Academy F-18D

 

 

The F18 is now painted, and has a wash applied to give it a bit of a weathered look. Not sure that I am very happy with it, but I shall carry on and finish it. Every model built adds to my experience, even if the results are not quite what I was hoping for! 

 

 

The F18D is finished. Hand painted using Vallejo Model Air acrylics, Vallejo gloss and matt varnish and weathered using Flory Models weathering wash. Not sure I’m 100% happy with it but it looks ok on the photos.

The kit was reasonable but had a few fit problems. The nose section including the cockpit was too narrow when fitted onto the main fuselage ( I solved this by putting a brace in to widen this section before gluing it on). The air intake fit also left a bit to be desired and require some fettling to get a good fit. The panel scribing was also a bit variable – on the wings and vertical/horizontal tails is it very nice, but on the fuselage it is a bit too shallow resulting in the wash not picking out all the panel lines. Interestingly the left-hand side of all four wing pylons are deeper inscribed than the right hand side, as can be seen on the photos. The decals were very nice but being thin need to be handled a bit carefully.