1/48 Revell F/A-18F

Black Aces

by Tyler White

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This is the new Revell F/A-18F.  Before th9is release, the only available Revell kit was the one seater "E".  As soon as I saw this kit, I was excited because it would feature the markings of the VF-41 Black Aces.  This summer I was lucky enough to see the same CAG bird at an airshow in South Dakota.  I felt that I had learned a lot from my last go around with the Revell kit, and I applied some of the "lessons learned" on this kit.  I do have the Hasegawa "F" but I wanted to tune up on the cheaper Revell kit before I try it, and I think I have made some more interesting discoveries.

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I have become obsessed with panel lines!  I used as .005 ink pen to outline the panel lines on this kit, and it is much easier and a lot less messy than using a brush to apply ink. Another advantage to using a pen is that shallow panel lines (and the Revell kit is in no shortage of them) can be drawn in.  Every rivet and line has been inked on this kit, and I am so glad to see that it is finally over! It takes a long time if you decide to do it, but the results speak for themselves.  Will I do other kits like this?? Yes and No.  Having seen some of these birds in real life the panels are somewhat inconspicuous, and so I will tone down the panel lines in the future, likely using a grey instead of black.

Here are some photos of the real Rhino.  This was the first one I got to see up close and I was not disappointed.  It looks cleaner than the one I made, but I figure that I saw it in July and by now it is probably as dirty as the plane I made.  It is always a treat to model a plane that you have seen up close.  I hope you enjoy the pictures of the real thing, and of the kit.

The overall construction benefitted from having done another Revell kit previous to this one.  It is important to mind the gaps in places, and with the shallow panel lines, rescribing in places is an inevitability.  I used Steel Beach FOD covers and used some left over decals to customize them.  I made the cushion style covers for the cans by using red modeling clay and tin foil handles.  Other than that there is just the Eduard "RBF" tags.  I am too timid to lower the flaps on this, I will wait for the great flaps on the Hasegawa kit to show the Rhino in its natural state.

Tyler

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Photos and text © by Tyler White