There is a lot of bad vibes going round at the moment Alex, But at least we have this wonderful hobby to help us through. Great job as always.

Crazy, that's my old squadron. VFA-137. I was an Aviation Electrician. My name spent some time on the landing gear door on 203 when I finally got my plane captain qual. In fact, I know the guy in corrosion that designed this new paint job for the CAG bird. They painted it some time before our South Seas deployment in 2015. Awesome work.

Masking and painting of canopy or transparent parts No masking tape required, I use the following, use woodworking bond (aqueous vinyl acetate resin emulsion adhesive) Can be colored with watercolors. Apply thicker, spread using a surface and surface tension. After painting and drying, warming up makes it easier to peel off. Have a good days. I like your vidos. Thanks.

I don't know how you keep getting those Italeri kits to come out looking that great but my hat is off to you. It is always a pleasure to see your work on the Fokkers page as well as the videos here that go along with them. I'm sorry to hear you are not 100% with things, I know how that is and how motivation can arrive overnight and disappear just quickly. Your videos inspire me to get back to my bench. All the best.

I always admire your work. You have way more patience than me! Glad you have an outlet that helps you decompress...it all ways so helpful.

That is pure art! Thank you for showing me how its done! Cheers from australia

DAMN! That's a beautiful F/A-18E! I believe the CAG of VFA-137 would be proud as well! Love your vid please keep them coming!

Decals in the cockpit are fine, never a problem.

As always, awesome build and video. I love how you explain things for the newbies like myself.

Another great video. I’ve been building scale aircraft models for 45 years. I’m 57 now. Currently working on a 1/48 scale Tamiya A-10 Warthog. So far it’s going great. I look forward to watching all of your videos. Keep up the great work!

Stay strong mate Modelling is great therapy ,plus you bùilds and vidoes bring us all lots of entertainment and smiles buddy

Alex your videos are so relaxing to watch and the sound tracks you choose are the best ! I always look forward to watch your videos .

That turned out awesome. Hornets are my favourite. Love the weathering really sets it off. Always an inspiration. That Flory Models Wash is great stuff. Thanks for sharing 👍🏻👍🏻🙃🙃

Hi Alex , I keep coming back to the F-18 , I have built 2 at 1/48 , one was so old it was Aurora I think and a 1/48 and 1/72 Italeri , and have been happy with them -colour references can be a problem . I think this plane is the most dynamic looking of the "new" US fighters . Wales UK.

I find Italeri kits often are, shall we say, challenging and full of surprises. The only exception I've built in recent years is their 1/72 KA-6D Intruder which went together surprisingly well, the only faults being of my own making. But you have turned out another great looking model here Alex. I salute you sir. Take care, stay safe, John aka WessexModeller.

I really like your modeling work. What makes you stand out from all the others? You don't over-weather your models. All the other modeler add so much weathering that the model looks fake.

Stunning! You are such an inspirational exhibitor of this hobby....we are so blessed that you share your skills and talents with us. Stay strong...we appreciate all that you do for us.

That is one crisp looking F-18 , great work

By definition you ARE being critical. There is no problem with being critical, you bought the model, with your own money, and you are even saying where the kit falls short. I started making models in the late 70s, and the issues you were mentioning were more or less accepted back then. That was a long, long time ago. Thanks for sharing!

Hey bro! Thank you for this vid! I'm trying to build the same Italeri kit (scale 1:48). Like you said... it need a lot of effort. Yeah, I made the cockpit like you made it and it looks good for my eyes! But yeah, like you said the kit needs a lot of sanding... dry fitting.... putty... and so on.

That is bad . For 1/48th scale that is an insult to model builders . You Want That Detail . !!!!!! . Thank you . That is why you build models . An exacting replica of the original . Nice to see this video . . Like the music . Once again . Thank you .

WOW YOUR MODELS ARE SO AWESOME.!! THEY LOOK REAL..😯😯🤗🤗😍😍

Wow Alex, fantastic build. This was an hour of pleasure watching you build this kit. I have also two F/A 18 in 1/48 scale in my stash, both Revell and both are the Kit as your Italerie. It gives me Courage to see your work

Great job Alex. Italeri kits are wore. Got some 1/72 scale kits, not much. And you doing a great job, dispate your troubles. Keep on the right way.

Great build Alex I always learn something I can use or try on my builds you put. A lot of effort into you builds glass raised to you sir stay safe stay strong stay. Focused

And here I thought the old Monogram (pre-Revell) F-18 was a fussy kit to build. Thanks for this, and for suffering Italeri for us

Great build Alex, you make look so easy.

Welcome back . Great work with a difficult model . I understand all to well . Thank you .

Nicely done Alex!!!!

