Finally, the Hornet is almost due to complete with small niggles left off till we go competition. It was quite a nice build with most of the assembly work done by Ee Keok Lye. I wanted to put in the pilots but the heads of the pilots provided are like the aliens of MARS ATTACK movie. Unfortunately, that is why I had those kit seats installed. After the said decision to ditch the pilots, I am left aghast looking at the beautifully molded Resin Seats that Ee bought from Quickboost.
Overall, I did not have much trouble with the build as mostly was done by Ee. However, for the tail fin decals, it was a huge semi transparent decal that is very thin and really need care to get them one nicely. I am quite happy to report that the thing came out quite nicely.
The base I bought from a Chinese company called Phoenix Models. Its a ala Miniart stype Vac Formed panels that came in two. The sides are slightly sloped and so, we anticipate some filling between the joint parts. We also required to put in more support as the ones provided by another piece of VAC FORMED sheet may not be able to form a flat surface that well. There is also a need to build up the sides to bulk the middle of the panels to prevent warping. Then painting is a breeze with 3 options given in the instructions.
I did made sure that I do not over weather this model as it was part of ceremonial kind of paintwork. Mark kept pointing out that this LGB is used by F17 Nighthawks....what the heck, it looked good on this plane, so, I used it.
Ee passed me some Rhinestones. These are 1.5mm diameter. Very shiny backgrounds. I filled up the nav lights cavity on the wingroots with Krystal Klear and position it near the inside rear of the semi filled cavity. Once the glue dried, I fill up the cavity again and repeated this several times till its flushed. I next painted them in clear blue and red. The shiny gem inside looked like the real stuff with lighting assembly!
I left out the yaw and airspeed probes in order to make sure they don;t go ninja on me when I pack the model for overseas competition and displays.
Finally, it's done. Goodie goodie. Really good kit this Academy new generation of models. Really looking forward to making my F18A plus and the F16 Sufa from the same. I have a Super Hornet from Trumpy that I do not feel as excited about as this two given this is my first Academy big model kit. I must say, I am very impressed. Unlike the Sukhoi and Tomcat nightmares of Trumpeter last year. A f=good turn of events I must say.