Wednesday 10 November 2010

In progress: Italeri's EA-18G kit converted to a RAAF F/A-18F Pt.2


In Progress:  With this update the kit has been assembled and is almost ready for some paint.


During the assembly stage, attaching the intakes and the flaps were two problem areas.

Joining the intakes to the fuselage , there was a noticeable step- in particular the left intake. To remedy this problem, I shaved the intakes with my hobby knife and used stretched sprue and Tamiya putty to fill in the gaps. Once dried the intakes were sanded flat.


The other problem area was attaching the the flaps to the wings. In the dry fitting stage (See Pt.1) everything seemed to look right but once attached there was a noticeable gap. By now it was to late to alter or reposition the flaps as the hinges are really delicate and I had no spare ones should I have broken one.


So to fix this problem  I used  a veneer created from  sheet styrene and Dymo tape which worked out well.


 More updates to follow.