I picked up a set of these for my 1/48 F-18D, but I am having a hard time finding where they all go…does anyone happen to have some reference photos of the placement of these tags?
thanks,
ashton
i don’t have photos to share, but “walk around” by squadron has quite a few. i used it as ref when i built a 1/32 f-18d for my bro(vmfa(aw)332)in iraq. anyway some areas to note. nose gear;where the actuator meets the strut/ main gear; somewhere in front inside corner of gear bay / inside cockpit; a small flag just behind the left control stick (backseat/ my bros. office) also sometimes on top/ rear of seats. my bro says these are only used on occasion(when some brass is around) however, if you are arming this bad boy, missiles and bombs; have a tip cone w/ flags and also a flag attached the front conection of the pylon. these were always in place. before take off, they would taxi to the armorers station for them to remove.
on mine, i just cut off the tips and fashioned a cone/cover from sprue and put it in place. the standard load out used in iraq is; 2 aim-9s 9tip station) 1 jdam right outer station, 2 gbu-12s left outer, fuel tanks on inner stations and flir pod on center station. hope this helps, kinda vague i know. there is a couple pics of mine from a contest (gold medal/best aircraft/ and i lost the cointoss for best of show!)
you can find the pics at midmichiganmodelmakers(yahoo search) click photo album, then contest gallery, then from the list on left side mid mich… 2006 then the pics are on pg 6.
also there is some pics of my hase p-51(checkertail) probably doesn’t help your p-51 delima. i did a lot of extra work on that one.
If you have access to styrene plastic sheet stock you can thermaform a cover for your AIM-9 sidewinders instead of cutting the tips of your missiles off.
i tried that on mine but you dont get the shape of the cap right. it would probably be quite suitable for 1/48 though. not at all a bad idea. even if you don’t have sheet stock, you can find almost any plastic. clear plastic from blister packs for example.
you may consider trying to get this info from someone who flies the hornet. most of the active squadrons have web pages and so on, shoot them an email. I have done this when working on planes no longer in active service—usually, the pilots or wrench-heads are pretty helpful. I looked up a website for a plane that our navy stopped flying in the 70’s, and found guys willing to send me pics of all different angles, open hatches, etc etc from their personal collections. its definitely worth a shot, as it may get you details not found anywhere else.
i don’t know if you’ll be able to enlarge the pics. anyway here they are!