Hasegawa Models

1/48 F/A-18C "30th Anniversary"

Kit Number: 9885

Reviewed by  Pablo Bauleo, IPMS# 46363

MSRP: $102 Review item courtesy of Dragon Models USA Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com Hasegawa has reboxed its excellent F/A-18C with new decals for the flashy finish of the "30th Anniversary" from FVA-106 "The Gladiators". This aircraft was painted in a very similar configuration to the first prototype, with a very attractive white background and blue/gold sections on the fuselage and control surfaces. In the box you've find the base kit #7026, plus a tree from kit #9809. That is good news. You get a very good kit, with excellent fit all around, a small PE fret for detailing of the HUD and the boarding ladder, and white metal landing gear. As it is known by most about the Hasegawa kit, the canopy has a seam along its spine. You can sand and polish it to remove the seam, if you like. This is the only "bad" thing I can find about this kit. Fit is nearly perfect, and the kit didn't give me any problems during the assembly phase. Now, on to the problems: the reason why I asked to review this kit was because I wanted to build an F/A-18 in this nice looking scheme. Given that it was a "Limited Edition" and the only reason for this new boxing is the anniversary scheme, I expected aftermarket quality decals. Instead regular Hasegawa-quality decals are found in the box. Unfortunately, the blue/gold decals broke into parts, instead of snuggling down to the surface. I also had to trim the decals for the horizontal stabilizers to get them to fit. None of the above presents an unsolvable problem. The cracks on the decals were corrected by doing some touch up with paint. The smaller decals for the stencils and other markings worked out just fine. If you are willing to put some extra work into touching up the decals, you can get a very nice model in a very unusual finish to break the monotonous grays of modern jets. In summary: Great kit, but the decals are the weak point of this kit. Recommended for the builder that wants to have this special markings aircraft in his/her collection. I would suggest using the large blue/gold decals as templates for masks and actually painting the blue and gold. I would like to thank Dragon Models for the review sample. (Ed. Note: As of this posting, Dragon Models USA no longer imports Hasegawa model kits; Hobbico has taken over distribution of these kits in the US).