New Y/A F/A-18 Hornet Build
 

Hello,

I'm about to start on my sixth (and probably last) build of this bird from a kit. I plan to use stock gear dressed up with Brian Sauer's kit, Tam's pipe, a mix of JR and Hextronic servos, stock Y/A air cylinders for doors and speed-brake, UP-3 valve for gear and doors but a Jet-Tronics brake valve. I plan to use the scale hinges and articulating gap covers, and glass the surfaces with West Sytem.

I welcome suggestions on tires (since nobody likes the stock ones) and even alternative wheels/brakes. Any other neato stuff out there that you guys have seen or used.

This is the customer's preferred scheme so far....


http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2194489

Hi,

Who are you guys using for tail-art airbrushing?

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2194701

No leads on airbrush artists, huh?

Try local t-shirt shops that do airbrushing, some friends had a tiger meet F-104 done at a t-shirt booth at a local mall. Came out pretty good, and the look on people's faces carrying a 100" 104 fuse through the mall was priceless.

Shaun,

Ralle at tailor made decals is the man you want to get in contact with! A properly applied water slide decal would look much better than airbrushing at that scale.

http://www.tailormadedecals.com/lng/...hkhplioe3uquh7

thanks

dave

This was my yellow F18. As was said earlier I found a tee shirt artist at local flea market. He said $25 bucks per side but I would have to wait. I asked him if $100 would get him started now. He said you would give me a hundred to paint two of those. At the end of my paint job he sold 25 tee shirts with my eagle painted on them.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2194970http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2194971

https://youtu.be/r0qEE0KI42s
heres how Dave painted his

I used skymaster 1/6 f16 wheels and brakes on mine, and 2 f16 nosewheels, look and work great, just a little narrow when you look from behind also installed leading edge slats, best thing I've ever done to a jet (over about 25 years ) it weighs about 48 lbs at landing and touches down about 25-30 mph. its the tigermeet in this video https://youtu.be/YTs1MaN5abI

Hi,

Nice looking jet! How did you modify the F-16 wheels to fit the Y/A struts on the mains? What engine on that bird? Which iteration of the kit did you have (which wings/spars)?

Thanks!

Cool! Does he do a lot of this type of work? Does he do it for others?

Great story, Kevin!

G'day Shaun, I sleeved the axle with a brass tube, I goes from imperial to metric to fit properly, the wheels have ball bearings so a tight fit is needed, and I bolted an aluminium block to the leg to bed the brake mechanism, just file and fit, I did it all with a hacksaw, rat tail file and a drill and tap.it was a green glass fuse with aluminium blade spars, changed to carbon rods and re engineered the engine bay, engine and landing gear supports are completely independent. 6mm aluminium spars across the fuse, 50 mm deep at the front and recast inlet duct goes under spar.I've just done a rejig and made 2 tanks behind c/g for 3 litres, and 1 3 litre tank in front of c/g, all to drain together, so no shift during flight. engine is a jetcat 200 and tam pipe, great combo. flaps have external bracket and work well with gap cover. just took a few photos and will upload over a few posts. had mine flying for about 6 years, less a year + for repairs after various mishaps. awesome model, my favouhttp://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2195079http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2195080rite ever

more picshttp://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2195081http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2195082

some morehttp://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2195084http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2195085

Hi,

Great pics! Very interesting on the brakes. Thanks. When you said 47 pounds, I wondered but now that I see inside, it makes sense!

i believe he does, I'll send him a link to this thread.

You might also look for a custom motorcycle artist. They typically do awesome work, though not necessarily cheap.

see below

Yes, yes I do, including full builds as well to any level of detail.

https://www.facebook.com/Custom-Besp...6674078841897/

Glad your customer likes my model. Any help you need on the painting, just let me know.

https://www.facebook.com/Custom-Besp...6674078841897/

Dave,

You are a talented man! I just spent about an hour on your FB page. That is some next-level modeling! Did you happen to do a build log on that Hornet?

Ha,

Nevermind! I found it!

We have a resident artist in the forum, Jeremy AKA LGM Graphix.

Regarding airbrush artists, I think I'm going to break my brush out and start practicing to hone my own skills. I'm not too shabby with chalks, pencils and traditional brushes--but I'm a noob with an airbrush. If Dave Matthews is a Rembrandt, I'm more of an Earl Scheib at this point.

Those of you who've done the trailing-edge gap covers on this bird, how did you do them?