there's a Bill Gilman entry on a forum! 😄 What's your brainwave frequency, so it's easier to directly chime in? 😉

Bill Gilman
@Patrick, I'm old school. You need a wire to connect. The plug receptacle is behind my right ear. 🙂

Did you find my finished FRS.1 on Britmodeller? It was a fun kitbash of the Fujimi and Hasegawa kits with a bunch of aftermarket. Come to think of it, it's on here too. For the FA.2, I'll be kitbashing the Hasegawa and Special Hobby kits. Hasegawa will contribute the wings because SH does not have any vortex generators. The Hasegawa FRS.1 wings fit perfectly, and only need a slight mod to the leading edge. It's quite obvious that the SH kit was "inspired" by the Hasegawa kit. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

I only do two forums on a regular basis, Scalemates and BM. Once in a while I submit a Gallery article to Hyperscale. If you see me on any other forums - it's an imposter!

Peppy
Wow, Bill, you get that much?
I gotta' look for a better job.
'Run what you brung'.
Yep, it's the poor musician that blames his instrument.

The add-ons take it to another level. Nice.

Bill Gilman
Slow, snail-like progress. I've added some new photos - as you can see I'll soon be closing up the fuselage. I think I should remove the stabilizers first as these will be replaced with some resin items that I've ordered. Cheers, Bill

John Thomas
Very nice work

Patrick Hagelstein
Yep, I did! I'm building the old 1/48 Airfix kit for a club member. Not a very detailed kit by today's standard, but for 1983 it's quite good in the main details department. Airfix really did their homework. Either way, I wanted to check some things and came across your 'investigation' over on Britmodeller and from there I kept looking further. Let's see where we meet on that Belgian Tiger then. 😄

Stephan H.
Nice details! Best luck for the upcoming steps.

Łukasz Gliński
"Go for the Academy bug, they said. It'll be fun they said" and then Bill is going to prove Hasegawa can look better 😉 Following. The OOB camo looks cool too.

Bill Gilman
Both Hasegawa and Academy do not have the level of detail that is provided by these aftermarket sets. It's been a lot of work so far, but I think it will get a bit easier from here on out. I hope so anyway!

Bill Gilman
Hi mates - today I removed the horizontal stabilizers in anticipation of the Quickboost resin replacements arriving from Kitlinx soon. This will allow me to pose the stabilizers in a more natural position. It's a bit tricky removing the stabilizers from the upper fuselage - the innermost edge of each stabilizer is moulded as part of the fuselage sidewall. This portion must be preserved after you're finished with cutting, grinding, and sanding. I added a couple of pictures to show what I mean. Cheers, Bill

Martin Weinpold
Nice!

Bill Gilman
Catching up with my progress - several new photos have been uploaded. I think she's coming along nicely, and it won't be long before I start painting. Let me know if you have any questions. Cheers, Bill

Ingmar Stöhr
Coming along nicely!

Bill Gilman
Well, I finally got the HUD together. You need steady hands for sure. The brackets were tiny! Check out the photos. It's a reasonable facsimile of the real thing. Cheers, Bill

Spanjaard
more than reasonable, Bill. it looks excellent

Bill Gilman
Thanks, @Spanjaard. I appreciate the compliment. 🙂

OK, here we go - painting has commenced! I added the windscreen to the fuselage and blended it in with a bit of filler. Then some foam was put into the intake to mask off the engine face, some masking tape placed over the cockpit and we're spraying. The white is going down first, followed by the medium blue and finally the dark blue. All demarcations will be by hand - no blue-tac etc. Paints are all Mr. Hobby. Cheers, Bill

Bill Gilman
The painting is finished, and the decals have been applied. The new photos I've uploaded show the progress, and some of the issues I found. One was a printing mistake by TwoBobs and the other a big difference in the size of the tail fins between Academy and Hasegawa. After a little trimming, all was good but it makes me wonder which kit is right. Probably neither! Cheers, Bill

Stefan Schacht
very nice, I take a seat.

Bill Gilman
Hi mates, my Centennial of Naval Aviation F/A-18C Hornet is finished and I've uploaded many more photos. The project was bit of a challenge with the Aires resin parts, but it was a lot of fun. I really like anniversary and display schemes, and when they're also retro that makes it even better. I think the USN was going for a "supersonic Hellcat" look when they chose this scheme from VF-17 in 1945. I think it looks a lot better than low-viz grey, but then I'm not the one getting shot at! Cheers, Bill

Maciej Bellos
Beautiful work Bill! A jewel in your display case. Very well done!

Łukasz Gliński
As I mentioned - better than many Academy builds. That Hellcat 2.0 camo is a real eyecatcher 👍

Neuling
I agree with Roland and Maciej! 👍

Alec K
Impressive work as usual Bill 👍

Hanno Kleinecke
That traditional livery suits this bird very well, Bill. Very impressive detailwork like always, especially that gunsight is unbelievable !