F-18 AirToon Tutorial

[lastvautour]

The Swiss F-18 has been rolled out and placed under security in its bunker. She is uploaded with two Sidewinders, two Sparrows and two long range drop tanks. The last one to come is on the bench waiting for its weapons sub-assemblies to dry a bit before installing. That should happen sometime tomorrow.Then many close ups.

Lou

PS Left to right: Bucc, Australian, Canadian and Swiss under wraps. Out front is the Balkan Rat, back after having some intake and warning labels decals put in place.

[buccfan]

Looking forward to the rollout Lou.Regards Paul J.

[lastvautour]

The Spanish F-18 has rolled out. Note that the Australian and Spanish birds do not have launch bars. The Canadian Forces removed some and found that it caused nose wheel shimmy so they put them back on. Overall a neat little project in mass production. Parts as follows:
Sidewinders X 14 = 56 forward fins, 56 main fins and 14 bodies
Sparrows X 12 = 48 forward fins, 48 rear fins and 12 bodies
Harpoon X 2 = 8 forward fins, 8 rear fins and 2 bodies
Drop tanks X 2 = 2 bodies
500lb Mk 82 X 4 = 16 fins, 4 primer pins and 4 bodies
Main wings X 10 = 5 left wings, 5 left lex, 5 right wings and right 5 lex
Fuselage X 5 = 5 center fuselage and 10 engine nacelles
Tail feathers X 5 = 10 vertical and 10 horizontal fins
Engine exhaust X 10 = 10 bodies
Arrestor hooks X 5 = 5 housings, 5 bodies and 5 hooks
Undercarriage main X 5 = 10 vertical struts, 5 left horizontal struts, 5 right horizontal struts, 10 retraction actuators, 10 wheels, 10 wheel hubs and 10 axles
Undercarriage nose X 5 = 10 wheels, 5 actuators, 3 launch bars(2 piece), 5 axles
Undercarriage doors X 5 = 40 pieces

In all 480 pieces all fitting together to make my little multinational F-18 fleet.

Lou

PS Close ups on my "Project Board" as soon as I can sort them out

[Balsabasher]

Detailed inventory there Lou.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

Thanks Barry. I messed up in forgetting that the Australian Hornet has SRAAM instead of Sidewinders on the tips, hence 4 fewer pieces, but them I negleted to add the pylons for the fuel tanks (2), the Harpoon (2) and the Bombs (2), Sparrows (4) and Sidewinders (4) so I was shy by 10 pieces.


Lou