1/72 Hasegawa T/A-18 X Wing Hornet kitbash #FINISHED#

[cib2265]

Hi everyone, as the title says, this is a Hasegawa Star Wars kit...

Hang on, Hasegawa doesn't do Star Wars...no they dont!

This will be a kitbash of two Hasegawa 1/72 F/A-18A Hornets into an X-Wing type thing. The inspiration for this came from this build here in 1/144 scale: http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php?topic=41109.0

Mine will be more or less the same, but in a bigger scale, although I normally don't do this scale anymore, I'll try!

Obligatory sprue shots:





Apart from these two kits, I will be dipping into my spare parts bin (I have lots of kits slated for bashing, plus I build most of my aircraft wheels up, so heaps of spares there), including an old Kitech F/A-18 kit whose cockpit is better than Hasegawa...

Anyway - here's the quick mockup of what I'm trying to get:





First bit of surgery, I'm attacking the blue angels kit - in hindsight, should have used the "normal" grey kit, the grey is easier to see what you're doing:





Have to strip the fuselage hump back to put the inverted stubby fuselage ontop of the base kit:







And this is where its at with the S-foils in attack position (because it will be displayed in flight, as all aircraft should be!)



Before I can button up the fuselages, I need to build the cockpit. Here are the stock parts:



The tub on the left is Hasegawa, which gives you decals for instruments, the one of the right is the $4.99 Kitech version with raised panels/dials. I used this instead, and after surgery it fit:


Here is an instrument panel from the Academy Stuka, where Im using the wings for a Porco Rosso kitbash in the future, tried to get this to fit, but stayed with stock panel with decal:


But I built a targeting computer out of a landing strut and a piece of the Stuka panel:





Spruiced up the kit cockpit surrounds with some wire and surplus landing struts:



Seat and tub fitted, sans pilot and primed:





The pilot got a quick and nasty paintjob:



And the cockpit and tub got a quick paint job too:


Now for some wheels...err intake fans




Since the intakes on the top fuselage would be prominent and the Hasegawa kits just give you a blank cutoff panel to insert inside, I decided on something. I grabbed the wheel hubs from my 1/48 Corsair build and with the sprue still on, they fit poifectly:





Look ok to me!


Need another pair, so intake the kitbash stash where some other 1/48 Corsairs live without wings (I love me the gullwing) and found some wheels. Cut them down to hubs - I think this is from an Academy or Hasegawa one, cant remember:





HEre they are painted Vallejo Metal Pale Burnt, with a dob of Tamiya Smoke on top and installed:





And that's all for now. Coat of future on everything, will install the instrument panel decal and then finish the cockpit and button up the lower fuselage.

Need to reattach the cutoff LERX to the upper fuselage and add a cone plug and of course, 4 little wings. And she's almost done! Famous last words.

[DBMiller]

If you can pull of this it will look awesome! Good luck!

[cib2265]

Tiny bit of progress yesterday, but the end is in sight.




Two fuselages together, I used a piece of rod aligned with the speed brakes on each fuselage and some styrene strip for a better glue surface:


And a spare Hornet nose for the top, and a 1/72 Academy Stuka piece where I'll house the R2 unit:



Before adding the wings, I'll put some greebles and pipes around the fuselage joins, the inverted wheel wells plus the exhausts. Will button up the bottom wheel wells since she'll be in flight.


Thanks for looking! I might actually build a real (?) X wing soon, I have the 1/48 in the stash that longs to be put together...but maybe a TIE Interceptor first?

[shortCummins]

I'm really enjoying this build

rgds
John(shortCummins)

[Hoggarth]

Looking good. Can't wait to see it finished.

[chief5437]

This looks awesome, great idea! I tried the link but wouldn't let me in without registering

[cib2265]

Major construction is done, just need to mask the canopy and glue it on ready for priming:



See, it is an X-Wing (if not an official one...)



An astromech droid made from some 1/16 Tiger sprue plus a 1/72 Academy Stuka part:




The rear end:




Another view, I covered the holes left by the cut off tailplanes with parts from another kitbash I did - a 1/48 Revell Mosquito rockets:




Sideview showing some greebles and parts, including 1/35 Panther:




Ill get the canopy on and let the "abortion" as some have called it, sit in the paint booth waiting priming. I have a couple other projects to finish building, and then I'll prime/paint/weather all together.

Thanks for looking.

[cib2265]

This looks awesome, great idea! I tried the link but wouldn't let me in without registering

bugger its not working anymore...

i saved a few photos for inspiration:

t-18 xwing2.jpg

T-18 xwing.jpg

[Twokidsnosleep]

Cool
Lots of ingenuity here

[cib2265]

All primed up ready for paint - I'll see if I can get this finished before the new movie comes out....usually no modelling for me on the weekend and Im working double time next week, so maybe not!





Cheers

[Coen]

Holy f#£k !!!!!
This is fraking amazing work bud!
When I first started reading your thread I honestly thought, no way this will work out well... Too much hack and slash.
I'm so glad I was wrong.
Still so damned cool!!
I can't wait to see her with her paint on.
Wow wow wow!

[cib2265]

Right, time to get some paint down.

Base coat is Tamiya XF-2 white with a few drops of XF-19 grey to dull it a bit.



Other colours from the Tamiya range as well. Here's the base coat down - I marbled and streaked as much as I could to give a beaten appearance.



Oh and I used the Vallejo pale burnt metal and jet exhaust for the engines, forgot to take a picture!

And then the masking...took the longest of all parts of the build! Here she is, with some overspray (hard to paint under the wings)



Top shot:



Behind:



Front:



Almost there - will paint the droid, fix the overspray, clear coat and start the weathering.

Thanks for looking, just remember to never tell me the odds!

[cib2265]

All finished - as always, a bit rushed at the end as I'm trying to clear my bench to work on my big projects for the new year (1/16 Tiger and 1/32 Mustang, Spitfire etc)

[Coen]

Ah jeez!! That's freaking awesome dude!
Holy crap!
Wow!!!

Don't forget to take a bunch of pics and stick them in the reveal section eh?