Part 2. After construction was pretty much done, and the Paint job itself finished, Joe Volzj asked me "What markings will it have?" And I was like... "Hmm, now there's something I hadn't thought of!" And the search was on. Then while Cleaning up the “Studio” (Where my family keeps papers and stuff) and I found the answer for the marking Problem. This magazine had in the cover VFA-136's Hornets, and I liked the Falcon on the tail. It was EXACTLY what I was after. So, I went again to Squadron.com and ordered the Decals for VFA-136. Then came the break prior to New Year, I was heading for Orlando , and, in the process, gear me with tools and Decals.  

Modifications made during this period:

* Raised the Front windshield about a millimeter or two

* With a thin Pencil, marked all panel lines (prior to decals)

* Toed out the wing Pylons
* Detailed the plane’s ordinance – bombs decaled, missiles painted and hole drilled in the back of them.
* Detailed and sanded the bottom of the BlackBox kit seat in order to allow the canopy to close properly

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Finally I got back from Orlando and the Decals effectively, arrived in San Antonio (on the way through). Arriving home and immediately I started decaling the plane. I ended up using only the Squadron decals (numbers, tail art) from the Decal sheet, and used the kit's decals for the rest of the plane's markings (The sheet’s insignias weren’t dark enough). Again, a Layer of Gloss Coat sealed everything up and now DA BUG was only waiting for the dull coat on top. On the 7th day of the 7th month of construction, the Hornet was 98% Completed: It only needed the Vents between the tails and the AAMRAM missile, which are held into place with some sort of hooks that I had to scratch build. I used aluminum Strips folded around the AIM-120 to create this. 

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JDAMS	AIM's	AGM's

After the Missiles were added, next up was to create the vents. I cut small strips of Aluminum, with an exacto knife I created the hole in the middle and touched them up with black paint. They didn’t seem to glue into the plane, so I used some Styrene to aid the parts to glue properly. And, on the 9th Day of the 7th month, the Super Hornet was completed. 

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Vents	Exhausts	AIM-120 Pylon

Modifications made during this period:

* Scratch-built the pylons that hold the AIM-120 Missile in Place

* Scratch-built the vents between the Rudders with aluminum strips and Styrene.

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This kit makes me realize I have raised the bar for myself; it has surpassed all my previous limits. I am extremely happy with this model, how it has turned out. Nearly all the people I know react the same way when they see it: “Wow” – specially my mom, she knows how much I spent on it – all: time, money and effort. These past 6 months have just been awesome. I hope I someday repeat some feat like this. I’m actually happy that all the halting occurred, I had more time to look at details like the Flap positioning and vents and stuff. 

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So there you have it. Mario’s SuPeRBuG. I want to send a special thanks to these people that helped me make it possible:

MickeyFickey a.k.a. MoFo, Joe Hegedus, Joe Volz, Juan Martin Poggi, Dave Fasset (thanks again for the FLIR pod), Jorge Ramirez, USAF Sgt. Eugenio Smith (Ret.) and my Dad for helping me with this project directly.

Also, Thanks to the ones that helped me in one or another way (with their comments):

MadMike, Andy Gudbergsson, Brady, Dmitry, Big Josh Henderson, Keith Diamond, Colin K, Ming a.k.a Raptor22, Raymond, Shark, Tilt, Uni-Brow, SpongeBob, Murph and Company…

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I want to thank also all of you who replied to my In-Progress reports in the ARC Forum, there’s just too many of you to name and not forget anyone. Also, a special Thanks to You fellow ARC’er for making ARC the wonderful site It is. And again another one to Mr. Steve Bamford for giving us ARC. Thank you Thank you!!! I hope you enjoyed this model as much as I did.

Take Care!!!

Mario

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