To be fair to the kit, the molding is almost 20 years old now, and standards have evolved somewhat, but the level of detail was behind the state of the art even then. I built the 1/72 version of this, which has similar engineering, back in 2000, shortly after it came out, and distinctly remember what a pain the intakes are and that a fair amount of filler was required on them and under the chines. The 1/72 cockpit is practically identical and I used a resin F/A-18C seat and an Eduard(?) interior photoetch set, which dressed it up fairly nicely.

I must agree with you about this ejection seat. The ejection handle is larger in all dimensions than the model's scale demands.

Dispite the lack of detail in the cockpit the model came out amazing 🍻

Again another excellent build and video, Alex. Sometimes decals for the cockpit don't look bad, personally I think the cockpit looked really good. The paint and decals were spot on. Again thank you for bringing us such high quality videos and builds, it really lifts my spirits when you premiere a new video. Thank you. As always stay safe my friend. Cheers 👌👍.

Como sempre mais um espectacular vídeo. Um trabalho de mestre que acompanho á muitos anos o teu trabalho. Muitos parabéns por mais este fantástico modelo. Um grande abraço Alex e muita saúde nestes tempos difíceis . Espero um dia quem sabe chegar a um nível como o teu , és uma referência para mim.

Olá Alex, parabéns por mais este excelente modelo, gostei muito de toda a montagem e pintura, mas em especial por todos os acabamentos finais devido ao uso e desgaste de todo o avião. Obrigado por esta partilha. Abç

Really nice build. "CAG" stands for Commander, Air Group, so the commander of al lthe embarked squadrons on a given carrier. They try to keep the CAG bird cleaner, but, if they need a plane for a sortie, they'll put a different pilot in her and fly just like any other a/c aboard. So, a CAG bird ought to show some good solid use. Bravo.

Outstanding job on this otherwise lackluster kit. I also have but ordered the P.E. sets for it along with the resin cockpit. I keep wanting to get started on it before "TOP GUN, MAVERICK" comes out but I have a few WIP "shelf queens" that I want to finish first. Anyway, I personally like Italeri and ESCI.Welk, at least some of their older stuff when the price was right. Now, they put out yhe same quality kits but at today's prices which is not okay. But I digress. One reason I like thee kits is because I like to scratch built some of the details that they omitted and not really worry about destroying surrounding details that other brands took painstaking hours to design into the kit. Italeri kits are to me basically a canvas to create something out of nothing🤭 and you Alex definitely did that with this kit!!

I learn so much from you, thank you!!!

Again mate. Awesome build. had to come back and watch due to the PTSD knocking at my front door. I have started my own channel to document my building journey from the start (and how crap I am at youtube). Hope your mind is playing nicer to you now mate. Much love again

Hi Alex, thanks for the video. As usual I enjoyed it again! The model has become super beautiful. This is something only you can do! 👍😉🇳🇱

I love your advice man and inspiration you deserve a subscriber.

Once again beautiful work Alex. Mission model paints I fell in love with them as they are really good and have great coverage. Keep up the awesome work and stay safe.

Only one word comes to mind when people see your Fighter - awesome!

Another work of art ... congratulations! Please..make a video of the Mirage IIIE 1/48 Kinetic kit assembly

Splendid work & great video! I had to stop it several times and say (to the screen) 'SERIOUSLY?!?' ROFL - I have one of these in the stash, with an Eduard PE set. That kit is going on EBay and I will wait for the Meng Growler offering!!

Amazing job, love the weathering

Brill job Alex and great to see you stick with it. I've just put back in the box my 48th scale kitty hawk fullback. It's awful, plus with my true inexperience of wingy things then it's probably half my fault. Anyway each kit or project we do it's that little bit more experience under the belt. Please stay safe Alex on those streets of Portugal!!!! No euros championships now in the summer it's all been moved to the year after. Oh well. Stay safe buddy

Hey Alex your modeling is great! Keep up the good work

great vis as always Alex you do choose the tough ones but these kits do hone our skills abrilliant job on this a stunning result as always :)

I don't know about the paints Alex, I think you could use Dulux and it would still be perfect. Marvelous.

I love Italeri aircraft kits. But you're right my friend, the cockpits are lacking. I typically purchase aftermarket resin cockpits for most of my Italeri kits.

Great work as always.

Reallly amazing.. Epic Arts.. Awesomeee..

Thanks as always👍

Thanks for the video. This kit would have ended badly at my house. Guys like me need the honesty of how well or how bad a kit goes together. I'm not a good builder and something like this would frustrate and even possibly turn me off of modeling. So thank you

nice to see some one but there heart into a build.. and very nice build it is and great video editing .. keep up the good work

Beautiful build my friend, cheers😊

Always keep modeling 👍👍👍

Great job!

