1/48 Hasegawa F/A-18C

Gallery Article by Graham Symmonds on Nov 6 2003

 

This is  Hasegawa’s 1/48 F/A-18C dressed up in the Two Bob’s All American Bug decal set. I think that the combination of low-viz grey and a splash of colour is very cool. I added a Black Box update set and found some fine stainless mesh to cover up the “hell hole” in behind the cockpit, and used Cutting Edge’s canopy masks.  

The build was excellent – the parts went together very well, with little filler needed (what was needed was easily applied using ARC’s “no-sanding-putty-application” technique (of course I got a few odd looks as I rummaged my wife’s cabinets for nail polish remover!)

 

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The model was painted with Testors acrylics after pre-shading. I then just added a bit of white to the paints in the airbrush cup, and picked out random panels to show variation in the greys. Interestingly, I found that this worked out great, as the mixture got progressively lighter as I went along giving me different shades as I moved from panel to panel. I was trying to get the look of the aircraft after a few weeks of flying in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, so I added a wash of thinned done Tamiya Smoke to the entire model, focusing on the undercarriage to get that grimy look. A bit of blank ink was applied and smeared with a finger along the air flow lines to simulate the leaking of a bit of oil. All of these techniques I picked up from my daily review of ARC and the helpful hints provided. 

The Two Bobs decals were absolutely beautiful to work with (although I lost a few grey stencils on grey fuselage!) I used JDAM’s and a GBU from Hasegawa’s weapons sets – I like the look of an asymmetrical weapons load. The detailed references that the Two Bobs provide for their decals is second to none, and it was great being able to choose an actual bomb load. 

Graham Symmonds

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Photos and text © by Graham Symmonds