After obtaining 3-view drawings of the Super Hornet, I begin to shape the fuselage starting with the nose cone. I've already applied smoothing to the cone, but I am keeping the poly levels low at the moment.

I started to build very basic placeholder structures like the fuselage, wings, engines/inlets, and the vertical and horizontal stabilizers. Initially I color coded the different sections so I can just work on getting their basic shapes in place.

Everything at this moment is very basic. Almost has a 1980-1990 arcade game feel to it, LOL!

Next, I start to define the engine inlet based on photo references. I'm working in symmetry at this point.

Further refining the inlets and starting to "carve" inside to create the intake.

Working to carve from straight edges to curved within the inlet, I'll keep pushing back the inlet wall which will be shaped into a round cylinder where the engine is.

I also start to refine the fuselage and canopy area

I've purchased a few gizmos for Blender which I really enjoy using.

I really need to refine the fuselage and engine/inlet shapes, so I brought in bulkhead templates to help.

Refining the fuselage, wings and inlet/engine areas to match the bulkhead templates.

Application of basic primer materials.

I decided to create some basic primer materials in a blue/green tone that match the factory F/A-18E. This actually helps me with refining the shapes of the model.

Refining the wings, vertical and horizontal stabilizers.

I feel that the model is coming together nicely, especially since I'm fairly new to Blender. I've been building in Cinema 4D for 20 years, but I need to learn Blender and this is my project for doing so.