Small Scale Military Headquarters

Since we are on a new forum, just a reminder:

If you are going to display your F-18 on it's gear, you will need to support the fuselage to keep the weight off the landing gear. If you don't, it will "flatten out" and eventually fail. The plane is too heavy for the designed plastic struts. Hope this helps in avoiding dissapointment for many members!

-Ski

Ski....i have planned to make a couple of custom groundcrewman and strategically place them under the fuselage to help support the planes weight. Do you think this is feasible or do you think stronger support is needed?

You could easily have a crew member conceal a wood dowel or block. Just set him in front of it. I just have a wood chock supporting mine. It seems to have quit a bit of weight on it, so whatever you use, it needs to be sturdy..........

-Ski

Thanks for the heads-up, Teamski! I had just assembled mine this past Friday night, with the gear down, so tonight I propped the beast up on some wood and cloth to spare the gear.

I wonder if BBI will have improved struts on the new F-16? It seems like this is a problem that needs to be corrected as the design level.

It appears to me that if a stronger plastic (or diecast metal for that matter) were used to construct the landing gear the problem would be solved. Many of the plastic parts on the F-18 seem very flexible.

I don't think there will be this problem with the F-16. Note that all of the struts are straight on the plane. The F-18 is damned with having a right angle built into the MLG strut. I'm not too bothered by it really. Both planes are absolute works of art.......

-Ski

Ski..are there any problems you've noticed with other parts of the F-18 sagging due to the soft plastic? Wings drooping, for example?

Andrew, you got one too, hehehehehe.........

The only things really sagging on it are the wingtips due to the hinges and the wings themselves. The fuselage hook-in is pretty weak, so with the ordinance hung, the wings pull down from the snap-in position. When you get it, you'll notice it right away. The nose gear is absolutely solid. The horizontal stabilizers were slightly warped when I took it out of the box; this due to the soft plastic used on them. They haven't changed shape at all so they look fine. Even with the wings pulled down a bit, the plane looks great.

Again, to me these design flaws are really minor considering the weight involved in such a plane. This is the very reason why I haven't hung it yet. I'm scared to hell of finding it on the floor. Its one heavy sonabitch!

The F-16 should be a far more tighter airplane. It will be a lot lighter with a firmer gear.

Can somepost more information on this soft plastic? Is it "1960's toy soldier soft", or just not as hard as stryene? Can the fueslage be easily pushed in with a finger, or anything like that?

No,no,no.......

The fuselage, wings, external tanks and canopy are fully hard plastic. The only soft plastic on the plane are the horizontal stab, landing gear struts and the Mk 82 bombs. Trust me, the F-18 is a step above anything else that BBi put out. You won't be disappointed..........


-Ski

OK, thanks, 'ski! I was ready to order a Blue Angels, but not if it was made of soft plastic! If the bulk of the aircraft is in hard plastic, I wonder why the gear, of all things, is soft?