IPMS Kit Review: Hasegawa F/A-18 Hornet "Eggplane"

Distributed by Dragon Models

Hasegawa F/A-18 Hornet "Eggplane"

Kit Number: 60104

Reviewed by John R. Lee , IPMS# 11172

MSRP: $12.95
Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com

The kit comes in a sturdy top opening box – great for holding the parts as you work on the model. There are eighteen light gray plastic parts and one crystal-clear canopy for the F/A-18 Hornet and a colorful decal sheet with two schemes. The canopy is loose in the box allowing it to be scratched up a bit, but a little polishing and a dip in Future took care of that problem. Considering this is a humorous kit, I guess I shouldn’t have been disappointed not to find instrument panel on the decal sheet as there was with the F-14 and F-15 kits. I dug out an old (really old) IPMS Instrument panel decal sheet and used part of an F-4 front panel just because it had what looked like a MFD on it. I did add a few grams of extra weight to the nose of the model during the build just to be on the safe side.

Now let’s proceed with the build. I used Tamiya’s extra thin cement that causes the plastic to melt and fill small seams/gaps in the plastic parts. There was a small mismatch around the intakes that required a little filler. That was taken care of with Mr. Surfacer 1000. My bottle is somewhat old and has thickened up quite a bit and but works great. The worst fit was where the top and bottom of the fuselage met between the wing and tail. This was also being the hardest area to sand on the whole build. A little bit more sanding here and there and it was ready for the paint shop.

I used the recommended colors call outs. FS numbers are included on the plans -- better than a lot of high-priced kits out there and allowed me to use my preferred Testors Model Master paints. I did paint the FOD covers red, as I have never seen black covers as called for on the instruction sheet. The only color I used different was for the tires, as I like to use Model Masters GRUN RLM 22 instead of tire black. I also decided to paint the missiles white with a black nose to add a wee bit of color along with the FOD covers. I also drilled out the exhaust on the missiles to make them look better and then filled the hole with black paint. I dirtied up the landing gear and wheels with a little thinned Tamiya smoke as a final touch.

The decals are next after a couple of coats of Future. I started with the vertical tails. I painted the inside black portion on the tips and used the decals on the outside as the 300 number was part of the black tip decal. After the decals had dried I wiped off the excess decal glue and applied a couple of flat clear coats. When it comes to putting a decal stripe on a missile or a tail hook, I use a trick I learned a while back. Instead of wetting the decal with water, I stick it into Micro set. When I take the decal off the paper and place it on the tail hook it will immediately wrap around the tail hook or missile.

All in all, another fun build. Again I’m thinking about which of my other "Eggplanes" to build next. Lets see… F-86, SR-71, Fw-190…so many choices, so little time.

I bought this kit from Tammie’s Hobbies in Beaverton, OR and it’s a great addition to my model shelf.

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