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F-18F Super Hornet

 

 Hasegawa, 1/72 Scale

 

S u m m a r y

Catalogue Number:

E18

Scale:

1/72

Contents and Media:

98 light grey styrene parts (1 not used); 3 clear parts; and 4 polythene caps (two not used).

Price:

$34.15 CDN

Review Type:

FirstLook

Advantages:

Reflects production version of aircraft; positionable elevator surfaces; poly-cap elevator attachment; two piece canopy; AIM-120 and AIM-9X armament; three colorful marking options.

Disadvantages:

Some ejector pin marks; lack of underwing munitions; rivets.

Recommendation:

Highly Recommended

 

Reviewed by Dan Lee


 Hasegawa's 1/72 scale F/A-18F Super Hornet will be available online from Squadron.com

 

FirstLook

 

The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-18F is the latest two seat evolution of the Hornet family. 

Hasegawa's first F-18 Super Hornet in 1/72 scale comprises 98 light grey styrene parts (1 not used); 3 clear parts; and 4 poly caps (two not used). All 10 grey sprues are squeezed into a single plastic bag. Clear parts are sealed into a separate plastic bag. Decals and Instructions are floating in the box. 

 

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Surface texture is good with crisp, fine engraved panel lines and hundreds of tiny, recessed holes representing the rivets on the wings, upper and lower fuselage. A coat of paint will probably hide the rivets. The ECS heat exhanger exhaust ducts are correctly molded; represented as rectangular openings on the rear upper fuselage deck. The ECS auxilary intake doors are represented as raised panel detail. The starboard ECS aux. Intake door is off center. Don't know if this is an error. 

 

 

Parts breakdown is similar to the Italeri kit; but appears to be simpler and easier.

The forward nose and lower fuselage is broken down into three parts; left, right and lower insert. The IFF interrogator antenna box is included. The cannon port is represented by a vertical hole; odd so there's some work to fix this. Cockpit tub is devoid of any detail. Decals are provided for main and side instrument panels.

The remaining fuselage consists of upper and lower parts. The fuselage breakdown supports the single seat F-18E. A new rear cockpit cover/upper deck and canopy is required. 

The air intake assemblies are two piece and appear to be easier to build compared with Italeri's offering. Intake trunking is shallow with no compressor face; there's just a blank wall. Landing gear bays are fully boxed  with enough detail to satisfy most 72nd builders. 

The Wings are separate parts; upper half with lower insert assemblies. Wing flaps and slats surfaces are molded in the raised position. To show off the flaps in the typical lowered position, some work is required.

For underwing stores  two AIM-120, two AIM-9X, and four 480 Gallon Fuel tanks are provided. A fuselage mounted AN/AAS-38 FLIR pod is also supplied. The weapons pylons appear to have the correct 4 degree toe out. The AIMs are well done for 1/72 scale and the AIM9X is the first to be seen in recent memory.

 

 

The colourful decal sheet supplies markings for three US Navy Super Hornets (2003 VFA-102 DiamondBacks, 2002 VFA-102 DiamondBacks and VFA-2 Bounty Hunters) in the same basic scheme of FS36320 grey upper surfaces, with FS36375 grey lower surfaces/undersides.

 

 

Instructions are typical Hasegawa fare with construction called out over 13 steps using extensive diagrams and sporadic descriptions.

 

Conclusion

 

Hasegawa's F-18 Super Hornet was announced couple years ago and then disappeared. But with the F-18F release, the wait is over and worth it.  The decal sheet provides for some colorful birds. 

The F-18E single seat release is due out  in Q1 2004.

For those on a budget the Italeri F-18E/F is half the price, but it has it faults and requires a fair amount of work.

Recommended.

Text and Images Copyright © 2004 by Dan Lee
Page Created 08 January, 2004
Last updated 12 August, 2004

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