After my Revell Snap-Tite A-10 reignited some interest in model building, I had the thought somewhere in the back of my mind that I’d want to do another one at some point. Well, the release of DCS F/A-18C and the Miramar Air Show were enough to push me over the edge and buy a Hasegawa 1/72 F/A-18C off of Amazon for $15 (had a gift cared burning a hole in my pocket…).

https://www.amazon.com/Hasegawa-HSGS0438-72-18C-Hornet/dp/B0017TFLX4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539019556&sr=8-1&keywords=hasegawa+1%2F72+F-18C&dpID=41JQX8v6biL&preST=_SX342_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I did not want to pay $50 (!!!) for expedited shipping, so I have roughly a month before it gets here. It comes with decals for VFMA-232 Red Devils, which is one of the units based out of Miramar, so that sounded like a good plan.

I’m trying to decide if I want to pay $15-$20 for 2 cans of spray paint (2 shades of gray, the bare minimum I think I’ll need for this model) or if I should buy a cheap airbrush and compressor that will let me use a bunch of the acrylic hobby paints we already have, or at least utilize small jars of real model paint.

Anyone have thoughts on either of these? Think they’ll last a while so that the investment actually pays off?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CBV5KS...ZJEZGR&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078J1FBV...JEZGR&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

If I would have bought an airbrush 10 years ago, it would have paid for itself easily between some of the RC models I used to build and other random home and kid projects that we’ve done. But I’m not doing RC anymore, and I’m not going to keep up a pace of 2-3 models per year (unless my 7 year old son picks it up…).

Id be interested in the Paint Brush sets. My 1st endeavor into Air brushing was a disaster Although I haven't gone into RC as of yet, I am leaning in that direction.

Ha!
One thing I have learned from my years fooling around RC airplanes is that cosmetic and scale details rarely matter.
The buggers are either too far up, or generally ending up in a puzzling mix of balsa sticks and a grotesque pile of plastic pieces anyway.

Cosmetics are great for static models; and a true heart-breaker for the flyers.
Eventually, every time

Cheers,
Slug

I have no experience of the compressor, it the airbrush looks a lot like the generic double action I started with when I picked up the hobby again. It worked, and was better than a bristle brush. I still have it in my tool box for when I want to spray something like Klear or an equivalent. It couldn’t just to give it a go, and move up to a better one if you find you are spending more time spraying.

Gareth

So I finally got around to starting the model. When it was all said and done, I opted for a $7 can of Testors Light Aircraft Gray. It just didn't make sense to spend a bunch on an airbrush at this point...

Last night I painted and assembled the pilot and cockpit. It was all done with cheap acrylic craft paint. I added some brown to my "olive green" to darken up the flight suit, and mixed some pink, yellow, red, and brown to get the color for the face.





I decided I want my model to look like it's flying, so I started gluing landing gears doors on in the shut position. I did this a few times when I was a kid, and it was always a little tricky since that's not how the model was designed to be assembled. I got the nose gear doors down. Two of the four panels went really well, but the last two (the two furthest toward the nose that meet in the middle to close) didn't fit real well, and it was hard to get them to stay in place while the glue set. I think it looks OK (especially for the bottom of the model that no one will probably ever see...). I'll post a pic later...

I also did a test spray of the Testors light aircraft gray that I got, and it comes out a with a little bit of a tan color to it, where I was probably expecting something with more blue. Not sure yet if I'm just going to stick with it or see if I can find something else local (and cheap).

Hmmm... now that I look at my pics, I wondering if I should paint some sort of visor on the pilot. It's not what the instructions call for, but he looks like he needs one. I need to paint the air hose down closer to his arm as well...

Since it's going to be a flying model, how is it going to be displayed?

If it's going to be down from the ceiling I wouldn't worry about it.

I'll put it on a stand of some kind. I'll either repurpose one from the toy-grade planes my son has, or make something.

... or I'll just set it on the desk and everytime I sit down I'll pick it up and start running around the house making jet and explosion noises.

Which begs the question, how is your real life flying going ?

It's still on hold...

We moved just over three years ago from Northern CA to Southern CA, and are actually within a mile or so of KCRQ. However, my job was crazy with a long commute, so there was simply no time for flying. Just last month I started a new job - about 10 minutes from our house. So work-life balance just saw a huge improvement. I could see finding some time soon to get back in the cockpit, but financially it's still a little too tight...

That being said, the other night, I had insomnia (AKA I drank to many IPAs) and found a flying club at KCRQ with cheaper hourly rates and monthly dues than my old flying club at KSQL. They only have one C172SP (my model of choice), but they have a couple of P's if I settle for the reduction in HP and the need for carb heat.

