Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet VFA-2 (Hasegawa)
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Hasegawa's venerable F/A-18F Super Bug.
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Sprues are immaculate - no flash.
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I won't be using these wings.
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Typical Hasegawa engineering and parts breakdown.
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I'll be using different exhausts and cockpit bits as well.
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The clear parts looks great - those grommets for the stabilizers will interfere with the aftermarket exhausts though.
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The Aires resin cockpit is nicely detailed, but it beat me. Try as I could, I was not able to make it fit in the fuselage. But I can still use some bits and pieces.
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The resin exhausts from Aires cannot be fitted without changing the way the stabilizers mount, and opening up the holes in the rear of the fuselage.
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Some nice photoetch from Eduard, along with their canopy masks.
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Resin wings and flaps from RES-IM. These look very nice.
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And resin wheels from ResKit.
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VFA-2 Bounty Hunters decals from TwoBobs. I'll be making the CAG bird.
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Pretty lame bang seats in the Hasegawa kit.
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The resin ejection seats and photoetch harnesses are a huge improvement over what comes with the kit.
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The cockpit tub and the photoetch instrument panels and rudder pedals from Eduard.
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To make the resin exhaust fit, you have to remove the lip at the back of the fuselage...
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...and open up the hole. You also cannot use the crossbar that holds the grommets for the stabilizers as the exhaust tube interferes.
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The resin wing and flap set removed from the casting blocks. Surface detail matches the kit nicely.
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The fit is quite good. Note that I've used a portion of the Aires cockpit turtledeck to add some detail.
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A little seam work and these will do the trick nicely. This aircraft was not yet fitted with the Bard stacks at the time of the markings I'll be using.
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Landing gear added with photoetch brake lines and nose gear detail.
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I also used photoetch for the nose gear torque links.
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The resin tyres and wheel hubs ready for paint.
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Photos of the VFA-2 CAG bird show a lightly weathered TPS.
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The gear legs received a dark grey Future wash to highlight the detail.
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The red, white, blue and yellow markings of VFA-2 are masked and painted on since the TwoBobs decal stripes disintegrated in water.
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I sprayed a clear overcoat over the rest of the TwoBobs decals so I could use them.
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Once I added the clear lacquer overcoat to the decals, the rest went on with no problems.
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I really like the Bounty Hunters scheme.
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I then painted the stripes onto the centreline tank as well.
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Finishing up the resin Aires exhaust bits.
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The photoetch HUD with its two combining glasses was, well, fun I guess!
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The skull has been added to the tank, and I also added the antennae etc.
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The horizontal stabilizers and the burner cans in place.
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Everything got a coat or two of Mr. Color GX114 Super Smooth Flat Clear, which I really like. Thinned with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner, it does not have that Mr. Color "fragrance."
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Lots of photoetch for the canopy - mirrors, hand holds. cross brace etc.
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Also the canopy latches and lock mechanism. I think fiddly is the word to describe it!
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And she is finished! Enjoy the rest of the photos.
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Opmerkingen
62 4 March 2022, 01:40
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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
22 March 2022, 00:12
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Me 3, looking great!
Hopefully the decals work out, if not I'd vote for the red ripper Plan B 🙂
22 March 2022, 07:19
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Very nice and super clean build, not sure how I missed this one. I really like the detailed build descriptions instead of just pictures.
22 March 2022, 08:15
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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. 🙂
22 March 2022, 14:27
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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
27 April 2022, 23:51
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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
4 May 2022, 23:32
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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
13 May 2022, 17:45
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Thanks Bernd! It was a fun project - decal issues notwithstanding. Cheers, Bill
9 February 2023, 13:35
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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!
14 August 2023, 07:45
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@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
14 August 2023, 14:58
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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
14 August 2023, 15:01
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@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
14 August 2023, 15:04
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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 😉
14 August 2023, 15:20
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Hmm, they should start doing something in the days of Quinta and 3D printing...
14 August 2023, 18:58
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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.
15 August 2023, 07:16