Colorful Hornets in 1/48th

[Thadeus]

For a gray over white, I seem to remember only one - a VX-31 bird, painted for the Centennial of Naval Aviation. Two Bobs made the decals.

 

https://reviews.ipmsusa.org/review/fa-18c-vfa-204-naval-centennial-decals

 

Other schemes can get quite colourfull. From Adversary, to special CAG schemes, to showbirds.

[Dave Williams]

2 hours ago, Nebbor said:

*cough* not white but grey undersides *cough* 

I don’t see any indication that it’s gray and not white.

[Dave Roof]

The F/A-18 never used the gray over white scheme operationally. The FSD aircraft were white with red or blue trim, but they were the only Hornets to have white in their scheme. The early tri-color scheme that used 36495 on the bottom is often mistaken for white, similar to the 36622 gray used for the HARM Missile often misidentified as white. 

 

While the Hornet noted by Dave Williams has a gray over white scheme, that is a commemorative scheme and doesn't really count, like the blue Centennial of Naval Aviation Hornets and Prowlers don't count. They were simply one off special schemes carried for a short time. 

 

As far as painting a model Hornet with the gray over white scheme with colorful markings.....why not? It's just a model.

[Kurt H.]

10 hours ago, serendip said:

Hi all,

 

Check out F/A-18B Hornet (VFA-125) aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) - April 1984

 

at:

https://www.seaforces.org/usnair/VFA/Strike-Fighter-Squadron-125.htm

 

Marc.

 

Thanks. That site is a treasure trove of reference pictures.

[serendip]

Hi all,
 

What I will do is back date the Kentic C to an A which doesn't seem too much of a challenge so I can use the three tone camoflage which includes the incredibly light (almost white) undersides.

 

Decals for A's in this early camoflage seem few and far between as does documentation on the differences between the A and C. All I found was this:

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/104709.aspx

 

with a reference to this:
http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=106894 but that link no longer works.

As always all help appreciated.

Thanks,

 

Marc.

Edited August 31, 2022 by serendip
Typo.

[seawinder]

Kinetic has boxings for F/A-18As. While all their Hornet kits have options for some needed items (nose, lower front fuselage), the O sprue with the earlier vertical tails, AFAIK, is only found in the F/A-18A and CF-188 boxings.

 

Ultracast (Canada) has a large stock of older decals. Some are really expensive, but they've got a bunch of Superscale F/A-18A sheets that are reasonably priced and include markings with the paint scheme the OP is after. Here's a link to the Hornet section at Ultracast. Scroll down a ways to find the Superscale items.

https://www.ultracast.ca/1-48-Decals-F-18-s/403.htm

 

Here's a link to one of the Superscale sheets with markings for planes in the 3-tone gray scheme:

https://www.ultracast.ca/Super-Scale-48-0237-F-18A-Hornets-p/ss48_0237.htm

 

 

[GeneK]

On 8/30/2022 at 10:00 AM, Nebbor said:

I tried to answer, obviously not appreciated (fill in as many periods as you like).

Yes, pretty snarky answer at that. 

 

Gene K