Triple Nickel VX-9 Growler in progress

The new Quickboost ECS pipes were installed. I also used the Eduard PE set of my F/A-18E to add the circular vents correcting the kit. The circular PE (part # 55 for the AoA area) was added with one of the unused mesh parts. 

Here, trying to add more detail to the instrument panel coaming. More to be added. 

A general view of the major components and the built-up wings with the new aftermarket set from Flight Line Resin. 

The "missile fin area" has been filled using a styrene sheet on both sides. I am not sure how Trumpeter decided this was an actual part of the aircraft. 

Added weight inside the radar housing and placed on the kit forward fuselage. I also added the Master AoA probe. The kit wants you to have the refueling probe and electronics bays open. When closing these up, a bit of work is to get it flush. 

The underside of the forward fuselage has no gun vents. Those need to be filled/sanded. Also added some more PE from the Eduard set to the forward landing gear bay. The Flight Line Resin gear is highly detailed and fits like a glove on the front. 

 

The cockpit tub was cleared of the raised detail for the Quinta Studio set. 

GT Resin, I hope this goes well trying to use this set. I am not sure what is harder, using the kit-provided parts or this. 

The engine faces from GT Resin. So abysmal. I will have to open the intake where it meets the engine to get the kit parts to fit. 

This is the kit-provided exhaust cans and exhaust. The engine is a cool add-on but of course, will not be seen. 

We can see the ResKit exhaust is much superior. 

 

Because I got the Quinta Studio light set (not the full), I will have to add the side wall panels once in the kit. But first the priming and painting stage. 

The kit provided HARM missile, not too bad. 

The ALQ99 does not have the correct shape. My skills are not good enough to shape it correctly. Hopefully, soon, someone can come out with a good 3d printed set. 

 

 

Modified the JHMCS sensors. Trumpeter decided that the pilot would have two, one on each canopy rail. Looking at the Eduard interior set instructions, I added the detail for the lower part of the aft canopy as well. 

Here I added the aft bulkhead using thin styrene. 

The back seat instrument panel needed sidewalls. 

 

Added additional reinforcement plates for the WSO's glare shield. 

 

Added vanes to the bypass pressure vents which the kit was devoid of. The openings were sanded down a bit more to give the vents a thinner look. 

More detail was added to the canopy actuator area. Hopefully, I can source the interior Eduard set to add more to this area. 

 

Looking through my stash, I found this aftermarket HUD for the Academy legacy bug and I wondered, "Can I make this fit?" Not too shabby... 

Looking through the forums over at Large Scale Planes, one of the members did this and I must admit, the WSO's rear instrument canopy looks much better now with the added handles. 

Added a bit more detail in the canopy actuator area which resides above the turtleneck on the most aft canopy section. 

 

Jack Melampy's book has been invaluable in this Growler build. I love it yet it makes me add more work to this kit. 

Comparison of the kit and the ResKit exhaust set. The detail is so much more refined on the ResKit set. 

S 

Test fitting. The inside housing that holds the exhaust cans may need to be trimmed to fit the larger diameter of the ResKit parts. More on that later when the fuselage halves are placed together. 

I decided to use the seamless intakes from GT Resin. I had used previous parts from this company and was not impressed. Here, it is not too bad. Hopefully, I can get them to fit when I place all the parts together. 

Test fit. 

More test fitting. Overall, not too bad. 

Placed supports for the horizontal stabs and inserted a pin to better support the parts. Note the housing for the engine cans. I trimmed the parts to better fit the whole Reskit exhaust assembly. 

Here is what I used for the steel pins, an old molex hard drive connector. 

Here, I had to remove the raised formation light detail on the inside of the vertical stabs. 

Here is what it looked like before removing the inside of the formation lights. I will have to lower the raised panel on the outer parts of the vertical stabs. 

Here are the results from how they come out of the box (above). 

The GT Resin intake has a top lip that needs to be cut. 

 

Parts are now glued in place. This took some effort to minimize cleanup. 

The gaps here need to be dealt with regardless. 

Test fitting the bottom front fuselage. 

There are more gaps to contend with. 

Note the block I added inside the middle fuselage to allow the fairing to contact the top of the intakes. 

More test fitting. 

And more cleanup is needed. 

I was able to source the Eduard internal PE set for the Growler to add detail to the turtleneck. Looks better already. Too bad it is out of production. 

A combination of Tamiya putty was used for the back. In the front intake area, I used CA with talcum powder mix. 

PE was added for the main wheel wells. 

More of the Eduard 32735 set was added. 

Added additional detail in the aft cockpit bulkhead. 

Fitting with the aftermarket seats. I still have more cleanup to do on the seats after the removal of the 3D printer supports. 

And finally, I got the Quinta decals on. It sure beats having to paint all that detail. 

 

Cleaned up the Resin2Detail seats and painted them. I first used MrSurfacer1500 black as a base and detailed with Vallejo paints. 

 

Decals from the kit were placed on the seats and then glued the PE back on. 

 

FlightLineResin Landing Gear. Top notch stuff from Richard VanZandt. 

A quick comparison of the resin compared to the kit. No contest. 

PE added to the gear doors. Also added a bit wee detail to the front gear bay door. 

Here is the missing antenna added to the outside of the door. I figured it would be easier to add a thin styrene sheet rather than scribe it on the contoured door. 

