WIP Revell F-18F Super Hornet 1/48 - COMPLETED!

Well now, with all the major issues you've mentioned, your technical skills have vastly overcome this project.  Great job sir, keep up the good work.

Minor update on the Super Hornet.  Filled all the seams on the inside of the intakes as best as possible.  Turned out better then I had expected once I painted the insides of the intakes.  The turbine fans are a simple piece but do the job.  I weathered the fans a little but the flash on the camera washed out the weathering in the picture.

installed the intakes onto the fuselage and filled all the other seams.  Just about time to prime and see what still need corrected.

One of the design features of the F/A-18E/F is that the engine blades are recessed into the aircraft and are not visible through the intakes. This feature is also in the F-22 and F-35. 

Painting has commenced.

With all major assembly and sub assembly done, pre shading was completed.  The majority of the aircraft will be standard 2 tone navy grey so I decided to try some marbling and pre shading together.

Since the model had been sprayed with tamiya primer, it was already a light grey.  Instead of black basing or using black pre shade I decided to use dark grey and white for marbling and panel line shading.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out.  Hopefully I will get some tonal variation and break up the over all color with the panel line shading.  After spraying the color I plan to do some post shading to highlight random panels.  

On to the pics...

Fixed canopy in, masked and sprayed black so the inside of the canopy will be the right color.

Primed

Marbled and pre shaded.

Im excited to see how your technique turns out this time.  Those last couple of the preshading and marbling look very well done.

 Nicely done. 

Toshi

I was able to shoot the color today.  The results of the marbling with the preshading turned out quite nice.  Subtle variation and the pre shading breaks up the color.

The underside was harder to capture on camera so I am not sure it will show in the pics but the top side shows well.  I plan to do some light post shade on random panels once dry.  I will then mask off a panel here and there and color it a lighter shade of the original color to give the apperance of re painted or replaced panels.

A coat of clear flat to seal in the grey and then mask off the areas that will be red per the box art paint scheme.  Tails were not painted since they are going to be red.

Top side

Bottom

Since shooting the F-18F with the base colors I have been elbow deep in masking for the secondary colors.  I bought a Cameo 3 vinyl cutter a couple months back and now feel familar enough with the software to design masks to replace some of the larger decals and paint on the markings.

The VFA-102 Diamondbacks has a great paint job.  I think it was done for an airshow back a few years ago. 

Paint scheme in question (computer rendition, could not find a pic of the real thing at this angle)

Decals that came with kit.  (I cut the sheet into smaller sections so I could scan them)

I decided to try replacing the decals on the aircraft spine, wings tips and tails wings with painted on markings.  To that end i used the cutter for the masks.

Cameo 3 cutter

The end result

Here is the masking tape after masks were cut and applied

Now the model is ready for red paint.  I plan to shoot white first to help seal in the masks and then the red.  After learning to use the cutter and creating this first attempt I realize I am only scratching the surface with this thing.  Once I get the art work created, I will be able to paint on roundels, german cross, stars and bars, and lettering to name a few.  

With a cad program I should be able to create masks for canopies.  

I will post results.  Thanks for tuning in.

Ya know, I saw this model in real life over the weekend. Just now seeing the pictures of the build, I'm just out of words. When the airplane is done it will look amazing.

The cameo 3 runs $200 if you do not get it will a bunch of accessories that as modelers we do not need.  The accessories are for the scrapbook world.  You can also get a cameo 2 machine for less and there are other makers for around $100.  

I got the cameo after reading reviews and seeing that their software works best for the needs of a modeler.  The software from other manufacturers were more specific to scrapbooking but the Cameo line, the software is more general and works very much like a drawing or photo editing program.  Also The cameo software will let you import from other software like photoshop, illustrator and cad programs.  

There are upgrades to the software, specifically if you want to import the other files.  The upgrade runs $30-50 depending on the seller.

So far I have not needed to upgrade.  Perhaps in the future as I get better at creating the artwork.  Also the cameo will cut up to 2mm thick so i can now create parts from thin styrene sheet much like photo etch.  It will also etch metal.  It wont cut metal but it could be used to create panel lines and rivet detal on thin metal.

It also cuts fabric and leather as well as other materials so like I said, just scratching the surface.

I'll second the recommendation for the Silhouette Cameo.  I've done quite a bit with mine and it has been a great modeling tool.

Finished up the F-18F today.  Last I left off on this WIP I had completed the masks to paint the diamonds on.  The following pics sum up the build to completion.  On to the pics...

Red applied to replace kit decals:

Main paint job done and onto the decals.  This kit had a ton of decals.

Since I painted this to depict an airshow bird, the weathering was left to a minimum as the reference pics I found show the aircraft basically clean.  I did just enough of a wash to highlight the panel lines and engraved detail.  I applied a semi gloss clear over the red areas and a flat clear on the gray parts.

I built the kit out of the box.  I added seat belts using masking tape.  I was impressed with the kit overall.  The cockpit is a bit basic and would benefit from some resin seats.  No major issues and the decal sheet provided enough decals to do this paint scheme as well as standard two tone grey navy f-18 so now I have a set of decal spares.  Thanks for looking.

Looks great!  I have a fond affection for the 18. I worked at MDC when it was birthed.  It had a difficult birth and infancy, and I was glad to see it survive and become a successful aircraft.

Thank you all.  Going back to my preferred cold war jet era with an F-86 build in NMF.  Also working on a Ju88 desert scheme.  I will post WIPs as soon as I have enough of a start on the builds.

That's a very cool scheme. Very well done.

BK