Half Completed - Dragon F/A-18 F and E/A-18G Growler

   I can't believe I forgot to post these two before I went away!  Anyhow, I've been back a week now from the holiday I spent with Nat and her family in Gran Carina for 2 weeks.  Was great just sitting there for two weeks doing nothing.  Anyhow back to the models, these two where the only two I could've gotten finished before the dead-line which I did by a few hours iirc.  Nat sat there and watched me decal these two, she must of been bored out of her mind.  Bless...

Here we have both bugs together... is the Growler still considered a bug??  Decided to leave them both clean except for the ECM pods on the Growler.  I can never decide what load-out to put onto the F-18s.  I dunno...

   If I had known that the cockpit was as clear as it was I would of spent a hell of a lot of time on it.  Live and learn I guess, I should of spent so much more time on these than just faffing around. 

 The decals themselves where not that bad actually.  They are the usual Dragon ones printed by Cartograf (spelling?), so you know you have good quality.  Behaved well too.

  The decals from Jasmine models however... what a pain in the arse!  The decals themselves are actually okay, except for the ones on the canopy which are totally unreadable.  The problem is the fact they are all overscaled.  I compared the actual decals to the ones on the painting guide and they are the same size, where as the model is a wee bit smaller.  So I think they should of been for a 1/100 model or something like that instead of my 1/144.  So I had to mix and match with what I could and try to make the best I could.  Came out okay I guess...

As always, I welcome comments.

PEACE!

Dazz

Completed - Dragon E/A-18G Growler and F/A-18F

  Well I have been working on these two since... June.  I've had a few headaches which I have listed on the Britmodeller GB forum.  But onto the pictures.  I'm not happy with the Jasmine Model decals, they seem well overscaled or the Dragon kits are massively underscaled...

  Both of them together.  I started to rush them towards the end so I could get them finished within the GBs deadline.  I managed it by 3 hours I think... gotta rush the Apache now as that finishes this weekend also.

  Best thing I love about Dragon decals?  The lack of stencils, the worst thing I hate about the Dragon decals? the lack of stencils! :P  I have decided to build these two again at some point.  Not sure when tho.

 The other side of the Growler, still not decided if I should do a wash on these two or not.

  The Swordsmen example, colourful little bugger isn't it?  If you look closely at the red triangle warning decals under the canopy you will see what I mean about the decals being oversized.  You can not read the names of the pilot/navigator/ew guy either.  I think they are the right way up... I hope...
 

  I also had no yellow paint to paint the top of the tails either.  I had lots of "No Step" decals in the pack also, but I will save them for a kit I know will use them well.  Overall I am quite happy with the end result.  The Canopies are very thin and very clear.  You can see right into the cockpit also, but they are very brittle.  I dont know how but the one on the Growler has got a massive crack up the middle.

  I am still working on the Gunslingers and Tomcatters versions.  Didn't get them finished for the GB.

  Hope you like, and I apologise for the dodgy camera work.

  PEACE!

  Dazz

New Project Dragon 1/144 F/A-18 E and F plus E/A-18G Growler WiP - 1

  Can't believe I have not posted these here yet... oh well.  Well these 4 models are my entry to the F/A-18 STGB on Britmodeller. 

  The two boxes that I will be getting the kits from, I will be making the Growler in the background.  The other 2 seater will be used to make the aircraft below.

  Love these decals, just a damn shame you can't find many Jasmine Model stuff over here.

  And these are the other two options I will be making, oh and the Gunslingers version on the box.

  All of the bugs before the cockups started.

  Here is the E/A-18G, I've cut off the rails ready for the ECM pods, their proper name escapes me right now.

   And all of the other ones, that wing join is bad... need to sort that out with something, god knows what.  Just gotta attach the tail plane and prime and I should be ready to paint.

  PEACE!

  Dazz

Bombcat, Typhoon, Hornet, Harrier, Hawkeye WiP and New Purchases

  Well it's been a while since I posted anything.  But here is a few posts of what I have done the last two weeks.  It's a struggle atm because I am fighting for control of the table with my family.  Well I'll post some pictures up of what I have done thus far... well thats not correct.  I am further along with some models than I am with others.

  The AV-8II+ with it's 3 coats of grey.  I think the grey thats on the side of the body was a little too dark.  Oh well...

  Top side of the Typhoon.  Not too bad.

  Bottom side of the Typhoon, with the harrier in the background.

 Top half of the Harrier, you can see the 3 different greys but I still think the middle tone is too dark.

  Top half of the Bombcat.  Buggered this up totally.  I think the top half is a little too dark.

  Bottom of the Bombcat, the paint has leaked where I didn't mask it up correctly.  Still learning with the airbrush... should that be "Canbrush"??....

  Top half of the Hornet.  I'm gonna strip this model and start again.

  Read above.

  Now the Hawkeye I am actually happy with. :)

  Think the grey on this one is really good.  However I later found a picture of the very model I am doing and it's supposed to be darker than this... bugger.

  see where the radome housing is buggered?

  Those rudders look very cool to me :)

  The fuel tank for the F-18 and the two Storm Shadows for the Typhoon.

  The fuel tank and the Storm Shadows.

  And again?  God knows why I have 3 pictures of the same thing.

  Last but not least the GBU-10's and GBU-12's that I am gonna be using on the various kits. :)

  Now on to the purchases.

  Got this one when I ordered a few paints.  It was only £2 and I love the MiG-29 for some reason.

  Now this purchase was a complete mistake.  I clicked on it by accident and forgot to take it off at the checkout.  Oh well it is a model I wanted, just not now.

  Smaller than I thought it would be.

 
  Well thats it for now.  More to come when I can be arsed.

  Peace! 

  Dazz

New bits 1/144 and 1/100

  Nat is going to kill me, as I have promised her that I wouldn't buy anything until I had completed a few more models.  Well this little lot I couldn't resist on, first up the Tamiya ones.

 Love this plane, dunno why... guess its because I grew up with it being the fighter of the RAF and it appeared in a lot of the films I saw at the time for the Vietnam war.  I got this F-4 Phantom and the MiG-21 below at the grand ol' price of £2 each and as I was ordering other bits I thought why not.  Also I do not have any JASDF planes either so it was an added bonus. :)

  Another weird plane this, it's not a plane that I like but it is one that I respect.  Not decided if I want it to be Polish, Russian or Vietnamese yet....

  Found this on a website I order stuff from, it was the same model as the one I had ordered off ebay but didn't receive as they messed up the order and went out of stock.  Looking forward to making these :)  Got a thing about the Growler for some reason... I dunno...

  Now this one, I had this model before when I was younger which I think was a PML (?) model, I got it from Poundland, good model it was too.  I was just it together and left it, it came with a stand too!!  This time I am determined to make a decent model of this one.  This version is the F-16 Cranked Arrow, I hate the term F-16XL it makes it sound like a fat bastard this is the plane that got beaten by the F-15E Strike Eagle.

  More bits to add to the "to-do" pile :P

  PEACE!!

  Dazz