This completes the trio of Hornets I've been building for the last 18 months and I hope it's the last Hornet I have to build for quite some time. It was definitely the easiest of the three to do though, as it only required the addition of an Aires (4295) resin/etch cockpit set, which fitted almost perfectly and is definitely a big improvement over the kit parts.
The only areas which required some attention were the upper and lower fuselage joins around the cockpit and the underside joins on the leading edge extensions. Other than that the rest of the kit went together without any real problems.
The model was painted in the standard colours using Gunze C307 Gray FS36320 for the upper surfaces and Gunze C308 Gray FS36375 for the undersides. Weathering on the model was kept to a minimum - as it represents a CAG aircraft - and the panel lines were given a wash of Vallejo's Light Grey (76.515), with the wheels wells, exhausts and vents treated with a range of washes from the AK Interactive Air Series.
Markings came form a Two Bobs, F/A-18E Rockin' Rhinos sheet (48-162), which went on superbly without any silvering. Hasegawa's series of F-18 Hornet's have to be some of the best on the market to date and with a little care build into a superb rendition of this aircraft, however I'm still not in a hurry to do another one.
The only areas which required some attention were the upper and lower fuselage joins around the cockpit and the underside joins on the leading edge extensions. Other than that the rest of the kit went together without any real problems.
The model was painted in the standard colours using Gunze C307 Gray FS36320 for the upper surfaces and Gunze C308 Gray FS36375 for the undersides. Weathering on the model was kept to a minimum - as it represents a CAG aircraft - and the panel lines were given a wash of Vallejo's Light Grey (76.515), with the wheels wells, exhausts and vents treated with a range of washes from the AK Interactive Air Series.
Markings came form a Two Bobs, F/A-18E Rockin' Rhinos sheet (48-162), which went on superbly without any silvering. Hasegawa's series of F-18 Hornet's have to be some of the best on the market to date and with a little care build into a superb rendition of this aircraft, however I'm still not in a hurry to do another one.
