When I got my copy of The Hook magazine and began thumbing through it, I
came across a two page photo spread of the CAG aircraft assigned to Carrier
Airwing (CVW) 5 based at NAS Atsugi, in Japan. They were celebrating their 25th
Anniversary and had painted the CAG aircraft in special markings. Always known
for colorful tails, the corrosion control workers outdid themselves. I had
always wanted to do a complete airwing, and this was about as colorful as you
could get. So, I started sifting through the decal manufacturers to how many of
the markings were available. To my surprise, the only ones that I couldn’t get
were for the E-2C and the SH-60, but thanks to Mike
Grant, I was able to come up with those. This is the first half of the six
planes I’m going to complete for the airwing. I’ve decided to do only one
F-18 squadron to represent that type. Maybe later I’ll finish the other two
F-18 squadrons.
First up is the
Collect Aire 1/48 scale E-2C Hawkeye. This is a resin kit that is of average
quality. However, it’s the only 1/48 E-2C around, so I worked with it. There
were many, many tiny airbubbles pocking the surface of the kit, especially the
wings and dome. I filled in as many as I could with Mr. Surfacer before I felt I
would lose my sanity. The fit of the wings was atrocious, with one wing angling
up while the other angled down. I used styrene shims superglued in place to get
everything to line up. Then came the engine nacelles. They were bigger than the
placement areas on the wings. I solved this problem by grinding down the inside
mating surfaces of each nacelle. This narrowed the nacelle to fit the mounting
area on the wing, but it also made some of the inlets an oval shape. I’ll
correct this later by putting on FOD covers.
The cockpit was
surprisingly well done, even though you can’t see most of it when the canopy
is put on. I’ll also say that the engineering of the clear vac canopy was well
thought out. Instead of having the it end right where the clear parts stop, CA
extended the vac canopy to include part of the fuselage, so you don’t run the
risk of messing up any of the clear portions when installing the piece. When
construction was complete, I sprayed a coat of Mr. Surfacer 1000, then a coat of
Boyd’s White Primer. After this came a coat of MM Acryl Lt. Gull Gray, while
the tail was sprayed black. The decals were done by the excellent Mike
Grant, and are for the VAW-115 Liberty Bells. I especially like the torch
and lightning bolts on top of the dome. Weathering was done with a .005 black
ink Micron drafting pen. The wheels were completely useless in this kit, so I
swapped them out for a spare pair of Monogram 1/48 F-14 Tomcat wheels. An even
better choice, had I had them, would have been a set of wheels from a Revell
1/48 A-6 Intruder or Prowler.
Next up is the Revell/Monogram
1/48 scale F-18 Hornet. I scribed the panel lines using a Tri-Tool scriber for
the straight lines and a sewing needle chucked in a pin vice for the access
panels. I added Cutting Edge dropped
slats and flaps, a Black Box cockpit, and spare set of Hasegawa vertical stabs
and landing gear. Markings are for VFA-192 Golden Dragons by Eagle
Strike.
Click on
images below to see larger images
|
|
|
Finally
is the Revell/Monogram EA-6B Prowler.
This got the complete works, including Seamless Suckers intakes, Black
Box cockpit, Cutting Edge
correction and wingfold sets, and rescribing of the panel lines. Markings are
for VAQ-136 Gauntlets by CAM.
Darren
|
|