Painting begins with a preshade. Note that I fully painted the canopy frame at this point.
The standard color scheme for the F/A-18E/F is a two-tone gray scheme. The topside is listed as FS36320. To slowly build up the opacity I went with very thin (3:7 paint to thinner ratio) coats of Mr Color Aqueous H307 Gray FS36320.
The bottom is a lighter gray of FS36375 for which I used Mr Hobby Aqueous H308 Gray FS36375. I added some brown mottling on the bottom rear to simulate grime and staining.
While painting I noticed a raised molding line on the bottom that shouldn’t be there.
I quickly scraped and sanded it smooth before resuming painting.
Painting in very thin coats makes it easier to control how visible the preshade will be.
I prefer a subtle look to the preshade.
Maverick’s Super Hornet has a long black skunk tail which is not included in the decal sheet so I had to paint it instead. I used 1mm masking tape to mask out the pattern first and then backfilled the rest to prevent overspray.
The skunk tail was painted with Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black. I also took the opportunity to paint the gun port on the nose.
After confirming that they would snapfit properly into place, I painted the tails and centerline fuel tank separately.
This is one of the few occasions where I model a modern aircraft without any ordnance. Note that I also handpainted the lights on the tailfins at this point.
The edges of the gear doors were handpainted in red. There really should be an easier way to go about this task though.
After a gloss coat, it was time for decals. I started as usual with the tailfins. In this case, the blue stripes were multipart decals: the rear stripe was made up of four parts, three of which wrap around the sensor bumps. I went slowly on these and with generous use of Mark Softer, they conformed very well to the surface. The Fleight Design decals did not come with any stencils (eg the formation lights) so these were all from the kit.
Then of course disaster struck. The light blue stripe that sits on the black pattern came as three parts that had to be aligned properly. In the process of multiple re-positioning I did it one too many times and the decals tore.
I looked at whether I could simply paint over the light blue line but chickened out and got a replacement sheet instead. I had to re-prep the surface though so I stripped off the torn sections of the light blue line right down to the bare plastic.
And of course during the process of stripping, I managed to damage more of the blue decals.
After carefully stripping off most of the offending area, I repainted the black areas. Note the small section of blue that I couldn’t strip properly. This I buffed down with a sanding sponge to minimize the ‘thickness’ the decal.
Thankfully I managed to get the repair done properly and I’m back to having a smooth area for the replacement decals.
Happy to say there’s no indication of any unstripped decals or signs of repair.
Oh and yes, the decals on the port side also tore. And yes, there was also much swearing.
The same work was done on the port side as with the starboard. And thankfully, I got two times lucky and it all went well without another disaster.
The other decals thankfully went on without issues. I then handpainted the details like the wingtip lights and tailfin RWR blisters.
There’s a general lack of markings on the bottom. The vents and chaff dispensers were replicated as decals by Academy and they look OK in this scale.
After a satin coat to seal the decals, the panel wash was done with my usual Abteilung Starship Filth and the details REALLY pop after this.
I’m really impressed with what Academy has done here especially since this kit is sold as an ‘easy fit’, meaning it’s kid friendly.
For the black areas, I used a medium gray panel wash instead of the usual dark color so the panel line so it will be visible.
The landing gear and the doors all snapfit into place easily. Nice! Note the staining I added on the bottom fuselage. It’s not accurate to the film but call it ‘artistic license’.
The canopy is finally revealed.
The centerline fuel tank and pylons are then popped into place and I’m done. Good afternoon aviators!
Build Log
Pt.1 – Construction | Pt.2 – Construction | Pt.3 – Painting & Finishing
