1/48 Hasegawa F-18C Hornet “Chippy Ho”
I finally completed my first model since my son was born last February, a few minutes here a few minutes there mostly during his naps! In preparation to do justice to a weathered F-14 I wanted to practice on something else that would get as wonderfully grimy! Enter the legacy Hornet, I've always been drawn to low vis line birds but the big Eagle head of VF-195 Dambuster's CAG bird is very catchy so I settled on that.
The model is built mostly out of the box, I used some lead foil and spare buckles for the seat harness, weapons from various donor kits, Tamiya F-16 AIM 9's and GBU-12 and Academy F-14 JDAM. As the Hasagawa F-18 does not have full intake trunking I decided to place electrical tape FOD covers on the inlets. Electrical tape is available in many colors and very easy to work with. The kit went together with little fuss and a little bit of filling and sanding.
To start the weathering process I pre-shaded with thinned black along panel lines and sprayed the base color. Using Kaan Gok's article on Aircraft Resource Center "Weathering USN Aircraft" (in the Tools and Tips section) I ground black and brown pastels into the base paint all over the airframe. I followed that up with touch up splotches of the Lt Ghost Grey and Dark Ghost Grey and brought it all together with light coats of Lt. Ghost Grey. Following a clear coat of the product formerly known as Future and decals I continued weathering with a sludge wash of pastels and streaking with AK Interactive's Streaking Grime and artists oils. After applying a flat coat I finished weathering using pastels and Tamiya weathering pigments while the flat coat was still a bit tacky.
I'm very pleased with the final product and in person the effect of the weathering process looks accurate! I'll definitely be using the same process on my F-14 project! Questions, Comments and critiques are welcome! Hopefully the photography is acceptable, I am certainly no photographer!
12 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Craig Abrahamson said on January 28, 2014
Good work all around, Patrick...a nice build.
AL HOFFMAN said on January 28, 2014
Belated congratulations on your 1:1 model.
Weathering & finish look spot-on as they say. Like your approach to the FOD covers.
Nothing wrong with your photography. Very clear & to the point.
Patrick Herrmann said on January 28, 2014
Thanks Al. Looking at the pics on my iPad they look a lot clearer than on my computer.
Simon Whitney said on January 28, 2014
Great build there Patrick.
Nice looking Hornet.
Well Done.
Chuck A. Villanueva said on January 28, 2014
Well done Patrick, pretty much captured what an F/A-18C appears like after sustained operations while on the boat. Really a fun kit to build not like the F-14 which is labor intensive (then again there really isnt an easy F-14 kit). Congrats on your first child. It takes about that long to build a Hase F/A-18 if not longer.
Chuck
Fly Navy
Patrick Herrmann said on January 28, 2014
Thanks chuck, after I finished it I found some photos of that airplane and I was surprised that a CAG bird was so weathered, even more than I had modeled it.
Frank Cronin said on January 28, 2014
Patrick,
Absolutely gorgeous. You made the F-18 look like the beauty it is. Congrats on your son. Build now as in time you will have even less time.
Ramon R. Lomeli said on January 29, 2014
congrats on your son! excellent weathering job on your jet - it looks great! i especially like the engine oil streaks underneath - it looks like the real thing!
Mike Maynard said on January 29, 2014
Nice clean build (dirt and all)! I like the intake covers, very clever.
Gary Brantley said on January 29, 2014
That's a beautiful Hornet Patrick! The weathering is spot on I'd say. Thanks for showing her off!
Gary
Patrick Herrmann said on January 29, 2014
Thanks for all the kind words!
Richard Mcstay said on January 31, 2014
Looks awesome mate, I do like a good F-18!
George Williams said on January 31, 2014
Nice job, Patrick, the weathering is particularly good.