BobM's 1:72 Canuck Model Products CF-18A Hornet

[BobM]

Introduction

Alright, finished my Millennium Falcon build for the Sci-Fi Fantasy SIG, so I thought I'd pop in here. For this build I'll be working on this:

In 2015, Hornet number 188761 was repainted in World War 2 style camouflage and markings to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Canada's participation in the Battle of Britain, the air war campaign over English skies that helped change the course of the war.

This particular model is from my "Honorable Mention" in the 2018 Bomber SIG and was generously donated by the host of the SIG, fellow hockey fan, neighbor from North of the Border, and all around nice guy, Scott (aka Twokidsnosleep).

This is a repackaged version of Academy's F/A-18 circa 2008 and thus will be my first experience with an Academy model. Canuck Model Products and/or Modelcraft included decals from CMP with the Academy sprues to create a really interesting kit. To quote another review:

The detail is state of the art, and combined with Canuck Decals' outstanding markings makes this the best CF-18 model available today.

Sprue A:


Details look really nice and sharp (at least those in focus):


Sprue B:


Sprue C:


Two Sprue E's (what happened to D?):


A Clear Sprue:


Decals:


Instructions:





Painting, Decal and Stencil Guides:



And what's this? I don't see it in the instructions... Perhaps a surprise from @Twokidsnosleep? I'll have to figure out what to do with this...

[Twokidsnosleep]

Hey, I recognize this
AWESOME
I have no recollection of the figure
But I am getting senile so may well have tucked it in there and forgot
Good luck with the build, first game of the season is Thurs night

[BobM]

Update 1 - It begins...

Got a start on some early assembly and paint prep. Nothing much to report other than my fat fingers and solvent doing some minor damage. After a little sanding, panel line scribing, and rivet repair, it’s not looking bad.

Being my first modern jet fighter, assembly is a bit different from my usual WWII prop planes. It should be interesting. The Plast-I-Weld is working out great (when it isn’t running under a finger). I like how it sets a bit faster than Extra Thin. The Touch-N-Flow applicator is really nice as well, it’s great for holding the parts together and then reaching solvent inside to hard to get places.



TTFN

[digger303]

Update 1 - It begins...

Got a start on some early assembly and paint prep. Nothing much to report other than my fat fingers and solvent doing some minor damage. After a little sanding, panel line scribing, and rivet repair, it’s not looking bad.

Being my first modern jet fighter, assembly is a bit different from my usual WWII prop planes. It should be interesting. The Plast-I-Weld is working out great (when it isn’t running under a finger). I like how it sets a bit faster than Extra Thin. The Touch-N-Flow applicator is really nice as well, it’s great for holding the parts together and then reaching solvent inside to hard to get places.



TTFN

I-weld is a bugger for going everywhere if the finger contacts it all all. Not experiencing any clogging of the applicator ?

[BobM]

I-weld is a bugger for going everywhere if the finger contacts it all all. Not experiencing any clogging of the applicator ?

A little, but I just stuck it in the bottle and let it dissolve away. So far, so good.

[BobM]

Updare 2 - Cool new tool...

Yesterday the better half and I went to the County Fair. One of our stops is always the “mall” buildings with all the random stuff to buy. You know, mattresses, massage chairs, water softeners, jewelry, kitchen wares, etc. One of the booths that is always there sells every shape and size of scissors and lots of other similar items. This includes what I assume are cheap Chinese dental instruments. Well, nothing has ever caught my eye until yesterday when I spotted what was labeled, I think, a dental tartar scraper. I didn’t have an immediate need for it (or so I thought) but it looked really useful. So I grabbed it along with a straight dental pick.

Well, today I was at the bench going over progress and double checking the instructions when I notice I had missed a step that required four small bumps to be removed from part of the fuselage. Hey! That looks like a perfect application of the scraper.

Before:


After:


Already worth the purchase!

After seeing the photos and how rough the edge was, I pulled out some diamond lapping stone a put a much better edge on it. I later found four more things to remove and even used it to clean up some squeeze out in an inside corner joint. I’m loving this thing!

I continued making progress on assembly, looking for things that can be assembled before priming. It’s going well, the fit is pretty good, but some adjustments have been needed.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Bob my friend, if you need dental tools, burrs or whatever just let me know
That thing looks like a Chinese torture device, cripes would not have THAT in my mouth

Keep up the good progress
I see shot glasses, so we know your motivation

[BobM]

Bob my friend, if you need dental tools, burrs or whatever just let me know
That thing looks like a Chinese torture device, cripes would not have THAT in my mouth

Keep up the good progress
I see shot glasses, so we know your motivation

Thanks for the offer. I’ve heard I should ask my dentist, but I never know what to ask for. And don’t worry, that thing ain’t going anywhere near my mouth!

