Revell 1/48 F/A-18E Super Hornets x2

[Medicman71]

Hey all. Figured I'd show everyone here my two Super Hornet builds. Say what you want about some of Revell's kits, their F/A-18E Super Hornets are a great kit for the price. No it's not a Tamiya kit (although I'd be the happiest man in the world if Tamiya released Super Bugs), it's not that difficult of a build. Some of the details are a little soft and had to be rescribed. Like most Hornet/Super Hornet kits, the most difficult area is the nose. Right now I'm working on cleaning that area up then they can get re-primed and painted. Here's where they are now.

[Medicman71]

One will be built in the air-to-air load out and the other in the air-to-ground load out.

[Medicman71]

I'm using the Furball Hornet decal sheet and the Afterburner Upgrade set. One will be done in the VFA-151 Vigilantes scheme and the other in the VFA-137 Kestrels markings.

[Medicman71]

And of course you gotta have "The Modern Super Hornet Guide" from Jake Melampy.

[deafpanzer]

Off to a great start! Hope do you like your bench system from Hobby Zone? I have beeb thinking about getting it for my birthday.

[TJ]

Mike the Hornet guru

[stikpusher]

Jun 5, 2023 18:10:40 GMT -5 TJ said:

Mike the Hornet guru

[tcoat]

Off by 1!!!!!

[themongoose]

Kestrels is one of my faves! Looking great so far. Will be watching closely. Gotta agree with you on the Revell quality. I have this one and am actually looking forward to starting it one day. Detail is really great on it overall.

[Medicman71]

Jun 5, 2023 17:25:50 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Off to a great start! Hope do you like your bench system from Hobby Zone? I have beeb thinking about getting it for my birthday.

I love the Hobby Zone stuff. I'd like a lot more but I'm trying to figure out what I need.

[Medicman71]

Jun 5, 2023 18:10:40 GMT -5 TJ said:

Mike the Hornet guru

Yeah. I have 6 more Hornets/Super Hornets and a TON of reference material. With Meng putting out more I'm gonna have an assembly line.

[406 Silverado]

Dude you really got all your goodies in a row for this build. And that decal sheet!! Good LORD man! You're gonna have a LOT of fun with that.

[Medicman71]

Jun 6, 2023 9:51:58 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Dude you really got all your goodies in a row for this build. And that decal sheet!! Good LORD man! You're gonna have a LOT of fun with that.

Right! There's a TON of great decals for any kind of Legacy Hornet or Super Hornet you could want. Furball even make several Growler decal sheets.

[Medicman71]

I think I finally have the nose all sorted out. Just need to rescribe and re-rivet then I think this one will be ready for painting.

[deafpanzer]

Thank you for reminding me why I prefer to build armor kits! LOL Looking good as I am glad it has been sorted out.

[dupes]

I've never been able to figure what makes tooling a Hornet nose so difficult. There are plenty of other complex aircraft shapes out there that have buildable kits...why not this one?

[406 Silverado]

Jun 8, 2023 20:50:07 GMT -5 dupes said:

I've never been able to figure what makes tooling a Hornet nose so difficult. There are plenty of other complex aircraft shapes out there that have buildable kits...why not this one?

I was thinking along those same lines (no pun intended) dupes. There's F-15's , F-16's , F-4's...etc and they don't seem to have these issues.

A sweet recovery on this one Mike. Your efforts paid off in full bro.

[Joe Rix]

Sweet Super Hornets Mike. Your work so far is looking rather stellar. Especially the work on the nose. I'm there also scratching my head why no one can seem to nail the correct nose. That's right up there with companies trying to get the right shape of the "chin grin" on the F6F Hellcat. Real darn close but not right on. Eduard is really close on that one. Thanks for sharing with us.

[Medicman71]

Jun 8, 2023 20:50:07 GMT -5 dupes said:

I've never been able to figure what makes tooling a Hornet nose so difficult. There are plenty of other complex aircraft shapes out there that have buildable kits...why not this one?

Thanks guys!

Yeah I haven't figured that out either. And what really sucks is that they all seem to do it almost exactly the same way with minor differences. Kinetic seem to be the worst.

[Medicman71]

So while at Nats, I found some 3D printed exhausts cans for the Revell Super Hornets. I bought one set so that I could test the fit before I ordered another set. One fits just about perfectly, the other one, yeah not so much. I think I can get them to pass though. We'll see. I'd much rather use the 3D ones since they have a lot more detail and have the overlapping petals like the real ones.

[Medicman71]

I also got some JDAMs from Flying Leatherneck Decals. One set are the 500lb and the other set are the 1000lb versions. The 1000lb come in two pieces and a fuse in the nose. The 500lb ones come in two pieces with the bomb, nose bracket and fuse. They have the texture of the thermally protected Navy versions of the JDAM.

[stikpusher]

The burner cans and JDAMs will dress up your Super Hornets nicely.

[Medicman71]

Yeah I hope so. Only one jet will get the JDAMs. The other will be set up for air to air.

[Medicman71]

Working on the load out for A-G Super Hornet. With the load out I've decided on, someone could have a really bad day.

[deafpanzer]

They definitely will have a very bad day! Looking good man!

[Medicman71]

About to drill some small holes in the bombs to make them easier to paint. I'll stick a toothpick in there for the clamps to hold on to.

[deafpanzer]

Hope you saved me some Twizzlers too? Bombs looking good by the way!

[TJ]

Eeww red Twizzlers. Send me black ones

[406 Silverado]

Sept 12, 2023 10:20:40 GMT -5 Medicman71 said:

About to drill some small holes in the bombs to make them easier to paint. I'll stick a toothpick in there for the clamps to hold on to.


Good stuff so far Mike. Looking forward to more on these brutha.

[Medicman71]

Sept 15, 2023 4:17:15 GMT -5 TJ said:

Eeww red Twizzlers. Send me black ones

Thanks guys! And I hate the black ones!