1/48 Hasegawa F/A-18D Hornet

VMFA(AW) 242-Bats

by Jeff Fuerte

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This is my 1/48 scale Hasegawa F/A-18D Night Attack Hornet done in the VMFA(AW)-242 Bats squadron markings.  I usually only build US Navy aircraft but the "Bat" logo caught my attention so here's one for the Marines!  This is my first Hornet model and as usual I am very satisfied with the Hasegawa rendering.  The recessed panel lines are very well done, the slats, flaps & rudders can be positioned in the "relaxed" position & I really like the metal landing gears.  I still prefer the rubber tires that come on the F-14 Tomcat kits instead of the 2 piece plastic wheels/tires.  Folding wings option would have also been nice.  On this build I replaced the stock cockpit with the Blackbox version for the "D".  It has lots of details but as with all resin kits there is a lot of waste to trim off which is both difficult & time consuming.  In the end it was all worth it.  The rest of the kit is OOB with the exception of the ordinance.  I used 2 GBU-24's from Hasegawa's Aircraft Weapons set D & 1 AIM-9 Sidewinder from spare kit.

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The only difficulties I encountered with this build was in attaching the tiny parts used to lower the flaps.  They were both small & fragile.  I originally wanted to have the canopy stowed in the open position but the resin canopy arm broke.  Luckily the fit of the canopy in the closed position was perfect.  

The "Bug" was airbrushed in standard US Navy 3-tone TPS.  I applied spot painting in the usual areas to show maintenance touch-ups, darkened the recessed panel lines & added some weathering using pastel paints.  I must give kudos to ARC for all the modeling tips on this site.  It has helped me improve my modeling skills since returning to the hobby after a 15 year hiatus.  It's a great stress reliever.  I hope you like my Hornet!

Jeff 

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Photos and text © by Jeff Fuerte