colourful Canadian Hornet

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rob_van_riel
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colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by rob_van_riel »

This project was a candidate for the new year's competition of the local IPMS group, which for 2018 is to be themed 'colourful', for whatever definition of colourful one cares to use. As I've since found something better for the contest, I can de-classify this one :)

For starters, the traditional box and sprues shot:
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Something of an impulse buy on my part, but so far I like what I see. The kit, although not marked as such, is clearly one of the easy kit series, which means it's basic to the point of being a bit crude, but with good fit and general shape. Quite sufficent for what is essentially a canvas for some really wild markings.

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The kit contains two large decal sheets, which should perform well if past experience is anything to go by. Oddly, it contains three external fuel tanks, two VER racks, and all five pylons, but nothing to hang from the VERs and no air-to-air weapons at all. Given that neither subject carries anything ordnance, I can imagine leaving out all external stores, or putting in the current stores plus two each of Sidewinder and Sparrow missiles, but not this mix.

2017-03-28
As hoped, the model pretty much assembled itself, with minimal corrections needed to the basic frame. I expect no difficulty from the undercarriage once I get to that point. The canopy frame does need a bit of work, and a smallish amount of filler it now setting along the edges. I expect to hit the paintshop tomorrow.

2017-04-08
The canopy took a little longer than anticipated, but I got it into the paintshop last week. The first coat of humbrol 127 revealed some gaps that needed fixing, so I had to take a step back and deal with those first. If I had been paying proper attention, I would also have noticed that there was a distinct green tint to the supposedly neutral, or even a bit blueish grey. This hadn't really bothered me on earlier projects painted from the self same tin, but those were single colour jobs, while this one will get a darker, more blue grey sitting next to it. As it is, I only realised the green tint stood out like a sore thumb after repainting. The lid on the tin seemed to suggest this was a quality control issue, not intentional, so I grabbed a far newer production tin from the stockpile for comparison. Neutral or slightly blue grey, as expected (the grey area on the wood block firectly under the wing edge). Good thing I'd already used up most of the bad paint, or I'd be chucking out yet another full tin of paint from the dark ages of Humbrol.

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DavidWomby
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by DavidWomby »

This will be good. Canada has a history of spectacular schemes on one CF-18 each year .

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iggie
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by iggie »

Nice looking scheme Rob, and a nice looking kit to match.
Best wishes

Jim
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rob_van_riel
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by rob_van_riel »

A good blast of 1980s stock Humbrol Airbrush 127 sorted the colour issue. I probably won't be ably to get a proper masking and airbrushing session in before next weekend (Which of us noted that work is the curse of the modelling classes? Wise man, that..), so no progress for a while :cry:
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by ShaunW »

Actually, that is not a bad looking kit Rob and certainly should provide a good canvas for your loud and proud markings. As you can see, the "work" thing is on my signature bar. I can't claim that it is a product of my own imagination however, I slightly altered a saying that I saw many years ago and which might be by someone famous but I can't remember now - "work is the curse of the drinking classes".
Doing - Tamiya 1/35th Universal Carrier.

Work is the curse of the modelling classes!
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by Migrant »

I'm not usually a fan of the CF-18 colour birds but that's definitely one of the nicer ones. Looking forward to seeing it done.
rob_van_riel
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by rob_van_riel »

I'm beginning to understand some of the bad press Humbrol got for a while. I put on the camouflage, and guess what? It's green. Not as bad as the base coat was before re-painting, but bad enough. Again, the same generation of paints that messed me up earlier, and the same generation, that forced me to sideline four tins of 104 Oxford Blue. Just to make things that much crazier, I have an outwardly indistinguishable tin of the same 145, same generation, probably about the same age, that doesn't have this green problem. It does seem too thin for brush painting though..

New production 145, as I expected, has neither problem, so clearly they cleaned up their act considerably, but from now on, I'll test anything that falls between the "super enamels" and the current 'wave pattern' tins before use; production from those years just cannot be trusted :evil:

Proper camo for the Hornet will have to wait a while longer..
rob_van_riel
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by rob_van_riel »

ShaunW wrote:I slightly altered a saying that I saw many years ago and which might be by someone famous but I can't remember now - "work is the curse of the drinking classes".
I like your version better; I don't drink, so my empathy with the drinking classes is limited. Plastic wranglers, on the other hand, I can relate to :-D
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by celt »

Well tidy so far.
rob_van_riel
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by rob_van_riel »

At last, some real progress. The second attempt at the top colour went on yesterday, and I unmasked the plane just now. For once, no nasty surprises at that point; I might actually be learning ;-)

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Residue from the masking tape left the canopy a bit grubby, so some cleanup with alcohol and a re-coating with Clear will be next, followed by a few coats of Clear over the entire plane to protect against grubby paws and to help the decals stick.
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by rob_van_riel »

I regret to inform you all that the Hornet has run into a spot of trouble :cry:

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I got the centre section of the big maple leaf on yesterday, and made sure it was properly settled down and stuck with several helpings of solvent. When I tried to attach the side panels, I found out I'd lined it up with the wrong panel line. About as irrecoverable as it gets.

Still, I'm a stubborn old fool, and have started work on plan B. I've soaked/scraped/sanded off most of the centre section, and will paint over the inevitable damage with grey later today. In the mean time, I'll get down to some drawing on the computer, to produce a paint mask for the red core of the maple leaf, and a decal for the white rim. This bug ain't dead yet :twisted:
ShaunW
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by ShaunW »

That is unfortunate Rob, an easily done error that will not be quite so easy to rectify. Best of luck and I hope your Plan B is successful!
Doing - Tamiya 1/35th Universal Carrier.

Work is the curse of the modelling classes!
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rob_van_riel
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by rob_van_riel »

ShaunW wrote:That is unfortunate Rob, an easily done error that will not be quite so easy to rectify. Best of luck and I hope your Plan B is successful!
I try to look on the bright side; this may teach me two things. First, not to be a <CENSORED> idiot, and second, how to dig my way out of holes like this when I couldn't apply the first lesson :-D
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by rob_van_riel »

I got a bit distracted by 3D stuff last weekend, but I finally got the backup plan up to speed.

Left to right, top to bottom shows the printed and cut out template on heavy paper, the pencil trace on masking tape stuck to a plastic bag, the mask cut out along the trace, and the masked model.

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Now, in case anyone is wondering how I intend to keep copying errors under control, the answer is simply that I don't. The mask is intended only for the body of the maple leaf, the rim will be a soon to be printed decal. That rim is a full mm wide, which in theory should give me enough wiggle room to hide small errors and jagged edges from the airbrushing. In theory.. :???:
rob_van_riel
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Re: colourful Canadian Hornet

Post by rob_van_riel »

I'm calling the first stage of the recovery succesful :-D

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