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This is a Hasegawa 1/48th scale
F/A-18F Rhino that I completed recently to honor the Centennial of Naval
Aviation. Construction on the model was straight-forward, although some
modifications had to be made. The Advanced Crew Station for the rear cockpit
was scratchbuilt using parts of the kit instrument panel and coaming with the
rest of it being made from sheet stock. Also, the standard early vents between
vertical stabs were replaced with Steel Beach ECS pipes and were drilled out.
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True Details resin ejection seats were added to the cockpit and wire pull handles were used to accentuate them. The model was painted with Model Master FS36375 and 36320. Panels were then lightened with varying shades of gray. All rivets and panel lines were drawn with a Micron Ink Pen and then given a shading treatment with Tamiya Smoke applied with my Paasche V-series.
The front intake covers were made from 3M 2090 tape and then painted red. The reference photos from the Two Bobs CD that came with the decal sheet showed a black overlay on the intake covers so this was applied with black electrical tape and then sealed. The bat decal was then placed on top of that. The exhaust covers were also made from 2090 tape as well and painted red. I wanted to mark the jet in one of the schemes for the Centennial of Naval Aviation so the VX-9 "Vampires" sheet from Two Bobs Decals was the obvious choice, since the tail markings were a throwback to the A-4 and A-7 markings of the 70's and 80's. I chose the markings for "260" from VX-9 because I thought the green and white would contrast nicely with the grey paint
scheme. The decals laid down perfectly, with no silvering detected. Kinetic AIM-9X missiles were placed on the wingtip rails and SOL resin JSOW's were placed on the underwing stations. This was a very fun build and hopefully a fitting tribute to the Centennial of Naval Aviation. GO
VAMIPIRES!!!!
Best wishes,
Ian T.M.Holahan
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