1/48 Revell F-18F

Nice build I like the weathering and colorful paint job 

That's really a nice looking F-18 how do you like the model ?

I normally build WW2 fighters so don't know much about modern air craft.

Lately I have a real interest in them but not sure which brands represent them well.

I do like the paint scheme on yours that's cool !

I like the low vis. high vis. paint job.Does anybody know why the pylons on the F-18e/f super hornet are canted outward?

The pylons were canted outward after the prototype testing revealed that the jettison of stores caused the stores to hit the plane with the pylons pointed straight. So, instead of a redesign (which would only make perfect sense), they canted the pylons outwards by about 4 degrees, if I remember correctly, to make the stores jettison work safely. Unfortunately, this caused the range of the aircraft to go way down, which was one of the reasons the Hornet was redesigned to the E & F versions in the first place.   

Outstanding job on the Hornet, Darren! Amazing what you can do with a Revell kit......

Thanks all! The pylons were canted out because testing showed that there was a potential for weapons separation issues. So as not to go back and have to redesign the wing, the engineers simply towed the pylons out. In the end, I believe it wouldn't have made a difference. However, the towed pylons do impact performance, and the Hornet was already notorious for having short legs. The towed out pylons made range issues a bit worse. 

Edit: Devil Dawg beat me to it! 

Oh My Word !  that's one beautiful F-18 model   

Wow! Your F-18 is an absolute beaut Darren. You have done some really stunning work. I like It!

Thanks,I thought that the pylons would cause alot of drag.that's the govt. for you,fit, function, form. 

Very nice build.  Love the colors on this one.

Mike

That's a great lookin' build. Seeing stuff like that always tears me up because I can never decide if I like single seaters or two seaters better. 

Do you know if this uses most of the same molds as their F/A-18E kit? I'm just curious is all. I'm guessing yes. I built their E-model and aside from a few fit issues, it came out great.

I also did not know about the pylon issue. Interesting!

--Chris

Anybody know what paint you can use for that nifty blue color?  I've got the kit and am not sure what to use.  Thanks!

dirkpitt77

That's a great lookin' build. Seeing stuff like that always tears me up because I can never decide if I like single seaters or two seaters better. 

Do you know if this uses most of the same molds as their F/A-18E kit? I'm just curious is all. I'm guessing yes. I built their E-model and aside from a few fit issues, it came out great.

I also did not know about the pylon issue. Interesting!

 

--Chris

 

Chris, I do believe it uses the same molds. 

Which leads to my question to you Darren, the one major issue I had with fit on my E version was on the spine behind the cockpit, where there part is an insert. I know there is a natural panel line there, but when inserted the gap was just to much. I've heard rumors this is still an issue on this kit, can you confirm? 

But seriously, amazing work on this kit! 

Wow Darren, gorgeous !! That scheme is awesome, I love it.

BK

Very nice! I have this kit as well. After seeing this I want to built mine now.

Thanks for the kind words. It's fun to see a model I built on the side of the box. It's actually on the top as well. They digitally enhanced it to look like it's flying. I mixed the blue to match the decals. I don't know if there's an exact match or not. The fit of the spine is still a bit of a pain, as is the front windscreen.