So, I think it's getting closer. My kids are definitely old enough now to enjoy some (rather pricey) family excursions. For that matter, maybe a C182 would be more appropriate...

So how many hours do you have ? Are you still current or would you have to get refresher ?

I have the same number of hours I had in October 2013 (about 140). So my currency is long gone. I'd need at least a few hours with an instructor.

Got some gluing done on Saturday. Also put a bunch of tiny decals on the instrument panel that are now completely hidden and will never be seen again. After these pics were taken, I also filled in a few big gaps and uneven areas with lightweight spackle (the nose gear doors are the most significant). I've never tried that on plastic models (used it in RC a couple of times) so I don't know how well it will work compared to the products that are actual intended for plastic models. It looks OK for now, but I'm not sure if it can be sanded to a smooth enough finish. Unfortunately, I won't know until I start spraying paint over it. Oh - and also I got a can of Testors Dark Aircraft Gray, so the can of Light Aircraft Gray I had will now be for the underside, and the new can will be the color used for the top. I think I may end up with more contrast between the two colors than you see in real life, but it's the best I can do given that I'm not airbrushing.

So here's the results of my filling efforts. After reading on the internet, I put a drop of model cement on the bigger spackle sections to help hold the spackle to the model and provide a better surface for the paint. The nose gear doors got kind of messed up, but I'm calling it good and moving on since 1) no one will ever see that part, and 2) I don't know if/how much better I can get it anyway. The second pic didn't come out very clear, but that is where the front of the left air intake didn't line up well with the rest the intake and engine. I think that filling effort turned out a little better.

I'll clean all the loose debris from the nose gear doors before painting...

Looking good Malibu! Your pilot looks angry, i wonder if you could whack up a visor out of that clear cover plastic you get with those cheapo folders? Just draw cut out the visor shape, paint it and glue it right on his face. I've been trying to think what you could use and it just has to be a thin plastic that cuts nicely, maybe even a 50 cent water bottle? You could possibly even get a coloured plastic so you don't even have to paint it!

Document protector. They are available clear and in colors.

Good ideas for a visor. I'll have to see if I can come up with something...

Main gear doors all glued shut. Engine intakes and cockpit masked off for spray paint. It's supposed to rain for a couple if days, so not sure when it will be.

The only part of the cockpit that's painted is the pilot, seat, and panel, so that's all that's masked off. The rest of the cockpit will be painted black with a brush after all the spraying is done.

Here it is with the light and dark gray Testors applied to the top and bottom. Being limited to spray cans really hurt here, as all I could find are these two Testor's colors that are way to brown/tan, where I'd expect a bluer shade of gray for a USN aircraft. Oh well. The only other option would have been to go to an airbrush so I can use the paint that comes in the little jars.

The lighting was garbage here...



This shot is just to compare to the "Michael's brand $0.99 Acrylic paint" I used on the A-10A. The light gray was a better color, I think. But you can also see a clear surface finish improve with the spray can that was used on the F-18 vs the brush I used on the A-10A.

Getting there. Cockpit and some other bits painted up. I have a nice mixture of "Metallic Steel" and Black getting layered onto the exhaust nozzles. Also need to figure out how to neatly get the radome painted.

So, pretty much all of the paint work, aside from tanks, pylons, and ordinance, is done. I need to paint some dark gray or black on the inside of the canopy opposite the gray that was spray painted to give it a fuller look and so it looks nicer inside the cockpit. I placed the canopy for a test fit, and the left side is warped/flex inward a little bit and doesn't line up with the the edges of the cockpit. Does anyone have any tips to correct this? Can I heat with a hair dryer and try to pull it out a little?

Also - any good tips for what to use to clean up the canopy frame lines? It's a little sloppier than I would have liked. Will rubbing alcohol take the enamel off?

My F-111 canopy is the same Malibu. I was thinking of using hot water and then placing some weight on it for a couple of days and crossing my fingers. Can you chip away at the enamel paint with a toothpick? Maybe dip it into some thinners while chipping away?

I read that if soaked in hot water or heated too much/too long, plastic parts may try to revert to their original form. However, that was more for vacuum formed canopies. I'm not sure what kind of stresses would be present in these injection molded parts and how they might move or deform if allowed. I am thinking of trying on of two things (or maybe a combination of them). 1) Sand a scrap piece of wood down to the width of the cockpit and place the canopy over that so it stretches out to the right width and then hit it with a hair dryer, and or 2) glue a very small piece of scrap plastic to the inside edge of the cockpit so it just barely sticks up and then use that as a "lip" to help hold the cockpit in the right place and open.

