I built this as part of the “Teen Spirit” Campaign here and completed the build yesterday afternoon, and took photos this morning. This is my Monogram F/A-18A Blue Angels, done as the lead solo aircraft, #5, for the first year of Hornets, 1987. That was the only season that the Blues did not have the fence installed on the LEXs in front of the vertical stabilizers. I built this kit OOB, aside from modifying the stabilator attachment point using some aluminum tubing, to aid in seam clean up back there. Also the kit has a paper “H” to cut out from the instruction sheet to add to the ejection seat as parachute harness risers. I substituted some 1mm Tamiya making tape cut to the proper lengths instead. I used enamel Humbrol Gloss Midnight Blue and Model Master Blue Angels Yellow for the main colors, and a set of Milspec Decals in place of the kit decals.
Thanks for looking, comments and critiques welcomed
Great job on all those builds. I have a friend who likes building these older Monogram/Revell kit and competes with folks that call them underdogs and has gone on wining trophies in OOB categories. With little TLC they can stand well as your build shows. Bravo!
@Stryker45, this one won’t win any contest prizes, probably not anyways. These kits are great for the OOB/Basic Kit category. But yeah, some TLC and they look good! I like the sound of your friend’s approach to modeling.
Karl, thank you. Hornets look gorgeous in solid blue when compared to modern tactical grays. I’m seriously thinking about doing one in the throwback blue scheme done for the Centennial of Naval Aviation.
