Here’s one of my of my latest builds, it one for the Afterburners Decals campaign. The sheet contains two sets of data and four aircraft. Unfortunately there are no 1/48th EA-18G Growler kits, well not so so true. Italeri released a Growler version some 5-6 years ago, it was based of their F/A-18F release. I never bought on as I held out for a Hasegawa releasing. From what I read the Italeri kit is more of an early staged EA-18G in development. As to date there are no other Growler kits on the market.

The EA-18G Growler will and has already replaced the EA-6B Prowler. Some of the Electronic Attack Squadron that are using the Growlers now are,
VAQ-129
VAQ-132
VAQ-135
VAQ-138
VAQ-141

Alright I had two options, buy the Hasegawa F/A-18F and Steel Beach EA-18G resin conversion or scratch build my own conversion. The Steel Beach set is nice but I wasn’t digging the shapes of the ALQ-99 High and Low Band Jamming Pods. So my second thought was to scratch build my own parts and use the pods from the Kinetic Prowler kit.

So after a weeks worth of internet searches and tons of reference photos I was able to start building my parts. I made one of each as I was going to cast my own parts. I also made a resin copy of the drop tanks…reason is that I build many F/A-18’s and those tanks take up time making the two halves don’t match up.

First I started with the ALQ-218(V)2 Avionics wing tip pods. Evergreen plastic rods were combined to make a solid round rod. Once the glue dried I sanded the ends to their angled shapes.













Hard to see the scribed in panel lines.

Next step was to make the Satellite Communications Antenna (SATCOM) on the upper rear fuselage spine. Though the part is make it’s shape is off some. Once I’m ready to install it I’ll square it up.





First I placed masking tape around the upper fuselage to protect the kit from sanding. I then glued on the part followed by adding putty. To make the putty much harder I dropped on super which soaks into the putty. Once dry I sanded it to shape.

On the F/A-18E/F’s they were fitted with newer vent tubes.



I started out with small solid round rods, cut to shape, sand angles. The tape aided in keeping the five pieces together to keep the pieces the same.

Moving on, next step was to make the two rear side fuselage antenna bumps.





Gluing the part to a stick make it easier to sand and to keep an eye on it’s shape.





Here are to two pieces finished.



There are also two antenna bumps on the sides of the nose that need to be made as well.

Now that I have my parts I’m now ready to cast them into resin.







After I made up the mold boxes it was time to pour the rubber, but before I pour the rubber I first made up a tiny batch. I let this sit for 40 minutes, then I painted the rubber mixture over the parts. This will help eliminate any bubbles and air pockets. Once this was set I poured a fresh batch of rubber into the mold boxes. They set for 18 hours and were pulled apart. The rubber I used was Alumilite as is the resin.





Overall I’m very pleased with my results and looking forward to getting these pieces added on.

More to follow,
Happy Modeling,
Joe

Dude I am speechless do you sell resin sets?

Mate, that's epic...

I already know who's bird is going to be Scott's winner and you very well deserve it

Here’s an update, I’ve been so busy with many other projects that’s it’s hard to keep up to date with posting. In my last post I casted my parts, now they are cleaned and installed on to the fuselage.

I corrected the tail antennas by sanding them angled.



I had to clean up the vent area to add in the new ECS vent tubes.



Looking over the reference photos it seems the wing fold cover plates look smooth, so I sanded and cleaned the area.



There are no guns in the nose of the Growler so I filled in the holes with super glue and sanded smooth.



The Hasegawa 18’s has some nasty gaps. I never use putty to fill gaps as it leads to some heavy work and you loose detail. I like to use plastic evergreen sheet as a filler. Once the sheet is fitted in I’ll use liquid glue to hold in place, once dry just trace with sharp hobby knife followed by sanding.







Here are the three casted antenna bumps on the nose section, two on the side one where the gun vents were.



Leading edge flaps on the Growler have a dog ear (white triangle) which was made from evergreen plastic.



Here are the resin casted ALQ-99 high and low band pods. I used the Kinetic pods as they are the best. I also made resin copy’s of the drop tanks.



The new antennas.



Wing tip avionics ALQ-218 (V), also note the wing fences.







Next I’ll clear coat it a few times followed by the Afterburner decals. The marking I’ll be using are the VAQ-132 Scorpions.

Happy Modeling,
Joe

Ok the strengthening strips have been added onto the flap vanes. I also added the strips seen in your photos to the aileron flaps. I will sand them down some. Thanks BIG goes out to Troy of (Midwaysailor) for his reference photos and his latest tip to the strengthening strips







Happy Modeling,
Joe

Ok finished and painted, next clear coat.



Happy Modeling,
Joe

The gloss coat is dried and a light oil wash applied.









I had to scratch the vanes for the ram air turbines.



Decals applied and model is dull coated and a final bit of weathering.







Happy Modeling,
Joe

Here she is finished, photos not that great. I will take better ones to post in the finished section.





















Happy Modeling,
Joe

Very nice my compliments to the chef

I can't believe that I haven't see this thread until now.... This is kick @$$ dude! I cant wait to see it in person.

The Master has done it again....very inspiring work, Joe...well done!

John Zaranek (BuffaloModeler)
IPMS/USA 47933

IPMS/Niagara Frontier

Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome stuff Joe!

Awesome work mate!

Thanks guys and it was a fun build. I was able to learn a few things along the way. My next Growler will be the Trumpeter 1/32 EA-18G. I will say I have a ton of work ahead of me with this kit. The Growler parts that came with the kit are wrong in shape and oversized. The AN/ALQ 99 pods are missed shaper while the center pod is way to thin in height. The AN/ALQ 218 wing tip pods are to long, they are almost the same size of the under wing AN/ALQ 99 pods. Also missing are the antennas in the front and rear side fuselage. Even if the AN/ALQ 99 pods had the right shapes they are missing much of the details.

As in the above Growler build I will pretty much have to scratch build all its detail pieces. Once I get started I will post a build blog on her.







Here is the decals sheet, not impressed. They are thick and out of registration. My fingers are crossed for some of the bigger decals makers to come out with some of the colorful CAG birds.



Happy Modeling,
Joe

Two questions for ya Joe..what r you using for your in-flight stand, and about the decals...whats it mean "out of register" ? I really like the clear tube used on your inflights!

Jeff

Registration means how the various colors are aligned with each other. A screen printed decal sheet is printed one color at a time. If an object has more than 1 color, the chances are pretty good that something will move...either the screen the ink is being forced through, or the paper. If something shifts, the next color will be ever so slightly printed not where it was intended, so the alignment will be off.



Hey Joe,

We're going to do a dedicated 1/32 Growler sheet this fall...it will have VAQ-132s same black tailed jet, the same jet in the new camo brown tail scheme, and VAQ-138s CAG jet.

Hey Jeff,
Scott answered the decals question perfectly, could not have done it better. Thanks Scott!

The clear rod, well it is nothing but a soft clear acrylic rod. I bought a six-foot piece for less then $3 dollars. My suggestion is to look around town for a place that sells plastics. Stay away from hobby store, as they will charge you an arm and a leg. I got mine from Great Lakes Plastics. Again, look around town for such a place. The rod I am using is 1/4inch in diameter.

@ Scott
Schwing….that’s great news. Looking forward to them, please keep us updated.

Thanks Scott for the answer, and the diagram!!!

Thanks Joe, I'll have a look around for the rods. Working out plans for a new display shelf..aircraft take up alot of room!!!