1/72 Hasegawa F/A-18D

VMFA(AW)-242 “Bats”

by Diego Romero Rodríguez

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This is my F/A-18D from Hasegawa, with decals from Superscale No 72-898, that includes markings for F/A-18D VMFA(AW)-242 “Bats” and for the F/A-18C VFA-86 “Sidewinders”.
Other items included in my model are weapons from Hasegawa Aircraft Weapons Set VII (one JDAM bomb), VI (four GBU-12 Paveway II bombs) and one AGM-88 HARM missile with its LAU-118 launcher, from the Revell Tornado ECR “Tiger Meet”.  At first, I was going to use this HARM missile from the Hasegawa Set IV, but comparing this one with the Revell´s one, the last one was much more accurate and detailed than the first one, so I dismissed it.
No other special items were added, but some Eduard PE belts remaining of an F-4E model in which I used resin seats. Due to seats provided by Hasegawa are poor in details, the fact of placing those elements gives a much richer look.
You can see all the parts of the aircraft, before assembly, in the following pictures.

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The different groups I usually work are fuselage, landing gear, weapons and the rest of components of the kit (seats, cockpit, exhausts, arresting hook, air brake, antennas …).
Elements that I have scratch-built are few, only the instrument panel of the rear cockpit (the one included in the kit was very simple and the shape very different from the real one), and other minor details.

Quality of painting is one of the most important aspects to take into consideration during modelling. In this case, I tried to do all of my best with this F/A-18, providing myself with enough patience.
Under the three final Marabu varnish coats (two gloss and the last one a mix of gloss-satin) there are three coats of paint.
I used Humbrol paints, in this case No 127 for the lower surfaces (F.S.36375) and No 128 for the upper surfaces (F.S.36320). Once the main colours were applied (Humbrol 127 and 128), I made the darker the colour with black, and painted along with all the panel lines. Later, the primary colours were cleared with white, and applied from the centre of each panel moving to the sides. Finally, primary colours were lightly airbrushed in order to match all the tones and reduce the contrast.
Essential part of this kind of aircraft is the decaling. The original idea was to performance the F/A-18D from VMFA(AW)-224 “Bengals” with the tiger stripes showed by that squadron in Iraq, but I did not find decals in 1/72. So I wanted to build an attractive Marines Hornet, easy and original, and the “Bats” matched my search. Superscale decals were simply perfect, with no problems. One more gloss varnish coat was airbrushed for protecting them.
Regarding the weathering, this is the step that approaches the model to the real one. The moment for panelling is, in my case, the most difficult task. When modelling and before painting, of course, I usually engrave all lines to avoid surprises when I am weathering. I applied washes with Vallejo acrylics, a dark grey colour, and removing the excesses of painting with wet cotton. Dirty and oil spots and stains were simulated by using pastels and oils.
Only it was necessary to airbrush the final coat of varnish, Marabu again, a mix of gloss and satin. In this model three coats were applied in order to obtaining the proper finish. 
 
Finally, with all the parts completely dried, last step is carefully cementing them by using cyanocrilate gel.
 
I wish to thank to my girlfriend her help on doing this model.

 
Happy Birthday, Tony, and happy modelling!! 

Diego

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Photos and text © by Diego Romero Rodríguez