I started trying to clean up the paint with a toothpick and thought it was maybe scratching the plastic. However, I read online to make a sharp chisel out of scrap plastic from the same part tree the canopy came from, and to use that to rub paint off. Since its the same plastic, it won't scratch. I may or may not do that, as the cockpit framing actually looks pretty good with the old Mk I eyeball from normal viewing distance.

I need to get the canopy and pilot visor issues figured out (and neither one will be easy), as they are pretty much the last things to do before I start applying decals and then hang tanks and ordinance.

Good luck man, i thought of making a jig of sorts as well and using that to help form it while it (hopefully) set.

So I tried this last night and it worked. I wrapped masking tape around a small piece of scrap wood until the ccanopy fit over it just tight enough to stretch the sides a little and make it a snug fit. Then I hit it with the hair dryer for a about a minute. It actually made it too wide and I had to try to heat it again while I was squeezing the sides. Still not a perfect fit, but better than it was. I would definitely recommend trying this, but start small and go in increments so you don't have to back track like I did. You can also see in the picture below where handling the canopy while it was warmed resulted in some of the paint smudging or peeling off.

Even after this, the fit of the canopy to the fuselage and windscreen is total garbage. I'm sure some of it is sloppy workmanship on my part, but the parts have some issues as well. Here is where I got it to:



I decided (despite a little voice in my head telling me not to) to back to the light-weight spackle. I tried to fill in some of the lines and uneven spots, and then I'm going to remask the canopy (and any other nearby bits that aren't dark gray) and hit it with one more blast of spray paint.

On top of all that, I got some hazing on the inside of the front of the windscreen from (I guess) a little much glue in the vicinity. Not from touching it with gluey fingers (I was very careful about that), but just the white residue that these types of glue can leave on nearby surfaces when the glue dries. I'm a little bummed - I've been really careful and have been really happy with the way the rest of the model has turned out. And then this canopy has completely gone to #$!@...

Fix Glue on Canopy Might help?

I've gotten that hazing off before with just some rubbing alcohol. The problem is that everything is glued on and I can't get to that part of the canopy anymore. Especially now that that I filled in some of the cracks and re-masked and re-sprayed the canopy frame.

The filling and re-spraying was a success. The canopy looks much better now, overall. I'm trying to decide if that hazing on the front of the canopy is worth pulling things apart to try to fix. If it was just prying something off and re-gluing, I'd go for it. But I really don't want to re-mask everything again and put more spray paint on. I feel like I'm pushing my luck each time I do that, and the next time around a small mistake is all it would take to create a much bigger problem than a little hazing...

So... It's been a while. I had to take a little break after a set back.

I ended up popping the front windscreen off and tried to get that haziness off with rubbing alcohol. It worked a little, and I probably should have just put it back together then. But... I was reading on the internet, and a lot of folks said not to use nail polish remover as the acetone with attack the plastic. But then one guy said it is OK as long as you don't leave it on for long. Hmmm... OK. Why not give that a shot? I barely touched a q-tip with nail polish remover to the spot with the haziness, and BAM! Instantly the entire inside of the windscreen fogged up. I tried right away to clean it with alcohol, but it was too late. Whole thing was fogged up...

So, I went back to my sometimes-best-friend-sometimes-worst-enemy, the internet. All I could find was to start sanding with 300 grit, then 600 grit, then toothpaste, then Future floor polish. That was way to much work and I didn't want to buy floor polish, so I started looking for replacement 1/72 canopies for an F/A-18-A/C. Couldn't find anything. So I started in with the sanding and toothpaste. After the toothpaste, it was still pretty rough looking, so I hit it with some Meguire's Ultimate Compound. That actually got it looking pretty good. It looked clear when it was still a little wet, but then some haziness would return after it dried for a few hours. So then it took a few more days to track down some floor polish locally. Couldn't find Future (now sold as Pledge Floor Gloss, BTW), but I did find Holloway House Quick Shine. After more reading on the internet I was finally able to determine that this product would work just as well as the future. So I bought some, dropped the windscreen in a cup of it, then let it dry for a day. After all that, the testors spray had been rubbed off, so I just mixed the best match I could with my acrylics and redid the framing by hand. Here's where I landed:



It's a little dirty at this point, but oh well. I might bush some Quick Shine on the outside of the main canopy when I'm all done to clear it up as well.

So yesterday I started decals. So far it's going OK. The red highlights on the tail were a pain to position to try to get them as close to lining up on the edges as I could. And then there's some hanging off the back. After the first one, I realized I needed to pre-trim them to get rid of the clear around the edges. I initially only bough Microset (no Microsol) for this project, but yesterday I went ahead and ordered some microsol from Amazon to try and get these to conform as much as I can. Then I plan on trimming whatever isn't laying down and filling in gaps on the leading edge and top with a little red paint. The rest of the decals will benefit from the Microsol as well.

