Academy 1/72 US Navy F/A-18C VFA-82 "Marauders"
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
The F/A-18 Hornet has been a mainstay in the US Navy for decades, first appearing in the 1980s and continuing to serve today and well into the future. Originally designed as a replacement for the ageing A-7 Corsair, the F/A-18 has gone on to replace the A-6 and F-14 as well and stands as the main frontline fighter and attack aircraft for the Navy.
The Kit
The Academy F/A-18C kit is a fairly new one, showing up in the late 2000s. As such it features details that we would come to expect of a kit from that era, with recessed panel lines and overall fine detailing throughout. Recently, Academy has been re-releasing this kit with some of the more colorful squadron markings, and this boxing is one of those instances. This one features colorful markings of VFA-82 from 2004.
The core Academy kit is designed to fill both the single-seat and two-seat Hornet variants, and this modularity is apparent right away in the construction of the interior. The cockpit tub has both a front and rear section, of which only the front will be used. The seat is built up from four pieces, and the instrument panel and control stick are separate. Instruments and side consoles have molded in detail, with decals providing the multi-function displays.
With the interior together, attention can turn towards assembly. The F-18 has a fairly complex shape, at least when it comes to producing an injection-molded kit. To keep detail sharp, this means breaking it up into some odd shapes. The nose, for instance, is built up from four pieces: two sides and two belly inserts. The upper fuselage is one-piece, but has inserts on the underside of the LERX and a chunk of the upper spine to cover the unused second cockpit. The lower rear fuselage is separate as well, while the intakes are yet another separate part. All told, the fuselage assembly features no less than twelve pieces, plus four more for the intake lips and splitter plates. For all of this, take time and dry fit often, and you should have no problem with this assembly.
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Once that's out of the way, the rest of the build is really downhill at this point. The wings are solid right and left halves, as are the vertical fins and stabilizers. Detail bits include a separate air brake, separate chaff and flare dispensers, several antennae and strakes, and a separate tailhook. The landing gear is well detailed with control arms, nose light, and all the separate doors to carefully paint a red outline on. For the underwing fun, this kit comes with a nice load out consisting of two AIM-9L/M Sidewinders, four GBU-12 Paveway II bombs, two AIM-7M Sparrows, an AN/ASQ-173 LDT/SCAM Pod, an AN/AAS-38 FLIR Pod, and an AN/AAR-50 TINS Pod.
For the decal scheme, this is a pretty colorful Hornet, with the vertical fins in blue with a maroon eagle on it, and an eagle's head on the side of the fuselage (although it looks a bit more duck-like than an eagle to my eye). The decals provide most of the markings, but you will have to paint the tails blue to match the blue of the decal. The instructions say it should be insignia blue, but looking at the photos and the decal sheet suggest something much lighter. I would recommend taking the decal sheet to your local hobby shop and finding a close match. Luckily the vertical fins are far enough away from the other blue parts to not need an exact match. Overall the decals look to be nicely printed and include quite a bit of stenciling as well.
Conclusion
This is another nice re-release from Academy that puts their solid F/A-18 Hornet kit back on the shelves. Whether you use the in-box decals or hit up the aftermarket world, this is a great Hornet kit to add to your shelf. My thanks to MRC for the review copy.