Time to start this year with another build…the kit was a late B-day/X-mas gift to myself and will be adding only 2 after market parts for this build
the inside…
and after polishing the canopy…
also added some detail on the fuselage
the only PE parts that came with the kit
I will look forward to seeing how this builds, I am a fan of 32nd scale jets, good to see this!
Got my attention…
Wow. Nice start. I don’t know much of 1/32 jets, but I’ll be watching this.
Thanks guys…will be posting lots of build photo [:D]
the PE parts from spruebrother came in…lots of drilling and cutting was done to improve the detail on the fuselage
instead of replacing the entire vent simply cut inlet section and added styrene
first time to use a self adhesive PE(painted)… details are great but for the small parts the adhesive are not enough you still need to add CA glue to secure them in place
That cockpit looks absolutely fantastic, just a tip, if you ever have a trumpeter kit and they supply decals for the instruments and consoles, you will want to use them as their decals are simply nothing short of excellent.
What bay is that on the back seat guy’s center panel?
oh, this is going to be good! 
@jeaton01…good eyes…I’m thinking of covering it with a coat of tamiya clear coat [;)]
It sounds like you want to keep aftermarket to a minimum, but if you’re going to build a Growler, the Steel Beach set can help with all the antennas that are missing from the kit. Now, if you want to build an F, you are good to go.
thanks for the tip Darren …looks like trumpeter kit needs a lot work not only missing some spine radar the ECS pipes needs some correction as well (recycled 18F mold) guess this will be the challenge on this kit to scratch build all the missing detail of the 18G [^o)]
update…
Wow those pre painted etched sets look absolutely fantastic. This is looking like a great start!
Bimski,
I’ve looked hard at this model. What are the issues with the ECS pipes, I’d like to try to gauge if it’s beyond my ability. Thanks!
Groot
@RobGroot4 …been looking at the actual picture of the ECS pipes (shape,location on the real 18G) a vent/hole is actually located very close to the ECS pipes…going to work on correcting and replace the whole ECS pipe with aftermarket by Quickboost
detail shape/opening of the ECS pipes from MidwaySailor.com
Thanks!
Groot
progress report…
intake dip on a can of latex paint (seamless finish)
added some styrene for the missing spine radar
ECS pipes will be replaced by this AM parts from quickboost
man those intake trunks look great, I’ll bet they were a pain to paint inside though
@USMC6094…learned a technique from a modeler here in FSM(cant find the link on the old post) were he dunked the complete intake of an F16 on a can of house paint to hide/coat the inside joint-line …did the same thing here 
work on the upper fuselage is now complete