Looks a little better in real life than it does in this picture...

Looking good Malibu! Nothing like spending half your modelling time researching on how to fix a mistake Cameras seem to be the best at picking faults and have zero mercy or respect. I look at my models and go, wow, that actually looks good, then i look at a picture and go , oh..i missed this, and over there and got some paint and glue on this bit....


She'll look wicked once you get some ordnance slung on the beast! and maybe a really light wash to make her pop.

Thanks Ajay.

I'm really itching to put all the "things that go boom" on (or in the case of a hornet, "things that carry gas and a couple that go boom"). It's gonna look cool. I'm trying to be patient though with all these final details so I'm happy with it once it's sitting on my desk. I'm really hoping the Microsol helps with the decals on the tail, as I can see that being the next place that I get stuck on.

One question, when you say a light wash to make it pop, are you talking about a coat of Dulcote (or something similar) or something more involved? I've read lots about people doing clear coats and washes and such at the end, but I've never done anything like that. I'd want something very simple, cheap, and hard to screw up for the first time.

So, I don't why I didn't think of this until just now, but I could have decanted some of the dark gray paint out of the spray can and brushed that on for the canopy framing instead of struggling with masking and ultimately brushing on acrylic of a different color. Oh well. Not gonna mess with it now. But as I wrap this up, I'm sure there will be other opportunities to go back and touch up some spray paint spots.

That is all.

Goon would be better to talk to about washes as i am in my infancy with them..but..you can whack up something decent fairly easily. Have a quick look at my Konigstiger build thread. I made up a wash of water based acrylics for the wheels, water, a drop of dish washing liquid and some dark acrylic colours. The wash i made was about 7/1 water/paint as i was going for a grotty look, but with your plane you are just using it to help highlight some details so maybe 10/1. Seal your paint well with a clear coat first then just brush the wash on, mainly into the panel lines and such and then wipe off the excess when it is dry with a wet cloth. A matt finish will just soak it up and ruin your paint job. You can buy pre made washes as well but i prefer trying all the homemade alternatives first and seeing how they go.


Here's a pre and post wash pic (not mine)

Hi Malibu,
For simple, and reversible, washes look at Flory Models products. They are like a very fine clay, in suspension. You just brush it over the model, allow to dry, and remove with damp kitchen towel or cotton buds. You can create neat streaking effects by letting the wash accumulate on the cloth, or really clean it back so that only the panel lines and details remain highlighted. If it goes wrong or you don't like it, you can remove it altogether. It's vital it goes on to a good gloss finish though, or, as Ajay says, it stains irrevocably. (There are other brands of clay wash available, perhaps easier to get where you are, but memory fails me when it comes to naming them.)

Have fun!

Gareth

Thanks Ajay and goon. Makes sense.

I do have the Quick Shine already, so, if I'm feeling brave when I'm all done, I could brush on a gloss coat of Quick Shine, do a wash... and then I'm assuming I'd need to get some Dulcote or something to take the gloss down?

Exactly, and it will seal the wash in (if needed, not all do). If you're brush painting it's worth considering aerosols for the clear coats, gloss and matt, just to even things out.

Decals done!


Ordinance all painted light gray (missing GBU-12's still). Needs a little touch up/detail paint here and there and then time to load it all on.

Well, aside from order couple of GBU-12's and slapping those on, it's all done! Pretty happy with how it turned out. By far the best I've ever done (and the most patient I've ever been... 6 weeks!). I may brush on some Dulcote at some point to take the shine off the decals... Doing a wash sounds interesting as well, but not sure how I fell about trying to brush Quick Shine over the entire thing.

Looks great Malibu! The decals really finish it off and the ordnance will be the icing on the cake. Nice project.

Thanks Ajay!

Great work on the decals!

Finally got the LGBs on.

Missed this last post Malibu, love the lego improvisation mate She looks pretty clean overall as well, must be time to bust out another kit!

Thanks Ajay! I'm very happy with how it turned out. Definitely one of the best I've done...

We'll have to see if/when inspiration strikes. A warbird would be cool. Maybe a P-51, F4U, or A-1J/H perhaps. Building the F-18 definitely tried my patience and I have to admit I have not been tempted to even think about starting another one...

Not bad for a Revell kit. I tend to stick to Tamiya or Italeri for aircraft when I can due to their fit and finish in the lower cost range and not having nearly enough funds to go with the HK Models or SWS brands. Revell has always been a pain in the ass brand of model kits for me and nearly every time needs to have lots of model putty and sand paper in order to make what should be nice easy fits of crucial areas like landing gear or canopies. A long time ago I had a full setup with a vacuum forming for clear things and a small compressor and airbrush setup.