Well, it's been a little while again since I last posted anything. These aircraft are taking forever, but I would like them to turn out decent so I am trying to take my time with them. I started on the F-18's and have some progress photos. I'll probably have about 5 or 6 of them with their canopies opened and cockpits added in those. I also wanted the flaps, slats, and horizontal stabilizers dropped as the aircraft normally are when sitting on the deck. I've also added the rudders to vertical stabilizers as well. Another item I scratch built was the engine nozzles. I removed the kit's molded on engine nozzles and made my own from hollow tubing.
Some other additional items I've added are from Shapeways.com from a designer who's shapeways page is called SNAFU Store. There are two sets and I've included their links below. Both are of course in 1/350 scale. The first is the "F-18 drop tanks", which I am using in place of the kit's drop tanks. They are far more accurate in shape and size and placement upon the pylon. The other set is "US Missiles", from which I got the sidewinder missiles with racks. This is the same set that the phoenix pylons for the F-14's came from as well. The missiles in the set are fantastic. Anyway, the links are below in case you are interested in them.
F-18 drop tanks from SNAFU Store (shapeways.com)
https://www.shapeways.com/product/YN9JL8G9A/1-350-hornet-drop-tanks-fud?optionId=56086463US Missiles from SNAFU Store (shapeways.com)
https://www.shapeways.com/product/X5WPUP9QH/1-350-us-missiles-fud?optionId=43704687It's been a pretty slow process modifying the F-18's. The biggest issue seems to be that they are in clear plastic and are pretty brittle if care is not taken to make the modifications. I've had to scratch build several different pieces due to them breaking which can be seen in the photos below. Anyway, still a lot more to do. Thanks for following my build.
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File comment: I studied this photo first to decide what changes I wanted to make to the F-18's.
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File comment: I decided to add my own flaps, slats, and fold the wings. This photo shows what I removed and what I kept.
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