This is an F/A-18C
Hornet that I completed recently, using the Hasegawa C-model kit. The plane
depicted is "Zapper Four-One-Zero" from VFA-81 "Sunliners",
the MIG killer flown by then Lt. Nicholas "Mongo" Mongillo in Desert
Storm. Ironically, I had the honor of seeing and photographing this aircraft at
a local airshow in 2001, two days before the 9/11 attacks. When I saw the plane
in '01 it bore the nose number of 407 and was attached to CVW-17 on the USS
George Washington. I have wanted to build the airplane ever since I saw it
sitting on the tarmac.
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The kit went together well
and the Hasegawa kit is good for depicting -18's from the '80's and '90's
because it does not require a whole lot of modifications. I did
use photo-etch sets from Eduard to accent both the interior and exterior
of the aircraft. The plane was sprayed with Model Master FS 36375 and FS
36320 and then weathered heavily with lightened and darkened shades of
both of these tones. Panel lines and rivets were drawn with a Micron
Inkpen and then shaded with thinned down Tamiya smoke. Fluid leaks
were added by streaking oil paint back with a brush. I added Steel Beach covers
to the intakes and lead foil covers to the exhausts. All the covers
were decorated with the VFA-81 motif from an Eaglestrike decal sheet. New
blade antennaes were made from sheet stock.
I configured the
aircraft for a standard Desert Storm air-to-ground loadout. I used Hobbycraft
500 lb. bombs to arm the airplane. I coated the bombs with Mr. Surfacer and once
it got semi-tacky I used a broad brush to roughen-up the surface on the weapons
to make them appear more realistic. The ordnance was decorated with Verlinden
dry-transfer bomb graffiti. The AIM-9's are from Monogram and the AIM-7's on the
side sponsons are from an ESCI F-4 kit. I used decals from Repli-Scale to depict
"Zapper Four-One-Zero" in her post shoot-down regalia. Although the
sheet was over fifteen years old, the decals laid down perfectly and there was
no silvering. Finally, Eduard photo-etch "Remove-Before-Flight" tags
were added to lend a little color to "410". This was a very enjoyable
build and hopefully a fitting tribute to all the men and women of VFA-81,
"The Sunliners" who have served this great nation.
Ian T.M. Holahan
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