Academy F-18D

Welcome to Locate and Cement - Plastic Model Kit Review, Advice and Exchange of ideas.. We hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.

Join our community!

If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Academy F-18D; Hawks Hornet in 1/72
Topic Started: Apr 13 2012, 11:44 AM (255 Views)
desmojen	Apr 13 2012, 11:44 AM Post #1
Iwata Goddess Posts: 2,093 Group: Admin Member #5 Joined: August 19, 2009	Hello again, it's just me checking in with my 8th finished build for 2012. It is 1/72 again, but this time it isn't Airfix! Nope, this time it is Academy, and a little way left of the sort of stuff I 'normally' like to build. This is the kit in question as you might see it on a shelf. Retail price is Ł19.99, not stupidly expensive and you do get an awful lot of kit for the money. All the parts are in there for the twin seat version, but some sprues are common with the single seat boxings, so you will end up with spares too. Two weapons sprues are included with a choice of fuel tanks, GBU-12's (4), AIM9 Sidewinders (2), AIM7 Sparrow (2), and then you get a choice from a FLIR pod, a SCAM pod and a TINS pod as well. Four decal options are included on what has to be one of the most comprehensive decal sheets I've ever seen, they are all CAG birds and are from VMFA-225 'Vikings', VMFA-224 'Bengals', VMFA-332 'Moonlighters' and VMFA-533 'Hawks' I chose the Hawks scheme because it has blue bits and chequered bits, and got started with the build. It is quite a complex build this, the main upper fuselage is moulded in one huge and quite impressive looking part, but that is where the simpleness stops because the lower half is moulded in no less than 9 parts! Lots of seams then, and although the fit is generally pretty good, there is still a lot of fitting, filling and sanding to do if you want a really good result. Once the main fuselage is together though, it is pretty much plain sailing to be fair and the rest of the main build is without and pitfalls that I found. Once I was happy with all the seams and rescribing I moved on to the paint phase. Before picking up any jars of paint though, I went and looked for some photos of the real thing on Google. My reasoning behind this was simple; these CAG birds are mostly kept in pretty good order, so I wanted to see how much (if any) preshading or weathering might be appropriate before I started. The answer is not a lot by the way, as most of the photos I found showed a nice clean Hawk - except for one So, painting consisted of basic colour coats, no shading and no preshading. Underneath is FS36375 (Gunze H308) and the top is FS36320 (Gunze H307), two colours that are almost exactly the same as each other The fins are simply described as Blue, and I used the same blue that I mixed recently for the Staggerwing. It is a touch darker than the decals but matches the photos pretty well. Everything was coated in Klear and then left to dry ready for decalling. Now, after the sanding and scribing stage, the single longest job in this build was decalling. You all know by now that I am not overly fond of stencils..... and this model includes enough stencils to make an Airfix Sabre weep with envy There are a lot of cute touches on the sheet as well, like decals for all the vents and formation lights. There are decals for the weapons as well, and even for the undercarriage legs. It was only at this point that I realised I had missed a trick with the cockpit because there are loads of really nice decals for the instrument panels and interior (RTFM!) This work took place over about 8 separate sessions then. The sheet is printed by Cartograph and is up to their normal high standards, everything fits well where it should and they went on without too much trouble. I did find that a very strong decal solution was needed to really snug them down though, and a few of the larger ones that I fitted initially are a bit bit silvered here and there. The process was rounded off with another coat of Klear and then some panel line wash. Normally, when you get to the stage where you've finished decals, your model is nearly finished. Not so with this one! I still had all the weapons and pylons to deal with, the complex undercarriage complete with a million doors, jet exhausts, ejector seats, the main canopy......... Going back to my one dirty CAG photo reveals the reasons behind my choice of load. The fuel tanks are a given, because they are effectively part of the colour scheme in this case, but I normally end up either modifying weapons to make them into the dummy kind that jets mostly carry, or being lazy and not fitting any. My dirty CAG bird shot though, was taken on ops, so as well as being dirty, she was carrying live weapons. Apparently, the typical Ops load for these aircraft was a double load rack thing on each wing, with a mixture of JDAM and GBU-12 fitted. Unfortunately no JDAM's are included in the kit, so I went with a single GBU-12 and a Sidewinder for each wingtip. The pods most often fitted seem to be the FLIR and the SCAM, so those were built up as well. The weathering of the paintwork was also done at this stage, and consisted of post shading for dirty bits and a few touch ups, before flat coat. The effect is very pleasing to the naked eye, and as usual, all but invisible in the photos Note that the fins, airbrake and tanks are not matt, because they aren't meant to be! While the GBU's and pylons were really detailed, the Sidewinders are a bit naff, and the pods were quite simplified. I added some minor details to the pods for better definition and then began the long job of painting and decalling them all (why do modern weapons have to be so many colours?) I also painted the GBU's with an old brush using Mr Surfacer 500, to get that textured effect that they have. It has worked well, but isn't visible in the pictures. In between that work, I had also been working on the undercarriage parts. I painted everything white and then glossed it all, then added the necessary decals and some chrome Bare Metal Foil to all the slidey bits. The wheels are nicely moulded and have lovely crisp edges so that the tyres are easy to paint. That is made up for though by having to paint red trim on all the doors. This was achieved with a thin brush, thin paint and holding of breath. All of it has been left glossy, because again, it is supposed to be. Finally, I glued on all the myriad of small parts, breaking several of them off several times before I was finished. This is one of those models that is now nearly impossible to pick up without breaking something! I have really enjoyed working with this one, well once I had done the filling anyway. It is a cracking kit, really finely moulded, good detail and a brilliant decal sheet. If I did one again I would fit some resin seats to pep the cockpit up a bit, but it honestly doesn't really need any more than that, especially if you read the instructions and use the decals provided for the instrument panels etc. Some JDAM's would be nice, and the intakes are shallow and without detail, but in every other way this kit is right up there. And if it came from Hasegawa it would probably cost Ł40, so that makes it a bargain as well Jen.



