This one is not QUITE finished.....I need to install the lights/lenses, a few stickers yet, and find/reattach the horizontal stabilizer thingy on the arresting gear. Another day or two.However, in Honor of the Pittsburgh Steelers and their AFC Championship win this evening, here it is:
This is the new Hasegawa "F" Bug with a Black Box cockpit. The decals are a mix of kit (Squadron markings) and Hobby Decal Dry Transfers which are the subject of another article (Almost Done Dave!).
I used FOD covers from Steel Beach, and the "Patriotic Rhino" design is a custom ALPS decal I made from a photo I took last summer at the PGH airshow, of a VFA-103 FOD cover.More later on that. Pastels to lightly weather her to match photos I have.

I've heard mixed reviews on this kit, how did the build come along for you James? From the beautiful job you've done it looks like one to get.

James, where are the propellers?

Very very nice......as usual. Makes me want to do something modern.
Hey, what about something like a big ol' C-130 with custom black and yellow decals "THE BUS"?

Hermon

Beautiful job on that F-lot bug. I read your dedication to the Steelers before looking at the pictures.

I thought I was going to see the Steelers logo somewhere on it or maybe a pilots helmet painted up like a Steelers one.

Again great job can't wait to see what else you can come up with.

Thanks Guys!

The kit goes together OK. Way better than the Revell "E", for sure! Some putty/fiddling required, but hey..it's a Hornet! No easy way ever (my opinion!).

I may just paint over the bones and put on a Stillers logo yet!

More photos later this week when I'm done.Thanks Again!!

JK

Come on I thought you could see this is the one that flaps it's wings.... :-)

Beautiful job by the way. Do you have anymore pics of the cockpit? Looks great. Did you have to lower the flaps yourself or was that possible through the kit? I'm presuming this is in 1/48...

Go Colts. Oh well, despite how I feel about the Steelers and Vanderjagt, I'd rather have an AFC team win than an NFC, so go Steelers.

As for the kit, to help those out who wanted to know about the kit, here is my in progress review of it

F/A-18F in-progress

Short answer, great kit. Detail is awesome, fit is iffy in areas, but good overall when done in the right order. Biggest gripe carries over from the Tomcats: NEEDS ORDNANCE. You get a pair of AMRAAMs and new AIM-9X and four fuel tanks, but since -18Fs are generally doing strike missions, no bombs is a big fault.

James, you beat me to the finish (stupid classwork keeping me from finishing.) Did you try to fit the pilots? Mine wouldn't even fit.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Thanks and No...I rarely put the pilots in any project. I did however grin out the head of one from it's helmet (Ewww!). The helmet will be positioned on one of the ejection seats. Maybe I'll do the other one as a Steeler helmet! I'm awaiting the arrival of Hasegawa's Ordinance set "C" from SprueBros.....pretty [auto-censored]ty of Hasegawa to milk us like that for ordinance after you spend $40-$60 a kit(I paid $42.00).

I paid $55 with shipping (it would've been slightly higher at my local hobby store - and by local, I mean an hour away). I just ordered set D and I'll put a pair of JDAMs in the center wing pylons (inboard of the AMRAAMs and outboard of the two fuel tanks. As for the helmet, I was planning to do the exact same thing, but instead set it on the WSO's console.

My biggest problem now is of my own doing. I've had to mask and remask the black stripe along the canopy side and nose, and I tried to do it again, but had the blue painters tape covering a number of the decals. Took the tape off and half the decals too. The worst was on the VFA-103 on the right side in which I completely took out the 3 and parts of the 'A, 1, and 0" Those I took care of with a little paint, but the 3 is a total loss and I replaced it with a spare three the doesn't have the white outline. So I get to find generic black numbers or someone with a spare VFA-103 decal.

One thing I did notice in comparing my models was that the kit instructions for adding the missile decals are WAY off.


Jeff