1/48 Monogram F-18A Blue Angel |
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Gallery Article by Rodney Williams
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Sept 5 2003 |
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I just finished my
F-16A Thunderbird, so I had to get my Blue Angle put together. About ten
years ago, I took this photo of the Blue Angles when they came to the Moffett
Air Show in Sunnyvale, California, U.S.A.
This was my only reference, besides the kit instructions. I had two
Monogram 1/48 scale F-18A Hornet kits. One kit has some cockpit photo
etched parts!
Click on
images below to see larger images
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The kit was built
almost "out of the box." However I did add some pitot tubes,
using stainless steel tubing. I cleaned up the cockpit parts, glued them
together, and painted them following the kit instructions. I just attached the
pre painted photo etched cockpit seat belts.
I mixed my own blue and yellow lacquer for the model. Once the blue
lacquer was applied, then sanded down to 2000, I let it dry for a few weeks.
I painted the yellow on top of the model, the number two, the tail and wing
tips, including the pointed arrow on the bottom. The wheel wells were painted
with white lacquer. I used SnJ aluminum for the tail cones. I doubled up
the Superscale decals so the blue would not show
through.
I did something different on this
model. After the blue and yellow lacquer was sanded down to 2000, and
cleaned up with clear water, I used Future Floor Wax, instead of the clear
lacquer.
I mixed about four ounces of "Future" with about 8 ounces of denatured
alcohol. I stuck a round tube into one of the exhaust ports for my handle.
One early cool morning, I started spraying on the future. With lots of
alcohol, the future dried very fast. After using over half of my
Future/Alcohol mix, I had a extremely hi gloss finish on the model.
In person, you can see this extra hi gloss finish, but it does not look this
great in my photos. This experiment turned out great, and sure beats
sanding between every few coats of lacquer, and the final polishing process.
In one front view photo you will
see the nose painted with a bit of Testors Chrome Silver. I shook up the
silver paint in the bottle, took off the cap and put it on my model table.
I held the model in a vertical position and just lowered the tip of the nose
into the cap of the paint jar. To me, it looks great, and it beats masking
off this section of the model, then spraying on the paint.
During the October, 2000 IPMS
Redding, California contest, I found out that a Marine pilot always fly's No. 2,
so I was awarded the "Best USMC Aircraft Award."
Today, over three years later, the paint has not cracked, crazed, etc. The
model, like all my other ones are kept under plastic covers, and/or in my show
case, thus no dust and/or kitchen grease gets to them.
This photo shows my two "Thunderbirds," with my "Blue
Angel."
That's it for the Blue Angel.
Rodney Williams
Click on
images below to see larger images
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