Entry tags:
Filling Time, Filling Space
Written a little before I really got going on the internet, say about 1996 or 1997...
TIDBITS FROM A FANATIC:
THE CONVERSION THAT WOULD NOT DIE (HORNET 2000)
At the end of 1987, McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing—-go figure) proposed to the Defense Department and the Western Allies a plan for further development of the F/A-18 Hornet called "Hornet 2000". Five new subtypes were offered, from a minimal change version with increased fuel capacity [Dash 2] to a radical delta-and-canards high-performance fighter meant to compete with Dassault-Breguet's Rafale and the multinational Eurofighter [Dash 4]. The picture in Aviation Week and Space Technology [December 21, 1987; page 20] only fueled my desire to build a model of at least one of these machines.
So I went to Kay-Bee just after Christmas '87 and bought a remaindered AMT (ex-ESCI, now Italeri) "Force 1" F-18A in 1/72nd scale. And I honed my razor saw. Has anybody seen my goalie's mask?
First I cut apart the wings by removing the leading edge slats, then the flaps, and finally the tips at the fold line. (My first concept was to extend both the span and chord of the wings, by 24mm and 8mm respectively.) Then I cut the upper fuselage in two places, just aft of the wing's trailing edge and then the forward section just ahead of the two top antennae. I cut the LEX (Leading Edge Extensions) off this unit and mated the remainder to the assembled forward fuselage (hey, I did the first three stages of the assembly "stock"--isn't that enough?). The underside rear fuselage was chopped just forward of the arrester hook housing. My attention then went to "stretching" the fuselage...10 mm in the aft portion and 14 mm in the forward section, for a scale grand total of 68 inches added to the length of this bad boy. I was halfway through reassembly when life got in the way...fast-forward nearly ten years...
In the meantime, Hornet 2000 vanishes into the ghostly limbo of phantom warplane projects. Reality sends forth the F/A-18E, with its enlargened LEX and new ramp intakes. I look at this vicious, terrible beast (on TV, a whole program on PBS devoted to it) and then this model kit rises from its grave in my closet...
So the stock intakes come off. Just as well because part of the forward fuselage "plug" has become warped and must be removed as well. And then a fit of boredom overwhelms me and I saw off the remainder of the wings, since for the Dash 4, the wings are further aft than on the "conventional layout" Hornets. Suddenly more possibilities appear on this machine...could I build an FSW (Forward-Swept Wing) version (I'd already done on in 1/144th scale...a "Python Patrol" Conquest from G.I.Joe--nah), or a mutant Dash 4, or even a VSTOL (Vertical/Short Take-Off/Landing) version. Still, this bug has a relentless thirst for white putty and super glue and a ruthless hunger for more and more styrene.
So what's a poor fellow to do, short of an exorcism? I'll redesign the wings...but I need new E-type intakes and LEX. Plus I need to know if anybody has developed a vector-thrust exhaust for the General Electric F404 engine...there is an X-29 and an F-20 Tigershark also lurking just past the county morgue. Maybe someone has those thrust paddles as seen on the X-31...either way, the fanatic will continue to hunt down more and more elusive parts for this monstrosity and others that lie, resting in pieces, throughout his laboratory. Please forgive me if, as you present your Verlinden catalog at an IPMS meeting, something comes over me and I transform into a rabid, crazed ghoul. There are forces at work that mankind will never fully fathom.
FP
TIDBITS FROM A FANATIC:
THE CONVERSION THAT WOULD NOT DIE (HORNET 2000)
At the end of 1987, McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing—-go figure) proposed to the Defense Department and the Western Allies a plan for further development of the F/A-18 Hornet called "Hornet 2000". Five new subtypes were offered, from a minimal change version with increased fuel capacity [Dash 2] to a radical delta-and-canards high-performance fighter meant to compete with Dassault-Breguet's Rafale and the multinational Eurofighter [Dash 4]. The picture in Aviation Week and Space Technology [December 21, 1987; page 20] only fueled my desire to build a model of at least one of these machines.
So I went to Kay-Bee just after Christmas '87 and bought a remaindered AMT (ex-ESCI, now Italeri) "Force 1" F-18A in 1/72nd scale. And I honed my razor saw. Has anybody seen my goalie's mask?
First I cut apart the wings by removing the leading edge slats, then the flaps, and finally the tips at the fold line. (My first concept was to extend both the span and chord of the wings, by 24mm and 8mm respectively.) Then I cut the upper fuselage in two places, just aft of the wing's trailing edge and then the forward section just ahead of the two top antennae. I cut the LEX (Leading Edge Extensions) off this unit and mated the remainder to the assembled forward fuselage (hey, I did the first three stages of the assembly "stock"--isn't that enough?). The underside rear fuselage was chopped just forward of the arrester hook housing. My attention then went to "stretching" the fuselage...10 mm in the aft portion and 14 mm in the forward section, for a scale grand total of 68 inches added to the length of this bad boy. I was halfway through reassembly when life got in the way...fast-forward nearly ten years...
In the meantime, Hornet 2000 vanishes into the ghostly limbo of phantom warplane projects. Reality sends forth the F/A-18E, with its enlargened LEX and new ramp intakes. I look at this vicious, terrible beast (on TV, a whole program on PBS devoted to it) and then this model kit rises from its grave in my closet...
So the stock intakes come off. Just as well because part of the forward fuselage "plug" has become warped and must be removed as well. And then a fit of boredom overwhelms me and I saw off the remainder of the wings, since for the Dash 4, the wings are further aft than on the "conventional layout" Hornets. Suddenly more possibilities appear on this machine...could I build an FSW (Forward-Swept Wing) version (I'd already done on in 1/144th scale...a "Python Patrol" Conquest from G.I.Joe--nah), or a mutant Dash 4, or even a VSTOL (Vertical/Short Take-Off/Landing) version. Still, this bug has a relentless thirst for white putty and super glue and a ruthless hunger for more and more styrene.
So what's a poor fellow to do, short of an exorcism? I'll redesign the wings...but I need new E-type intakes and LEX. Plus I need to know if anybody has developed a vector-thrust exhaust for the General Electric F404 engine...there is an X-29 and an F-20 Tigershark also lurking just past the county morgue. Maybe someone has those thrust paddles as seen on the X-31...either way, the fanatic will continue to hunt down more and more elusive parts for this monstrosity and others that lie, resting in pieces, throughout his laboratory. Please forgive me if, as you present your Verlinden catalog at an IPMS meeting, something comes over me and I transform into a rabid, crazed ghoul. There are forces at work that mankind will never fully fathom.
FP