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Greetings from the sandbox!!

I've seen the chats back and forth between the 1/48 Revell F/A-18E and the Hasegawa F/A-18F in regards to which one is better. Has anyone built a 1/48 Hasegawa F/A-18E? I've got a couple of Revell in the ol' closet, but I was wondering if the E model from Hasegawa suffers from the same shortfalls as the F. I couldn't find any reviews of the kit. Anybody have any thoughts which makes a better single-seater?

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For build quality, I'd go with hasegawa. Revell makes a nice kit for the money, but I'll never build another one. I thought it had some fit issues, but I'm not excluding the possibilty of the fact I may have gotten a bad kit either. Needless to say, I'm working on the Hasegawa F and E, and I've enjoyed building the kits much more than the Revell kit.

Also, I read somewhere that Italeri fixed some of the mistakes in their Growler kit, but I couldn't comment because I haven't seen the kit first hand.

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What is wrong with the Italeri E and F kits?

Havent built them but they look ok on the sprues.

For starters, the Italeri kits suffer from serious fit issues and a few accuracy issues. For example, the Sh doesn't have a speed brake between the tails, yet it's present on the Italeri kit. The panel lines on the wings of the Italeri kit are also not completely correct either.

One of the fit issues is between the wings and the fuselage, which in itself is a nightmare, and requires quite a bit of putty to fill the seam. There are a few more fit problems witht he kit, but I can't remember them off hand, and it's been a while since I last built one.

Overall, it's not a bad kit, but I would buy the Revell kit and definitely the hasegawa kit over the Italeri any day.

Edited by VF-103guy
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hey brian, im with you on the fit issues. both my kits and major issues in joing the nose to the rest of the fuselage. now they both sit on my bench in shambles. any online builds of the hasegawa "E"?

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The speedbrake has been deleted on the Italeri Growler and the rear top fuselage retooled as a result. I don't know if the pylon issue has been corrected though or if the "Pizza Box" on top of the nose has been added, although the mockup Growler that Boeing has shown in pictures doesn't have the pizza box anyway.

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I know this is not going to be very informational... but what the heck... hahaha:

I think Hase listened to some of us in making a "booklet" for the instructions rather than trying to CONDENSE EVERYTHING and every step into a 4-page fold-out.

They did the fold-out for the F/A-18F and boy is some of the instructinos confusing! I mean I can understand what's going on, but is it really necessary to smush everything so small???

Luckily the F/A-18E kit comes with a booklet with much needed spacing layout for an easier time understanding the instructions.

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The revell kit builds up just fine, but I agree that there are one or two spots that need special attention. The shape isn't THAT off... in the review everyone mentions, the guy pretty much took a rivet-counter pill and went nuts on the thing. I suspect if you did that with any other model (and I really do mean ANY other model), you could no doubt find a load of the same little things. When you finish it and set it on the shelf, it looks very much like a SuperHornet and 99.9% of the public won't know better to say ("those LERXes should go forward another two milimeters or so, and oh! that panel line is a centimeter too far forward..., etc") For $7-$20 (depending on where and when you buy it), you get one HELL of a model, not to mention a virtual goldmine of ordinance that the Hasegawa kit doesn't provide.

This is no knock on the Hasegawa kit. I've not seen one of the E kits in person yet, I'm simply coming from the standpoint of someone who's built one of the revell kits and is looking for an excuse to build another one someday.

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somebody buy skull a drink!!! :) . It's a model, model stands for representation. There are way TO MANY RIVET COUNTERS!! If you want something that does more and looks closer than you care for, JOIN THE MILITARY or call Boeing. I think to many companies quit making kits because people stop buying them because they read a rivet review. Italeri's has/had problems, but it was the only game in town. If you are going to put it in a contest,by all means, go all out. But if it's sitting on a shelf and the couple acroos the street come over for drinks, barring he's not a hornet pilot, do they know what they are looking at??

revell's e for the money is fine. hasegawa's for the money is excellent.

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i agree fully that the revell kit is pretty darn acurrate. even if it wasnt, if it looks like a superbug as ming stated its fine with me. its just the whole fit thing that gets me, maybe the hasegawa "E" fits better? i wont know till i buy one

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SO the problem with it is there is a speed brake where there isnt one for real and the wings dont fit to well.

Anything else ?

The thing is the Italeri kit is £13 including shipping, the Hasegawa kit £40 including shipping.

So are the Italeri problems really so bad ?

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Basically, Italeri offers you a very basic kit with little or no detail (especially in the pit area) and has major fit problems. The fit problems with the Revell kit are nothing compaired to Italeri's and you get a more accurate kit for the money by going with Revell.

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I agree with Colin. It looks like a Hornet to me. I do models as a hobby and a way to have fun. Yeah I take my planes to the local shows and rarley win but I just enjoy looking at the other models, meeting new folks in the hobby and just enjoying myself. But really that dude is way overboard and to make personal comments over a model! Get a life.

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