Nah, the only alcohol that goes in those shot glasses is IPA...I don’t believe in drinking and modeling!

[BobM]

Update 3 - Paint prep continues...

Not much to report, just a lot of cutting, filing, sanding, glueing, filling, etc getting things ready for paint. I’m still waiting for some filled spots to cure, then a little more clean before primer.



Hopefully the next update will show primer, then I’ll see how much more sanding, filling, etc is needed!

[digger303]

Bob my friend, if you need dental tools, burrs or whatever just let me know
That thing looks like a Chinese torture device, cripes would not have THAT in my mouth

Keep up the good progress
I see shot glasses, so we know your motivation

Thanks for the offer. I’ve heard I should ask my dentist, but I never know what to ask for. And don’t worry, that thing ain’t going anywhere near my mouth!

Nah, the only alcohol that goes in those shot glasses is IPA...I don’t believe in drinking and modeling!

I try , but when I'm fully engrossed I find I forget about drinking....who would believe it !

[mse240966]

Updare 2 - Cool new tool...

Yesterday the better half and I went to the County Fair. One of our stops is always the “mall” buildings with all the random stuff to buy. You know, mattresses, massage chairs, water softeners, jewelry, kitchen wares, etc. One of the booths that is always there sells every shape and size of scissors and lots of other similar items. This includes what I assume are cheap Chinese dental instruments. Well, nothing has ever caught my eye until yesterday when I spotted what was labeled, I think, a dental tartar scraper. I didn’t have an immediate need for it (or so I thought) but it looked really useful. So I grabbed it along with a straight dental pick.

Well, today I was at the bench going over progress and double checking the instructions when I notice I had missed a step that required four small bumps to be removed from part of the fuselage. Hey! That looks like a perfect application of the scraper.

Before:


After:


Already worth the purchase!

After seeing the photos and how rough the edge was, I pulled out some diamond lapping stone a put a much better edge on it. I later found four more things to remove and even used it to clean up some squeeze out in an inside corner joint. I’m loving this thing!

I continued making progress on assembly, looking for things that can be assembled before priming. It’s going well, the fit is pretty good, but some adjustments have been needed.

I need to get one of the scrappers!

[BobM]

Update 4 - Primed for progress...

I finished patching, filling and sanding a few areas, at least to point where I’m happy with them. So next it was time for some Stynylrez:



Most of the filled areas look good. A couple could be better... but they may be good enough... I’ll see how a feel about them later.

Next I painted the cockpit, it’s tiny. I didn’t spend to much time and just hit some of the bigger features, plus some dry brushing.





I must not have completely cleaned out the airbrush before spraying the final clear coat, you can probably see the slight haze that it left... Ahhh... dusty, yeah, that’s it...

[BobM]

Update 5 - More paint prep...

After looking at the “good enough” filled areas a bit more, they weren’t “good enough”. So, a couple of dabs of Mr. Surfacer 1000, some careful sanding, and spot priming and they look great! Unfortunately no before photos, so after photos wouldn’t make sense.

Next I masked the canopy after a dip in Future/Pledge/Klear. These were then set in place with PVA glue. The rear section is only temporary to protected the cockpit; after painting I’ll remove it and affix it in an open position.



I also made enlarged copies of the paint guide and cut out rough patterns for the camo pattern.



I think it’s ready for paint!

[Twokidsnosleep]

It is looking great Bob
Black and orange...you getting ready for Halloween or something

[BobM]

It is looking great Bob
Black and orange...you getting ready for Halloween or something

Thanks!

Not really! Just free cloths from Harbor Freight so I don’t scratch the primer too much!

[BobM]

Update 6 - Painting begins...

Got a start on the underside color, Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey. For the first time I thinned it with Mr. Color Leveling Thinner instead of Tamiya Lacquer Thinner. So far it didn’t seem much different. One problem I’ve had in the past is getting a rough texture in inside corners, like where wings meet the fuselage. With this combo I had the same problem. However, a remembered hearing that the paint can be smoothed by over-spraying with straight thinner, so I did. Not perfect, but it helped a lot. I’m not sure if I’ve tried that with Tamiya thinner.

After letting it fully cure overnight, I noticed some dust, areas I didn’t cover completely and other imperfections. I lightly sanded these areas and resprayed them; I’m pretty happy with the result.



Next up, the upper surfaces, masking and camo...

