Hobby Boss

1/48 - F-111A Aardvark

Kit Number: 80348

Reviewed by  Rob Folden, IPMS# 45545

MSRP: $110 Website: www.hobbyboss.com Available: www.luckymodel.com THE PLANE March, 1968- thundering through the skies above Thailand, the US Air Force has deployed six of its latest ground attack aircraft. Code named Operation Combat Lancer; this was the debut of the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark. Developed throughout the 1960's, the F-111's most notable feature was the use of variable-geometry "wing swing". This meant that at low speeds, the wings of the Aardvark would swing outward to create additional surface area, thus creating more lift. Although Operation Combat Lancer was a failure, the F-111 continued to be developed and continued its service until 1998 [US] and 2001 [RAAF]. A total of 563 Aardvarks were built, with 9 variants. THE KIT Hobby Boss' announcement of a 1/48 Aardvark made many modelers, including myself, jump with anticipation. Up till its release, the only F-111 available in 1/48 scale was the aging Academy family of F-111 kits. While generally accurate in its shape, the Academy kit lacked many details. With raised panel lines, a basic cockpit, and few external details, several aftermarket companies came out with various detail sets to improve upon the Academy kit. Resin cockpits, gear bays, wing flaps, wheels, and various photo-etched sets were produced to turn the Academy kit into a show stopping model. However with the cost of the kit combined with all the detail sets, a truly detailed F-111 was out of reach for a lot of modelers. Enter Hobby Boss and their new F-111. Answering the pleas of modelers around the world, HB designed an all new Aardvark, this time including all those detail sets from the old Academy kit. When the new HB F-111 arrived on my doorstep, I couldn't wait to take a peek. Having been disappointed in the past when a model was surrounded by high expectations, I have to say I was very pleased. The detail is superb! The finely engraved panel lines and rivet detail is some of the best I have seen. It just so happens that I have both the Academy kit, and the resin cockpit from BlackBox. So after drooling for a few days over every sprue in the box, I decided to do some comparison. And with the exception of the seats, the HB cockpit is every bit as good as the resin one. So I started looking at more of the HB kit and comparing it to the Academy kit. And I have to say, HB has Academy beat hands down with every inch of the Aardvark [note- The HB kit does not include functioning wing swing. So if that's high on your list, then you'll have to go with the Academy kit]. CONSTRUCTION Since I had the Academy kit and the resin cockpit, that's where I started. I will admit that I strayed from the instructions a bit in places. I started with the cockpit, building up all three. HB includes some additional instrument panels and details that will undoubtedly be used for further variants of the F-111 [the F-111E has already been released]. I was rather surprised to find that HB had designed the cockpit module to be similar to the actual aircraft. An F-111 doesn't have ejection seats. Instead, the entire cockpit [including the surrounding fuselage and part of the dorsal fuselage aft of the canopy] ejects free of the aircraft and deploys chutes. HB copied this, allowing the builder to complete the entire cockpit module and install it after the rest of the model is complete. After finishing the cockpits and comparing them, I decided to switch out the resin seats from Blackbox with the kit seats, as the belts on the kit seat just didn't have the same detail level as the rest of the 'pit'. I have to say that the HB 'pit' looks just as good as the BlackBox resin one. Another point that should be mentioned is that the bottom side of the kit cockpit also has detail on it, matching the true aircraft.

The instructions are well thought out. The model is built in subassemblies including the engines, weapons and gear bays, cockpit, wings, and nose bays. I didn't encounter too many fit issues, although I did end up having to use some CA glue to get the main gear installed as the mounting surface wasn't enough to make a strong bond. I was really amazed at how much HB was able to pack into the fuselage of the model. I ended up not having to use any nose weights at all. Instead, the amount of plastic fore of the main gear is enough o keep the nose wheels well planted on the deck. In fact, there actually isn't any room for nose weights at all. From the radar dish to the exhaust cones, every inch of the fuselage is packed with detail. And speaking of the exhaust cones, the kits two engines are works of art. The only downfall is that you can't see them. Or can you… I used some reference shots in Detail and Scale to cut open several of the engine access panels. I then added some additional wiring, and some "heat shielding" to the inside of the open panels. This was done with medical tape. One issue I would like to note is that if you plan on building the model with the weapons bay doors open, you should not that each set of doors only has TWO panels, not three. So you need to cut the kit's double door in half. The rest of the construction went on without any issues. Oh wait, no it didn't… THE OOPS' What normally should have taken a couple months to build ended up taking about 7 months total. Now, this was by no means any fault of the model. But what follows is a list of what NOT to do when building this, or really any model. The first problem came early on in the construction of the cockpit module. I use Tamiya tape almost exclusively for masking off canopy glass. But even before masking, I always wipe the glass down with a soft cloth and then dip them in Future. After a couple days, I added the masks. I then tacked the pieces in place on the module and sprayed it with the camouflage colors. I went through all the normal steps of weathering and flat coat. Then disaster struck. Although the clear pieces had not had ANY glue used on them, the pieces looked as if liquid cement had seeped under the tape and marred the plastic. So after a soak in brake fluid, and some major sanding and polishing [and another dip in Future] I once again continued on. Problem number 2 arose when I tried to fit the exhaust cones to the rear of the engines. Forgetting that I had added details to the engine, I ended up having to cut all mounting pins and ridges from the cones to fit them properly. Not a major issue, but it ended up requiring a repaint of the cones. The third problem came literally at the end of the build. I was unmasking the repainted canopy pieces and ended up cracking one of the canopy hatches. This is another good part about the HB kit. They give you two sets of hatches. One set for an open cockpit, and a second one-piece set. So, unable to fix the open one, I cut the part from the one-piece canopy and used it.

Now a word of warning. DO NOT DECIDE TO REMODEL YOUR WORKSHOP IN THE MIDDLE OF A PROJECT!!! Being over run by the model stash, I decided to relocate my paint booth to another spot in the shop and add more shelves in its place. At this point, I had only painted part of the subassemblies. Well, once I started to move it, the supports on the booth collapsed, and the booth crashed to the ground. After a week of clean-up, and two weeks of rebuilding the booth, I was able to finally move it to its new place in the shop. CONCLUSION Even with a few set backs [and a destroyed spray booth] I have to say I really enjoyed building the F-111. I have to give HB a major pat on the back for such a well done model kit. I've been asked by several fellow modelers "Is it really worth $110?" And I can honestly say, yes. If you take into account what you would spend for the base kit and all the upgrades to make an Academy F-111 to the same quality of the HB kit, then yes, it's worth every penny. And lately, I've seen the F-111 available from various suppliers such as Lucky Hobby for about half the retail price. I highly recommend this kit. It is one gem of a model when built, and the open panels and tons of details really make if a show stopper. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Hobby Boss and Lucky Model for supplying the model for review, and to IPMS/USA for allowing me to review it [and not hunting me down when it took forever].