Dragon

1/144 Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornets

Kit Number: 4618

Reviewed by  Dave Koukol, IPMS# 46287

MSRP: $10.99 Review kit courtesy of Dragon USA - Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com Introduction Enlarged and updated versions of the successful F/A-18C and -D "legacy" Hornets, the -E and -F versions take on the moniker of "Super Hornet," or "Super 'Bug'" to her aircrews and maintainers. Over the past several years, the U.S. Navy has completely phased out the legendary F-14A Tomcat and replaced it with F/A-18E and -F Super Bugs. Sharing many common components and systems with the "legacy" -C and -D models the newer bugs enable the Navy to slash logistics and training costs, without compromising mission capability. The Super Hornets also embody a number of low-observable, or stealth, design attributes, including elimination of many rounded edges and elimination of square panel seams. First Impressions Given the diminutive size of the 1/144 scale fighters, I couldn't help but refer to the kits as my "Micro Bugs" when describing to modeling friends. Fortunately, that's where any reference to "small" justifiably should end.

Dragon packs big wallop into its superbly molded sprues, packed with parts sporting crisp recessed detail. Canopies are thin and crystal clear. Decals are printed by Cartograf and are well registered with eye-popping color and clarity. The gray parts for both airframes share common tooling, while each variant has its own distinctive sprue of clear parts and underwing stores. Construction Construction was fast, clean, and straightforward. Interior painting and assembly took only a couple of hours for both Bugs. There's no raised cockpit detail or decals, but it's not needed, given the small size of the subject. Ejection seats provide a reasonable representation of their full-size prototypes. Only notable filling required was in the underside strake/wing seam on each side. More careful dry-fitting and a little shimming would have prevented that, though. I left off the stabilators and vertical tails to facilitate painting and marking, and am sure glad I did. Caution should be exercised when masking and fitting the canopies. Although superbly molded and crystal-clear, they are extremely brittle. I cracked my -F canopy during the masking process. Landing gear builds up nicely, with the exception of the nose wheel hub design. Despite such great attention to detail elsewhere on the aircraft, Dragon actually molded a spoke-like design into the nosewheel hubs, which certainly is not typical to modern combat jets. Finishing/Decals I chose to basecoat my Bugs with black, then apply the 2-tone Ghost Gray scheme typical to the type to achieve a preshading effect around the panel lines. Given the small scale, I was pleasantly surprised with a very convincing result. Future was used to prep the surface for decals. Decal application easily accounted for the lions' share of build time. Decals for 2 aircraft are packed onto the small decal sheet more tightly than aircraft on a hangar deck. I had to ping-pong between aircraft while applying decals, as the tight packing of the tiny decals forced me to apply them from one end of the decal sheet, working toward the other. Despite the tedium of cutting my way across the decal sheet, marking 2 jets at once, and a couple ejection triangles just a tad too large, the decals really bring out the visual appeal of these birds of prey. Dragon hit a home run in choosing very colorful markings for a couple CAG birds from legendary units.

Recommendation Building these Micro/Super Bugs was a real treat! Although a quarter-scale modeler by preference, I really loved building these two little guys! I highly recommend them for modelers ranging in skill level from beginner through master. Thanks to Dragon USA for providing the sample kit!