Monogram 1/48 Blue Angels Hornet

[stikpusher]

This is Monogram’s 1/48 F/A-18A in Blue Angels markings, as the appeared for their initial season with the type in 1987. I’ve had this kit in my stash for a looooong time…. I’m building this OOB to keep it flowing quickly.



Of course construction starts with the cockpit.



I should be able to start painting tomorrow once everything is dry.

[keavdog]

Love a good F-18 build. Got the paint?

[stikpusher]

Jul 17, 2023 18:44:46 GMT -5 keavdog said:

Love a good F-18 build. Got the paint?

Me too! I haven’t built one for many years. And yes, I have the paint. Humbrol’s Gloss Midnight Blue is an exact match to Blue Angels Blue, while I still have a bottle of Model Master Blue Angels Yellow.

[Tojo72]

Looking forward to seeing your handling of that paint scheme

[Joe Rix]

What a fun kit to build and with an even better scheme. Building anything Blue Angels is top rate to me. I will along for this fun bit of modeling.

You might inspire me to finally build one of my Blue Angel kits. I have the F8F Bearcat, F-11 Tiger, F-4 Phantom, F-18 hornet in 1/72 and the C-121 Constellation in 1/144. What can I say, I come from a family of Navy pilots. Go Navy!

[406 Silverado]

Jul 17, 2023 23:02:53 GMT -5 Joe Rix said:

What a fun kit to build and with an even better scheme. Building anything Blue Angels is top rate to me. I will along for this fun bit of modeling.

You might inspire me to finally build one of my Blue Angel kits. I have the F8F Bearcat, F-11 Tiger, F-4 Phantom, F-18 hornet in 1/72 and the C-121 Constellation in 1/144. What can I say, I come from a family of Navy pilots. Go Navy!

[406 Silverado]

This one should be fun to watch come together. That's not a bad looking pit for OOB Revell.

[stikpusher]

Thanks for the positive waves on this project1

Tony, I think my only debate on the painting is if I should paint the yellow areas fist then mask them off, or paint them over the blue. Most of it is decal work, so it should be fairly straightforward.

Joe, I grew up around a lot of Navy and Marine Corps aviation in the area, so I am something of a fan myself. But I am an old dogface, and my son is current USAF...

Joe, Monogram was at the top of their cockpit game when they molded this one. the seat is beautiful, and even has a paper H harness to cut out from the instructions for the risers that connect the harness to the chute pack in the headrest. I'll be replacing that with some 1mm Tamiya masking tape I think...

[deafpanzer]

SWEET! It is going to be fun to follow your build. It's funny because my friend and I talked about visiting Pensacola to see the museum and where the Blue Angels train by the beach.

[brandonk]

Very nice. Gonna be watching this.

[stikpusher]

until my next update, for entertainment purposes...  made the last show season that the Blues flew Scooters...

[TJ]

Jul 18, 2023 12:53:19 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

SWEET! It is going to be fun to follow your build. It's funny because my friend and I talked about visiting Pensacola to see the museum and where the Blue Angels train by the beach.

I've been living in Florida for 5 years and still haven't got there yet.  My wife has occasional business trips up there. One day I'm going to go with her.  Of course from the Ft. Myers airport there are no direct flights to Pensacola.

[stikpusher]

I've seen them many times over the years. I think that the first time that I saw them with Hornets was in '89

[stikpusher]

Been doing some airbrushing on interior parts before I close it up. I have the base colors of Dark Gull Gray and Flat Black applied. I tried Mission Models Dark Gull Gray airbrushed without any thinner and it worked just fine on the gray areas.



I just need to do detail painting in there and then I can get it all sealed up.

[stikpusher]

Since my Thunderstreak is now finished, this is my now focus project…. No I’d don’t have MADD… 😉


Cockpit painting is nearly done… I left the seat to be glued in later, so can continue detailing it in the meantime…









then I did a mod to the stabilator area, because I don’t like the kit molding… I put in some aluminum tubing to make mounting points for the stabilators…

[stikpusher]

And then… just like that… it started to look like a Hornet…

[TJ]

Ooh shiny. The Blue Angels motiff is so simple yet so cool

[stikpusher]

Not shiny yet TJ… give it a week or so 😏

[deafpanzer]

Gosh, how many builds are you doing at the same time? I am afraid I have lost count! LOL Nice work on the cockpit by the way.

[stikpusher]

Two primary new builds, this one and the Spitfire, plus a couple of shelf of doom completions, and a few long slow armor projects… Lol!

[stikpusher]

and now back to our regularly scheduled Blue Angels Hornet build...

I have been doing seam filling and clean up. Thankfully the worst ones are on the undersurfaces due to the kits engineering. I'll be using some strip styrene to shim some of them.



I also cut the stabilators from their center linkage



and I test fitted them in the aluminum tubing... perfect fit after mold seam removal...



the masking tape is protecting the raised detail while I do filling and sanding on the fuselage joint seam...

[stikpusher]

Had an airbrushing session this morning, applying a coat of Tamiya White Liquid Surface Primer into the intakes, wheel wells, and landing gear struts. Using this stuff as a base under any white paint gives the most vivid white top coats I’ve ever achieved.



You can also see where I added strip styrene shims into the largest gaps of the upper & lower halves seam on the wing undersides.

[Joe Rix]

You have been wonderfully busy on this Stik. It all looks great so far. You did an exceptional job on the cockpit. It looks the part to me.

I'm hoping to make it over Grand Junction, Co. this fall to watch them. I am looking forward to seeing them fly their new Super Hornets.

[stikpusher]

Thanks Joe. The kit is engineered to build up quickly enough. And in this (mostly) single color paint scheme and the lack of ordnance, it really can be built in a long weekend if one isn’t too fussy about things. In a few days I should have basic assembly completed and have it ready for paint.

I would love to see the Blues again. Haven’t been to an air show in several years because they keep cancelling the one that they should be holding here at Luke every other year. Hopefully next year, but who knows. There is also MCAS Yuma a couple of hours away…

[stikpusher]

Todays progress report… basic construction completed… all I need to do is add a few bits here and there, but it’s ready for painting…



Looks like a Hornet now.

[martslay]

Yes, it looks like a Hornet now)) Good luck with the painting.

[stikpusher]

Thanks Martin. Im not worried about about the painting... so far, so good...

[406 Silverado]

I've gotta say that I'm most impressed with the OOB pit on this one Carlos, especially with it being a Revell offering. Your work on it is really good that's true.....but I'm just amazed at that much included detail straight from the kit.

The build up looks like it's going smoothly but I can tell that you've got lots of time available for modeling as fast as this one is coming together. That Tamiya White Primer really is the bee's knees aint it?

[stikpusher]

Thanks Joe. The molds are originally pre merger Monogram, so for at the time, they were probably the best around at that time. Of course that would change in the 90’s as everybody upped their game, so to speak.
And yeah, I’ve have plenty of time for modeling the past couple of weeks. This is not a trouble free build, but it’s not a dog by any means either… and yes, Tamiya white primer is great stuff. Highly recommended!

[406 Silverado]

Aug 13, 2023 15:10:29 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Thanks Joe. The molds are originally pre merger Monogram, so for at the time, they were probably the best around at that time. Of course that would change in the 90’s as everybody upped their game, so to speak.
And yeah, I’ve have plenty of time for modeling the past couple of weeks. This is not a trouble free build, but it’s not a dog by any means either… and yes, Tamiya white primer is great stuff. Highly recommended!

You lucky dog.