1/72 Hasegawa F-18C Super Hornet

Gallery Article by Carlos Alfonso Alvarez on Feb 15 2013

 

 

When I build any model, I like to do some investigation about the version of the model to know the history of it.  Some information that I found about this version of the F-18C Super Hornet is: The F/A-18 C/D Super Hornet is the U.S. Navy's strike fighter which replaced the F-14 Tomcat fleet.  This model is from the Strike Fighter Squadron 195 (VFA-195), also known as the "Dambusters", is a United States Navy F/A-18C Super Hornet fighter squadron stationed at Naval Air Facility Atsugi.  They are a part of Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) and their tail code is NF.  VFA-195 squadron exists to provide power projection for the United States. 

 

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It is the first time in my life that I built a Hasegawa model and I chose this one because I don’t have a Super Hornet model yet, so even if I am not an expert I decided to do it.  Before starting my adventure building this model I had to decide how I wanted to build it, so after check what I would like to have I decided to build the model with an open cockpit to be able to easily appreciate the interior of the cockpit.  Also I decided to leave the airbrake which is between the two vertical stabilizers in the open position.  Once this was decided, I started to cut all the parts using an special knife from TESTORS which allowed me to remove all the extra material that is not useful in a very easy way.  One thing that I like about this kit is the decals in the cockpit as well as the details of the pilot figure as you can see in the pictures.

For the decals on my model, I decided to use the “VFA-195 Dambusters” you can see the pictures, the details of it.  Also I wanted to load my model with missiles and weapons, so I put on the model all the weapons available from the kit and I added 2 missiles taken from a F-14 Tomcat model.  I really like the way it looks like…..

Carlos Alfonso Alvarez

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Photos and text © by Carlos Alfonso Alvarez