Can anyone tell me the squadrons that were included on the decal sheets of the early releases of the big 1/32 Academy Hornet C? I know that I saw a picture in an Academy catalog a few years back of a Plastic Bug from VFA-137 Kestrals, but so far, I haven't been able to find back-up or any trace that the thing was in fact released . Does anyone have any other options other than getting a 1/48 sheet and trying to zap the thing up to 1/32?

There were two C releases that I know of:

(From the Hobbylinc website):

Kit #2191:
One Waterslide Decal Sheet for 3 Aircraft Versions
1: F/A-18C, CVW-5, USS Kitty Hawk, Bu.No 164905, VFA-192 "World Famous Golden Dragons", 2000.
2: F/A-18C, CVW-5, USS Kitty Hawk, Bu.No 164905, VFA-192 "World Famous Golden Dragons", 2001.
3: F/A-18C, CVW-9, USS John C. Stennis, Bu.No 163777, FVA-146, "Blue Diamonds", 2002.

Kit #12102 "Iraq War"
One decal sheet with markings for five aircraft
1: F/A-18C-33-MC (Lot 13), Bu 164200, VFA-105 "Gunslingers" (CAG bird), CVW-3, USS Harry S. Truman.
2: F/A-18C-34-MC (Lot 13), Bu 164261, VFA-105 "Gunslingers" (CO bird), CVW-3, USS Harry S. Truman.
3: F/A-18C-33-MC (Lot 13), Bu 164231, VFA-105 "Gunslingers", CVW-3, USS Harry S. Truman.
4: F/A-18C-24-MC (Lot 10), Bu 163481, VMFA-232 "Red Devils", MAG-11.
5: F/A-18C-31-MC (Lot 12), Bu 164062, VFA-27 "Royal Maces", CVW-5, USS Kitty Hawk.


I haven't seen anything else other than those options. If you're looking for that unit in particular, Sprue Brothers has a set of SuperScale decals for that unit in 1:32 http://spruebrothers.zoovy.com/product/SSD32073

Hope that helps.

- Frank

Thanks, but I already have that one in 1/48---its from when we were still flying dinosaurs off the Coral Sea! We were still outfitting with new Lot 15 Hornets strait from St Louis when I was with them from '93 to '97. The markings in that Academy catalog clearly were for NE414, CVW-2, USS Constellation. I know that I can get 1/48 decals for our CAG bird on "Hornets of the Fleet Part 1". If nothing else, The troops down at Hobbytown and I will have to try and figure out how to enlarge it onto decal carrier