Trumpeter and their very basic approach to a model kit at this scale. The arrestor hook assembly is just awful. 

Here is an example of what it should look like. 

And the hook itself. 

Some modifications, although not completely accurate. 

But I must say this looks much better already. 

Note that I removed the antenna-looking boomerang device forward of the arrestor hook. That is a guide for a cable-towed decoy (AN/ALE-50). The Growler does not utilize one. 

Nose cone on with an added weight, just in case. 

It's getting there. This kit has been a workload, albeit a nice challenge. 

Added PE to the top where a grill exists on the real aircraft. Trumpeter just made a depression there to simulate the look of the vent. 

The wings are finally on after cleaning up all the seams on the main fuselage. Now to clean up the wing roots. 

Here I decided to take off the aileron shrouds and add a small styrene sheet to complete the gap where they meet the main fuselage. 

The leading edge flaps from FlightLine were longer than expected. When dry fitting now that the main wing assembly is on, it turns out that a small modification will be needed to make it fit. 

Here y 

After cutting and sanding roughly 2mm off, now I have a good fit, although I did kill the sleek edge that is closest to the main LEX fuselage. 

The ALQ-218 antennas are on. 

There was a gap on the leading edge flap so I decided to put a thin (2mm) to simulate the upper fairing of the leading edge flap. 

This is what it looks like when I add the LEF. 

The aileron shrouds attached with the minor modification. The ALQ-218 antennas are also now attached to the rear of the bottom fuselage without much trouble. Note the top antenna fairing is also on. 

The LEFs are glued. The main ailerons are being test fitted to see how they all align in place. 

Looking pretty good now, although it has been a struggle to get to this point. The work is paying off. 

I decided to get the pylon set from Phase Hanger Resin (also designed by Flight Line Resin). A bit of work goes into making them clean and attach correctly but overall, it's better than working on the existing kit pylon set and adding detail that was not there. 

New holes have to go onto the adapter for the Harm missile. 

 

A sample of what it should look like. 

Rather than getting more material, here I simply use a toothpick to get the pylons to fit onto the wings. 

I had to improvise here to get the correct adapter to fit into the LAU-127. The 3d parts only come with the bomb racks that attach to the pylons. Rather than scratch building the adapter, I used some leftover parts from the Tamiya 1/48 Tomcat. The Bandit Resin Factory pod will fit in just nicely. 

An example of the LAU-127 with the correct adapter for an ACMI Pod or AIM-120. 

Nice fit. 

Fixed the rear portion of the LAU-127 by mending two separate pieces. and added rivets and holes to simulate the larger screw holes. 

After a Mr. Surfacer 1500 spray down, I used a Tamiya mix of white and blue-gray to do some pre-shading. Testing patterns on the drop tanks to see how they come out after the grey coat of Mr Hobby C307. I am crossing my fingers. 

More pre-shading with the light blue-grey. 

Post-shading with a darker blue-grey. 

Here is my attempt at using Tamiya's epoxy putty to put in the bulge seen on every two-seater Super Hornet. 

Top and bottom views of the pre-shading on the rear horizontal stabilizers. 

Phase Hanger/Flight Line Resin pylons pre-shaded. 

Yellow tones were added for the heavily stained aft fuselage section below the main landing gear. 

The new FlightLine Resin AN/ALQ 249 jammer pods are nicely done. These will look great on the build. 

After some major time off, I decided to start back up. I scanned the DXM decal sheet and upscaled to 32nd scale to create the masks for the livery. With the help with my Silhouette Studio and Portrait cutter, I used Oromask 810 for the masking sheet. The Vampire bat on the vertical stab was a anxiety filled time with trying to 1) place the mask on correctly, 2) removing the cut portion of the mask and 3) painting and completely removing the mask. Overall, a huge sigh of relief, albeit not perfect but good enough for government work. 

 

 

While on hiatus, I ordered more supplies from Anyz and the hose clamp and universal placard decals are a must. 

The instructions make you believe that the antennas are as simple as putting them where Trumpeter says, but we all know how lazy they are and have you put them where they do not belong. 

Here is how they are placed and note the smaller one just aft of the canopy. 

After some modifications, here is my attempt to make them more realistic. I took on of those extra antenna and shaved it into shape to make the smaller one on the top right. Also, note the hole on the bottom of the middle antenna. This will help guide it into place on the spine. 

Putty is needed to fill the gaps for the GPS antennas based on the real jet. Again, note the small nub I placed on the spine to place the actual location of one of the antennas. 

After reading Jake's book, I discovered that there is no panel line (or gap) between the intakes and the nacelles. Shame on me for not catching this sooner. 

Here is that panel line or gap mentioned. 

Hopefully, with a little bit of Vallejo putty, this will take care of those gaps mentioned. Time will tell if this works out once I sand it down, re-prime, and paint it. 

After placing the canopy rails onto the clear canopy, I wasn't too happy with how it looked. I got some thin styrene to place on the forward part of the canopy where the rail ends. 

Here is the result and looks much better after filling that gap. 

Another angle. 

And yet, another look. Now to glue in those pesky PE rear view mirrors. 

I had to fill in that gap a bit more, this time using Mr. Surfacer 500. Hopefully, that will do the trick. 

I also used Mr. Surfacer 500 to semi-fill the antenna areas. Here is the result after a repaint.