Monogram Blue Angels 1/48 F/A-18A 1987

[stikpusher]

This is my 1/48 Monogram F/A-18A Blue Angels, done as the lead solo aircraft, #5, for the first year of Hornets, 1987. That was the only season that the Blues did not have the fence installed on the LEXs in front of the vertical stabilizers. I built this kit OOB, aside from modifying the stabilator attachment point using some aluminum tubing, to aid in seam clean up back there. Also the kit has a paper "H" to cut out from the instruction sheet to add to the ejection seat as parachute harness risers. I substituted some 1mm Tamiya making tape cut to the proper lengths instead. I used enamel Humbrol Gloss Midnight Blue and Model Master Blue Angels Yellow for the main colors, and a set of Milspec Decals in place of the kit decals.




















Thanks for looking, comments and critiques welcomed

[stikpusher]

A couple more photos of my Blues Bug...



with my Libya Raider VFA-132 F/A-18A, my fist Monogram Hornet build



and with my Academy F-16A Thunderbird

[keavdog]

She turned out great Carlos! I love that second pic. Oddly I've never done a hornet!

[jeaton01]

Very nice, Carlos!

[stikpusher]

John & John, thank you sirs.

John, you have never built a Hornet? You need to correct that. Such a good looking aircraft and lots of paint schemes to choose from.

[creading]

Looks very nice. Great shot with the F-16

Cheers,
C.

[deafpanzer]

Loved the last image showing both Thunderbird and Blue Angel aircrafts! Your F-18 really came out great!

[stikpusher]

CR, Andy, thank you sirs! Glad that you like this.

I thought that posing the two team aircraft together would be a great touch.

[Leon]

Very nicely done Carlos!

[406 Silverado]

I’ve said it before but it’s just hard to believe this is a Revell kit. It didn’t seem like this one gave you a whole lot of problems either. Very well built and displayed Carlos!

Btw…..I absolutely love that F-16 too!!

[stikpusher]

Leon and Joe, thank you for your kind words.

Joe, the molds are actually pre mergerMonogram from the early 80’s. So they are a bit nicer than the Revell kit of the same vintage. As far as challenges with this kit, since I had built one before, I knew where those would be, and dealt with them easily. And I thought the pairing with my Thunderbird F-16 would be a nice touch.

[handiabled]

Gorgeous builds Carlos!

[stikpusher]

Thanks Brent

[kyledehart5]

A wonderful result!

[stikpusher]

Thank you Kyle. Sometimes things work out right!

[Joe Rix]

That is flat out gorgeous. Just a beautiful build. Well done my friend.

[stikpusher]

Thanks Joe. It was something of a break in habit to do a clean shiny build, instead of something used and weathered to one degree or another.

[TJ]

This came out excellent. I still can't get over the shine

[stikpusher]

Aug 30, 2023 3:33:47 GMT -5 TJ said:

This came out excellent. I still can't get over the shine

Thanks TJ. I can’t get over the shine either. 

[moparmadness]

That’s a Beautiful gloss finish Carlos!

[stikpusher]

Thank you Chad. I'm happy to hear that you like this build.

[atomicholiday]

Love it! The whole thing looks great, but the cockpit is outstanding.👍

[stikpusher]

Thank you Atomic. I’m very happy to hear your thoughts on this build.

[buddho]

Gorgous builds...one and all. I love the paint schemes. Beautiful

[stikpusher]

Thank you Buddho.

[murph]

Having built that kit myself, I say good work on a tough kit, stik. That turned out really nice.

[stikpusher]

Thanks Murph. She is a bit challenging, but not a bad kit overall. Modeling skills helpful, as the boxes say

[armornutii]

  Shiny, very shiny...just like the real ones. Honestly building a Blue Angle bird is as close as I would have ever got to the team.
   Beautiful Carlos.

[stikpusher]

Dec 7, 2023 15:01:06 GMT -5 armornutii said:

  Shiny, very shiny...just like the real ones. Honestly building a Blue Angle bird is as close as I would have ever got to the team.
   Beautiful Carlos.

Thank you! Aside from them in the air and on the ground at air shows, this is as closest to them I have ever gotten as well. The snap & pop of the aviators and their ground crews as they prepare to fly is always enable to watch.

[robbo]

That's a nice build, looks great