This
is my Spanish two-seater Hornet: basically the very good Kinetic kit out-of-the
box, I just added two Pavla resin ejection seats in the cockpit. Similarly as
other modelers reported, I deviated from the instructions when constructing the
engine intake trunking and mating this with the intakes: rather than first
fixating the trunking into the fuselage and then closing the fuselage followed
by intakes, I first installed the intakes and then added the trunking (allowing
this to be better aligned), before closing the fuselage halves. Also on the nose
area a different building sequence was needed to get a proper fit. Other than
that the build was pretty straightforward.
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I mixed
different thinned tones of grey, tan and blue (all Humbrol/Revell enamels) with
- and on top of - the overall grey basis, resulting in a worn and used look, as
is so typical for these SpAF aircraft. Decals are from the kit and really
excellent: printed by Cartograph, these are thin and strong, no difficulties
there. Post-decal weathering was done with an enamel panel line wash (MIG) and
subsequent oil filters on certain areas. AN/AAQ-28 litening pod, modified inert
AIM-9 and 2 droptanks for this typical loadout are from the kit.
The SpAF
participated with 7 EF-18's during the 2018 edition of the "Frisian
Flag" exercise, alongside NATO partners Germany, France, Poland, The
Netherlands and the USA. Hosted at Dutch AF Leeuwarden AB, in the Frisian
province of The Netherlands, this exercise is set up in a similar way as the
well-known "Red Flag" exercises at Nellis AB - albeit that here
maneuvering takes place over the North Sea. EF-18B no. 15-72 was one of the SPAF
aircraft attending the 2018 exercise, I used several pics from this particular
aircraft in its training configuration as a reference for the build.
Regards!
Patrick
Vossenberg
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