Very nice build. Keep up your good work and keep well 😃👍

The schème is nice

Sorry to hear you're not doing well. I really hope things get better. Definitely a very good job. Though sounds like a resin replacement cockpit would be in order.

It's a great job! Immediately I’ve subscribed to your channel! I’m specializing in building modern military aircraft, so I would like to take your work as a reference.

This is an excellent channel bro!!!

Alex I would love to see you work you magic on the revell 1/32 f/a-18E. The fit is apparently very difficult. In the hands on an expert such as yourself you could show us how to get the best out of it!

Nice build as always Alex! just a shame Italeri cut corners with the non existent cockpit detail as always...Keep up the good work and keep on smiling 😉

Boa tarde Alex! Sempre a mesma qualidade de construção a todos os níveis e capítulos e a habitual simpatia e igual muito boa capacidade no saber transmitir. Se o Alex não é professor, deveria sê-lo pese embora o facto das maiorias dos alunos não quererem aprender nada ou pelo menos é essa ideia que tenho como contínuo do Ensino Secundário...

Fantastic model, my friend, like always ;)

Beautiful build! Yes that cockpit is way too basic for 1/48. I've been building an F-16 from Italeri in the same scale and that had a lot more cockpit detail than this...however there were some severe fit issues on that one so Italeri really needs to up their game. They are not even close to Tamiya or Hasegawa with the F-16

Nice build and paint/decal job. Just curious what the tune was at 35:00 area?

Nice build. Looks like you installed the flight control stick in backwards...

Hi Alex! Great video !

Did you encounter any problem with the decals in this kit? I built a similar war plane kit from Italeri and the decals was really a nightmare. After I transfer the decals from the card to the kit it just sticks there and cannot slide to position. Tried coaxing it and it rips apart. Got so upset that I bought after market decals for my kit :(

Hello italleri F 18 1/48 Model Would You Recommend It Looks Better Than Revell Well, did you use separate eduard parts for the model work? Good Models Thank you

I'm not a modeler and never build a serious kit before except an F-86 sabre kit back in my childhood days. But those no step decals is something rare, not every kit have them right?

Cost effect . Keeping the price of the kit down , but You Want That Detail . That is what modeling is about . Thank you .

Great I enjoy it every time.. I am building when I was 10 now I am 50 but stil learning tnx.. I have a 3 months hospital back now I am again to build again.. Any way 1 qwestion I have I use panel line and wash but every time I do it give not the result that you have.. How long let you dry it?? Tnx for sharing

Does the joystick only go in backwards or is that just user error?

Great job Alex! I’m new to modelling. I am learning a great deal. Couple of questions. What is your opinion on the Italeri f-35 lightning II 1/32 scale? Secondly can I hand brush models and not use an airbrush? Thanks very much!

Stella work as always, caught the last 10mins while on lunch break at work. I see you used the pizza box on the nose and the ECS bard stacks between the tails which is correct. Did the instructions say to use those or did you refer to my messages from last week?

Fun fact : The Revell 1/144 scale jet fighters got more detail than italeri 's 1/48 scale fighters.... That's a really sad fact

Very nice work! Well done! I have a question, how much time it takes after applying the dark dirt to wipe it?

🔝...👏👏👏

What's the product you use to cover the decals? Thanks.

Hey Alex, what is the music around the 18:30 mark.. sounds funky

I got one for my Bday, do you need other stuff like gluw and paint?

Man, awesome work on an obviously inferior product!

USN a/c mmoving parts like flaps, gear doors, etc. are white with red edges, the red to improve visibility, allegedly.

Hmmm very skilful with good vision of what you want to achieve, but, the number 200 decals forward of the canopy Agggh OCD - the starboard one is too low, the contrasting colours are supposed to line up - disappointing.

Some model companies actually do look into online discussions about their products to get feedback. So if a kit is bad, you should feel free to call it as such and not hold back. Just frame it constructively.

Alex this coronavirus is messing with everyone mental health and stressing everyone out!! we are all bummed out 😷😩

Canadian viewer. There is a saying that you can not make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. In this case, you probably came as close as anyone can in making a silk purse out of this sow's ear of a kit. You did a great job with what you had.

That cockpit would've been too simple if it were 1/72 lol

прекрасная работа -но странный выбор -зачем соберать итальери если есть прекрасный менг-хобби босс -кинетик ??????

there are so many hornet kits out there, still you chose the worst one xD

I am italian but i am very disappointed about many Italeri s kits. If i want to buy a 1/48 Super Hornet kit, what kit do you think is the best?

Great build, but FAR too many ads.

I just purchased this kit. Its your fault you know that don't you ;-)

Can I build it so the wheels are up ?

Fantastic build👏👏 it's a subscribe from me 😊