Modelik Nr. 3/06: F/A-18F Super Hornet

**cmdr199212** · #1 05-12-2019, 09:56 AM

Hello everyone! After another absence and some sustained lurking, I'm back to build another model, this time the F/A-18F from Modelik.

A lasercut frameset is available and is very good, which I would highly recommend, as it'll reduce that portion of build time by a substantial amount.

Aircraft depicted is BuNo. 166464, MSN F099, in the colors of VFA-122. Tail number is NJ-146. Research (over the past couple of weeks) shows that this airframe was built ~FY2003 and was assigned to this squadron/tail number through 2005-2006. Mid-2007 it appears to have been changed to NJ-131, and is pictured here on the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2008 as shown here:

Initially I thought it was a Block II airframe with the updated ECS vents (between the vertical tails, shown here:

) but per the photo above, it actually appears to be a Block I with the earlier ECS vents.
Notice there are 10 individual and longitudinal vents on the Block II, and one latitudinal and smaller vent for the Block I. As seen in both variants, the ECS intake port is a octagonal vent on both sides, just forward of the vertical tails.

I plan on building this with the ECS intakes open, adding markings as necessary (146 just fore of the cockpit, adding ejection warnings around the canopy, and likely some pilot markings. Otherwise, with some slight additional detail around the landing gear and tailpipes this will be build out of the box.

Cheers!

**cmdr199212** · #2 05-12-2019, 10:14 AM

Model Cover:

Colors are good and fairly accurate. Model is printed digitally, and I've found that an eraser will remove the ink when used hard enough. More on that later.

Internal framing is largely complete, using an abundance of super glue for smaller joints and general hardening, such as for the small pieces of the horizontal tail formers.

Quick picture of the pages. Paper seems to be very good quality, and I have the construction report that I'll use in an attempt to avoid pitfalls of the design/build: http://www.kartonwork.pl/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7971&sid=797dcd319937add1c017 fe0289124b7f