Mike W	Apr 13 2012, 02:59 PM Post #2
Hook down, wheels down... call the ball Posts: 4,138 Group: Admin Member #12 Joined: August 25, 2009	lovely stuff, interesting reading too.



Grant	Apr 13 2012, 03:06 PM Post #3
Italian correspondent Posts: 437 Group: Admin Member #122 Joined: November 24, 2009	What Mike said! A very good review of the kit/build - you should be doing stuff for mags! For 1/72nd scale kit you have got real 'presence' in the photos, and a lot of that will be to do with the finish. Like you say, a good looking bargin. cheers Grant



peebeep	Apr 13 2012, 03:27 PM Post #4
Lots Of Trouble Usually Serious Posts: 7,348 Group: Admin Member #2 Joined: July 8, 2009	I feel like rushing out and buying one...wait! I don't do grey jets! Great build and informative text Jen. peebeep



Phreak	Apr 13 2012, 07:26 PM Post #5
Advanced Member Posts: 12,354 Group: IPMS Member Member #11 Joined: August 25, 2009	Excellent kit review Jen and superbly modelled. I can't help but notice how bare the cockpit looks though, it's a result of a greenhouse over the office I guess.



Spad	Apr 13 2012, 07:32 PM Post #6
Advanced Member Posts: 298 Group: IPMS Member Member #101 Joined: November 7, 2009	Nice build Jen. Also what Rich said about the greenhouse but as you mentioned the seats perhaps a new pair would solve that problem. cheers Rick



PhilJ	Apr 13 2012, 07:52 PM Post #7
Advanced Member Posts: 226 Group: IPMS Member Member #240 Joined: August 17, 2010	Looks excellent, Jen. Tempted to get one of these, but of the single seat flavour. One or two of the USN centenary schemes tickle my fancy.



desmojen	Apr 13 2012, 09:19 PM Post #8
Iwata Goddess Posts: 2,093 Group: Admin Member #5 Joined: August 19, 2009	Thanks fellas Yes, new seats would make all the difference, or a couple of decent crew figures maybe. I was wondering if the main canopy was a bit tall actually, it looks huge and almost a bit cartoony The main canopy is only tacked on with a tiny bit of gator glue though, deliberately so that I can pull it off and install some decent seats later if I choose to. Either way, the very fact that it is so noticeable is a credit to the level of detail on the rest of it I reckon. Jen.

Create your own social network with a free forum. Learn More · Register for Free
« Previous Topic · Ready for Inspection · Next Topic »