[gaz45]

Looking great so far mate

[Quax]

very nice Bob!

Paul

[BobM]

Looking great so far mate

very nice Bob!

Paul

Hey, thanks guys!

Update 7 - First Half Camo

I masked of the underside with lots of Tamiya tape and paper. I then re-placed the masks I showed earlier, but a bit more carefully and filling in the sides and vertical stabilizers.



The masked areas will eventually be the Desert Yellow of the pattern. So, to start I lightly sprayed the edges with XF-61 Dark Green, just enough to hint at the camo pattern. After removing the masks, it was barely different than the black primer, but enough to see. I didn’t think it would show up in a photo, so I didn’t bother.

I was able to use these outlines to roughly freehand the XF-59 Dessert Yellow and 5% XF-7 Flat Red thinned with Mr. Leveling Thinner, over spraying a little to make sure I have enough coverage.



After taking this photo I notice an area that I had missed covering completely, so I had to mix up a little more to fix it. I followed this with a “wet coat” of straight MLT which really helps to smooth out my crummy spraying!

I’ll let this fully cure for a day or so and then mask with “blue tack” for the Dark Green.

[Kevthemodeller]

Looking good

[BobM]

Update 8 - Camo done?

My next step was to mask over the light camo so the dark camo could be painted. The plan was to use “blue tack”, but that wasn’t working for me. While trying, I also noticed that I didn’t overspray the light color enough, so I had to add another coat to make sure I overlapped the dark areas enough. This was then mask by cutting my patterns out of a combination of 40mm and 10mm Tamiya tape. After several hours, I had this:



Then a few minutes in the spray booth with XF-61 Dark Green (note that I skipped the 5% Black that the instructions suggest) and...



And with the masking removed...



This was great, except for one problem:



A little bit of bleeding under the tape. I think there were two possible reason for this. First, this was the first time I’ve used the 40mm Tamiya tape and it seems some what different, a bit stiffer, than the 10 mm tape. But I think the biggest issue was being a bit heavy handed when I overcoated with straight MLT... oh well. So a bit of touch up was needed which I did with a brush. Unfortunately I needed to mix the light color and the brushing produced a different sheen/texture...



At this point I was hoping a coat of Aquagloss would cover the texture differences and the shade would be close enough... you’ll see the results shortly

But before applying the gloss, I needed to mask and paint the landing gear wells





Then, after this it was time for Aquagloss... better but not perfect. I think you can see here that the shade is off a little. I’ll see how I feel about it in a day or two when I may or, more likely, may not try another touch up.

[Twokidsnosleep]

The Hornet in its frozen natural habitat



You are doing great here Bob

[Tomcat64]

Sorry for being late to this party Bob - just caught up with the whole thread.

Looks like the kit came together nicely and pretty much behaved itself - hope you can get the paintwork knocked into shape so you're happy with it.

[gaz45]

Ooohh looking good mate

[BobM]

Final Update - Decal, Details, and Done!

It been a while. I don't know what it is, work, the upcoming holidays, or my medication, but I just haven't had the energy for modeling lately. I don't think it's a mojo issue, I want to build but I don't have energy for anything. Oh well, over the last couple of weeks I've at least been able to get in some progress. Sorry, no photos, that's just one more thing I haven't felt like doing.

But, I have managed to complete the build; the reveal thread should be up soon.

After painting and a coat of Aquagloss, it was time for decals. I'm not sure if these were the best or the worst decals I've worked with; I'm leaning towards the latter. They were very delicate; the first, and several more, just tore. Some came off if I just looked at them. But I carefully worked my way through the larger decals, choosing to skip many of the small details that you likely wouldn't see on the dark green anyway. There are a few mistakes, some of which I was able to touch up, others were just left. The front landing gear bay is suppose to be surrounded with black decals. These gave me no end of trouble, tear, not adhering, etc. I gave up and ending up masking that area and painting. Fortunately I was able to get the large graphics on the tail fairly well, with a minor touch up. Luckily, Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey matched those decals really well. With a careful coat of Solvaset, the decals really did "melt" into the paint.

After the decals, another good layer of Aquagloss and then on to some details. I had temporarily affixed the canopy with PVA, this was removed and unmasked. The bay doors were detail painted (well, just a thin red line around the edge.) The landing gear, bay doors, and tail hook were set in their final places. A little more paint and Aquagloss touch ups and done! I decided to keep this clean, so no weathering at all.

OK, one peek before the reveal...



Thanks!

[BobM]

FYI - the build thread is up!

[Kevthemodeller]

Very nice, good save on the wing cammo