Who makes the best one in 1/48? Pros and cons? Quality?

Hello Jan,

The best "A" model? Overall I would have to say the F-18A by Hasegawa. In general there're the most detailed Hornets. Being the most detailed means they're complicated to assemble (in my opinion). The other downside is availbility, to the best of my limited knowledge it's no longer in production. If you find one (maybe E-Bay?) you're likely to pay through the nose for it.


Brian

As a retailer Jan the only one we can get hold of is Esci - I havn't seen it but traditionally their aircraft kits have been pretty crap.

Why the desire for the 'A' ?

Lee

Cheers Brian, much appreciated....!

Ok Lee, cheers! Why the F-18A? My dad had a relative (cousin I think) that served in the USN on a aircraft carrier in the Korean War and later on USS Coral Sea CV-43 and they only flew the F-18A's. So you could say that I have certain Coral Sea fanatism.... :-) :-)

Credit: USS Coral Sea Tribute Site

Jan - did you still want the Tally Ho RAF code letters decal sheet? If so, they arrived today. I havn't put them up on the website as we dont normally stock/sell them.

Lee

Aye Lee, I still want them mate. As for the F-18A, I've got decals for VFA-131, VFA-132, VFA-136, VFA-137, VMFA-314 and VMFA-323 ALL from the USS Coral Sea and in "Low Vis".... I've found one on ebay which I'm gonna put an bid on and fingers crossed....
I'm also trying to find decals for these Coral Sea birds... :-) :-)


Credit: Both, Mark Waki

The top one is nice but I cant find either in 1:48 or 1:72 - you can get the bottom one in 1:32 from CAM decals.......

Do you want to wait until you buy something else ref the code letters or do you want to pay straight away - its 75p for postage and the decal sheet is £5.23.

Lee

Hejsan Janne!

[/quote]
I'm also trying to find decals for these Coral Sea birds... :-) :-)


F-4B Phantom II, VF-51 "Screamin´Eagles" #9457/113, Coral Sea, can be found on Eagle Strike sheet 48022 "Phantoms Phorever Pt. 5
I also have a Hasegawa kit with the VF-51 CAG-bird with multicolored wings on the Eagle motif.


Credit: Both, Mark Waki [/quote]

F-4N(B) Phantom II, VF-111 "Sundowners" #1000/100 (CAG), Coral Sea, can be found on Eagle Strike Sheet 48096 "Phantoms Phorever Pt. 6".

The scale is of course 1/48 and If you can´t find them on Eagle Strike/Aeromaster´s site, try Hannants.

You wanted a F/A-18A?

Well, I can´t say so much about the Hasegawa 1/48 kit as I have never seen any, but I backdated my Academy 1/32 F/A-18C , that would become a CF188 (Canadian F/A-18A ).
It was most removing some of the ECR-bumps on the nose and tailfins and different antennas.
I found It quite easy as most of these parts came as seperate parts.

The instrument panel is mostly identical, except for the fuel-gauges just in front of the pilot´s left knee ( where the -A had the normal round instruments, the -C has vertical bars).

If you want a really good reference book on the Hornet, take a look at DACO; Uncovering the F/A-18A/B/C/D Hornet.
Here are every little difference between versions showed and explained.

Hope this helps some!

Cheers!

Stefan E

Hannants have the top sheet but they no longer have the bottom one - OOS.

I had a look on the Squadron website and they have the top one too but it seems Phantoms Phorever Part 6 (48096) is difficult to get. They have it in 1:72 - 72061 but I dont think its the same aircraft - the sun ray with the NL in it is yellow and black. I would assume that the 1:48 sheet is the same.

I liked the Top aircraft so much I'm ordering a couple for my shop anyway



Lee

Forget Sheet 48096 - its not the same paint scheme -

http://www.eaglestrikeproductions.com/cgi-bin/espdecals.pl?scale=48&setid=096&dbs=eaglestrike&pgs=2&currpg=1&dclimg=es48096

Lee

Lee, I'll have a look at your website to see what else I can find....
USS Coral Sea had quite a few colorful aircraft during her life.
The Sundowners sun and the Screaming Eagles "Supersonic can opener" is probably some of the most colorful.

The VMFA-323 also at some point painted snakes on the rudder etc.

Credit:USS Coral Sea Tribute Site

Hi Lee!

It is the same paint scheme (Gull grey over white), but another individual aircraft in the same sqn., the CAG-bird as I said above.

The sunburst is a rainbow of all colors in the sqn., I have never seen any sheet with a all red sun-burst motif in 1/48.
It was as close as I could get, but I´ll leave it to Janne to decide If it´s right or not.
I labelled the F-4s as J´s tough, but it should be B/N.
Sloppy me, but i have edited that now.

Cheers!

Stefan E

Hi Steffen -

I found a 1:32 scale set for the all red sun-burst which is slightly odd as no one makes an F-4B or an F-4N in that scale - I guess you could alter the Tamiya F-4C....


Jan,

The top pic with the skull is an aircraft from the VMFA-531 'grey ghosts' - these are readily available on Superscale 48856

Lee

Hello Jan,

I found both of your Coral Sea birds in 1/72. It's by CAM Decals and is sheet 72-013.

http://www.camdecals.com/main.asp?img=72-013

Brian