FINISHED!
This build was for our local clubs Marine tribute in honor of past club President, avid modeler, and Marine Ed Kinney. I wanted to do a Desert Storm Hornet from the Hasegawa F-18 kit I had. Going through all the options I decided on a stinger from VMFA-451 because it received a purple heart for damage incurred from a SAM missile to the sidewinder station. The Warlords frlew out of Shaikh Isa AB in Bahrain. The Warlords were also the first Marine unit to attack Iraqi locations in Desert Storm so there was alot of history here to model.
This has been my most involved build, which ended up taking 6 months to complete (although there were a few family interruptions and that leaking 2nd floor bathroom lol but that's another "remodeling" story). Forward dating the model, which was essentially the prototype AC, was a chore helped along by 3 great LSP'ers (a special note, that's RedDog's belly tank you see). To this I added the Avionix cockpit and tail resin F/A-18A conversion set, AMR Reaver screens and vents, Flying Leathernecks decals, TwoBobs ordnance decals, a Navy pilot from my stash plus alot of scratch building.
My logic on weathering was that since this stinger was in action my first time weathering efforts would be ok if they were a little on the heavy side. I learned as I went along, practicing on the Haz parts I didn't use before doing the real thing. I used The Scale Hornet by Jake Melampy for reference. My WIP page has all the details on scratch buildings and techniques used to complete the project. Check it out!
Let's start with some main profile shots and then I can add some details in second post (Note the flap and tail position are set for the takeoff orientation I use on the stand).
In the pattern: Scale Shipyard's 1/48 Balao Class Sub! leaning out the list...NOT! Ha, added to it again - Viper MkVii, 1/32 THUD & F-15J plus a weekend madness build!
