Part
2. After construction was pretty much done, and the Paint job itself finished,
Joe Volzj asked me "What markings will it have?" And I was like...
"Hmm, now there's something I hadn't thought of!" And the search was
on. Then while Cleaning up the “Studio” (Where my family keeps papers and
stuff) and I found the answer for the marking Problem. This magazine had in the
cover VFA-136's Hornets, and I liked the Falcon on the tail. It was EXACTLY what
I was after. So, I went again to Squadron.com and ordered the Decals for
VFA-136. Then came the break prior to New Year, I was heading for
Orlando
, and, in the process, gear me with tools and Decals.
Modifications
made during this period:
*
Raised the Front windshield about a millimeter or two
*
With a thin Pencil, marked all panel lines (prior to decals)
*
Toed out the wing Pylons
* Detailed the plane’s ordinance – bombs decaled, missiles painted and hole
drilled in the back of them.
* Detailed and sanded the bottom of the BlackBox kit seat in order to allow the
canopy to close properly
Finally
I got back from
Orlando
and the Decals effectively, arrived in
San Antonio
(on the way through). Arriving home and immediately I
started decaling the plane. I ended up using only the Squadron decals (numbers,
tail art) from the Decal sheet, and used the kit's decals for the rest of the
plane's markings (The sheet’s insignias weren’t dark enough). Again, a Layer
of Gloss Coat sealed everything up and now DA BUG was only waiting for the dull
coat on top. On the 7th day of the 7th month of construction, the Hornet was 98%
Completed: It only needed the Vents between the tails and the AAMRAM missile,
which are held into place with some sort of hooks that I had to scratch build. I
used aluminum Strips folded around the AIM-120 to create this.
After the
Missiles were added, next up was to create the vents. I cut small strips of
Aluminum, with an exacto knife I created the hole in the middle and touched them
up with black paint. They didn’t seem to glue into the plane, so I used some
Styrene to aid the parts to glue properly. And, on the 9th Day of the 7th month,
the Super Hornet was completed.
Modifications
made during this period:
*
Scratch-built the pylons that hold the AIM-120 Missile in Place
*
Scratch-built the vents between the Rudders with aluminum strips and Styrene.
This
kit makes me realize I have raised the bar for myself; it has surpassed all my
previous limits. I am extremely happy with this model, how it has turned out.
Nearly all the people I know react the same way when they see it: “Wow” –
specially my mom, she knows how much I spent on it – all: time, money and
effort. These past 6 months have just been awesome. I hope I someday repeat some
feat like this. I’m actually happy that all the halting occurred, I had more
time to look at details like the Flap positioning and vents and stuff.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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So
there you have it. Mario’s SuPeRBuG. I want to send a special thanks to these
people that helped me make it possible:
MickeyFickey
a.k.a. MoFo, Joe Hegedus, Joe Volz, Juan Martin Poggi, Dave Fasset (thanks again
for the FLIR pod), Jorge Ramirez, USAF Sgt. Eugenio Smith (Ret.) and my Dad for
helping me with this project directly.
Also,
Thanks to the ones that helped me in one or another way (with their comments):
MadMike,
Andy Gudbergsson, Brady, Dmitry, Big Josh Henderson, Keith Diamond, Colin K,
Ming a.k.a Raptor22, Raymond, Shark, Tilt, Uni-Brow, SpongeBob, Murph and
Company…
I want to
thank also all of you who replied to my In-Progress reports in the ARC Forum,
there’s just too many of you to name and not forget anyone. Also, a special
Thanks to You fellow ARC’er for making ARC the wonderful site It is. And again
another one to Mr. Steve Bamford for giving us ARC. Thank you Thank you!!! I
hope you enjoyed this model as much as I did.
Take
Care!!!
Mario
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Click
image above to see part 1 of this article |
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