By VinceHoffman
Aug 21, 2016
This pair of Hornet rebuilds were my fix for the cartoon cannon on the L&S Hornet (vs Vampire) set. This rebuild was not for the faint of heart. The rebuild began with removing the cannon and modifying the little LED equipped circuit board which lit up the gun barrels behind it. I re-purposed a single LED to light up my targeting laser in the new new nose sensor array. I actually performed this rebuild several years ago and posted an accompanying How-to thread with my original build post on the SBF.
While I had my tools out I marked out and then drilled the pattern holes in the missile launcher pods beneath the landing skid "pontoons" Next I custom made the tri-barrel auto cannons using plastic tubing, carefully shaped, painted, and glued to modified MB missile launchers. These turned out very nice and look infinitely better than the version MB came up with.
The "Stinger tail gun" is based off actual Bungie Studios concept art for the Hornet. The implementation was quite simple and uses MB parts for the seat and associated gun mounts. However the MG460 auto grenade launcher (seen in Halo Reach) is a hand crafted custom. I made a few extras of the grenade launcher when I built a pair for one of our UH-144 Falcons in 2013.
The remainder of the rebuild is straight-forward bricking. Every stock Hornet set MB has created to date was too stubby and front heavy looking. I've extended the tail boom and each landing skid "pontoon" by two studs which evens out the vehicle proportions nicely. There is a bunch of detail work present beneath the tail boom as well along with a general clean-up of the wings. Finally I re-worked the central landing skid to come up with a less bulky looking arrangement.
While I had my tools out I marked out and then drilled the pattern holes in the missile launcher pods beneath the landing skid "pontoons" Next I custom made the tri-barrel auto cannons using plastic tubing, carefully shaped, painted, and glued to modified MB missile launchers. These turned out very nice and look infinitely better than the version MB came up with.
The "Stinger tail gun" is based off actual Bungie Studios concept art for the Hornet. The implementation was quite simple and uses MB parts for the seat and associated gun mounts. However the MG460 auto grenade launcher (seen in Halo Reach) is a hand crafted custom. I made a few extras of the grenade launcher when I built a pair for one of our UH-144 Falcons in 2013.
The remainder of the rebuild is straight-forward bricking. Every stock Hornet set MB has created to date was too stubby and front heavy looking. I've extended the tail boom and each landing skid "pontoon" by two studs which evens out the vehicle proportions nicely. There is a bunch of detail work present beneath the tail boom as well along with a general clean-up of the wings. Finally I re-worked the central landing skid to come up with a less bulky looking arrangement.