1/18 bbi Bluebox Toys F/A-18C Part 2:

New Mods 

by Rob Doctor

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Since the last installment, more modifications were added.  Back in February, I had taken the plane to a model show for display with only modest changes to antennas, rudder, tail and landing gear doors. Someone asked if I was going to try and make the wing surfaces work.  I told him that it was highly unlikely and practically impossible.  The plastic on average is 4 to 5mm in thickness covering a large surface area and no way could that be hacked with an X-acto.  Power tools were automatically ruled out as the cut would be to wide.  I ended up cutting all the component parts to the wings with a #11 Xacto and grouping them into zip lock bags and leaving them to sit.  With no real plan or contingency, it was a big gamble.  It wasn't until a couple weeks later that I slowly figured out how to approach this.  It was time to scrounge up some reference material.  I had to engineer from scratch hinge mechanisms for the top and bottom parts of the Flaps.  For the Nose Gear, steering and elevation capability were enabled.  I had to design it to allow the wheel to turn in unison with the carrier launch bar.  Lastly, the signature AN-ALQ-165 units were added to behind the canopy area.

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Initially I removed the fake turbine blades at the end of the engine nozzles and sprayed the inside "Ultra Flat Black."  I decided to convert these to the newer F404-GE402 Enhanced Performance Engine.  I individually cut and assembled the Ceramic Plates.

Rob

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Photos and text © by Rob Doctor