Hase 1/72 F/A-18?

[Zetaplus]

I know Hasegawa seems to have a bad habit of rereleasing old kits and putting them out with new kits and not noting the differences ( ), I was curious if anyone knows which of the 1/72 F/A-18s they've put out are any good.

I ask this because I'm trying to work up the nerve and the skills to do a VF-1, and I figured a plane in the same scale by the same company would be a good idea; I'm gonna work up to the VF-1 by building UN Spacy "chase" planes.

[Vince]

I did the same thing, I recommend their F/A-18-E/F. Another one if you can find it, the VF-154 F-14A Kitty Hawk.

[David Hingtgen]

I've got some Hase 1/72 F-18's coming this week, I'll let you know once I've opened them up. The only other real choice is the Italeri. But Hase's can be found for $8 MISB, so price is not a factor here.

AFAIK, Hase only has the "original" mid/late-80's F-18 mold, it's one of the few not to get a new one. (Mainly because the F-18 is new enough). So it's certainly not up to "new for 1995" mold standards, but a lot better than their 70's/early 80's stuff. For the C/D, they just added a few sprues, it's still basically their original F-18 kit. (They do offer the prototype F-18, that's what's referred to as the old mold--but it's not REALLY an F-18, and is never offered as a "real" one with "real" squadron markings, so you don't have to worry about it).

I've heard something about the latest issues having resin replacement exhausts, but I've never found one or seen a confirmation. I plan to get their Wildcats CAG F-18C when it comes out in a few months, and that'll confirm, being the latest F-18 they've got.

And I've heard nothing but praise for their Super Hornets, btw.

F-14's---you've REALLY got to check. They issue old and new all the time, sometimes even with VERY similar box art. Common ones I know:

532 and 533 are old mold, 364 and 366 are new mold. (yes, numbers are backwards) Most common F-14A's you'll find offered. BTW-- If you're looking for an F-14A, and plan to use aftermarket decals, I'd pay good money for a set of kit 366's decals. That's the good mold, with VF-111 decals. I just want the decals, for I like the Fujimi's for F-14A's. (Easier to build)

[Zetaplus]

Well, at aircraftresourcecenter.com they have pictures of resin replacement intakes for Hasegawa F/A-18s...

....in 1/48 scale. D'oh.

Anyway, thanks Dave. I'm going to look into an -18C myself...sure, it's kinda nitpicky, but somehow I don't see the US Navy handing off a Super Hornet when they could just as easily sell off an "older" craft to the UN Spacy research arm.

EDIT: Oh, and sure, if I get that kit, I'd be happy to let you have the decals. Since this is going to be a "UN Spacy VF-X Test Team" project, I'd end up using the Option Decal #2 set anyway.

Edited April 13, 2004 by Zetaplus

[David Hingtgen]

Yeah, seamless intakes are pretty much non-existant for 1/72. Just FYI, F-18A's are expected to be the next "drone" targets, once we run out of F-4's to convert. (And that'll be soon). So there's certainly lots of surplus Hornet-A's out there.

Just a note---kit 366 is listed at greatmodels.com, which is where I've been ordering from lately. (Right now, F-14 stocks are low in the US--as you should know, Hase tends to make a bunch of kits at once, but only every couple of years--and there's not many F-14's at the moment--used to be tons like 12 months ago, now there's ZERO B's, almost no D's, and a few A's) Plenty of F-18's though.

http://greatmodels.com/ Just a search for "366 F-14" will bring it right up. Or if you find it at a local shop. Boxart is key, there's like 4 VF-111 F-14A's out there! Most have a head-on pic, but this one is from above. And note the "cartograph" decals logo in the upper-right corner.

[Vince]

For around $8, you can find a few F/A-18s from Hase in A. C, and D, the latest which I believe was released in 2001. The 1/72 F/A-18 F Super Hornet is a two seater, came out late last year, and the F/A-18 E single seat version came out abount a month ago. They do, however, run about $18 at your local store.

The E and F are almost identifical expect for the cockpit area, but they do come with several missles. unlike the older versions that do not include any.

IMO, the E/F has share some problem with the VF-1's -- intakegaps for example. very fine detail but yet simple to build.

Even if you are not just trying to get familiar with Hase kits, I would still highly recommend them. One short coming though, the E/F cockpits only have slide on decals.

[David Hingtgen]

If you should ever want an A/B, you can just buy a C/D, and not use the C/D parts. Price is the same. (and send the C/D parts to me!)

Latest-issue Hase A/B/C/D's cost 19-21 bucks though. Blame Marco Polo. It's to the point that it's cheaper to import and ship from Japan, than to get a US-distributed one. Plus they like to charge an extra 10 bucks for the larger decal sheets, like their utter infatuation with "Chippy Ho!" and the 20 variations thereof. I believe you could make an entire squadron with nothing but all the different Chippy Ho kits.

[Damian]

Hi All!!!

Reading through this thread reminds me of how I got started...I'll just buy one practise kit and then I'll build my Macross stuff...two years on and I only have one VF-1 custom done

Cheers

Damian

[David Hingtgen]

My Blue Angels 1/72 F-18A arrived. Comments:

1. Well it's definitely going to be a Blue Angels bird! Molded in dark blue. Not even going to try to paint light grey over that!

2. I'm amazed in that they included a new nose-cone with faired-over gun ports, a new ILS? antenna, and a pipe for the smoke-generator, on a separate sprue. (Original parts still there, too, so I have a spare F-18 nose now)

3. Dry-fit of the main fuselage parts (4+nosecone) reveals a much better fit than I had been led to believe, based on comments on newsgroups, etc. Don't like how the rear fuselage rests ON the h.stabs, rather than between. Would have looked (and fit) even better, IMHO. Will try to sand a subtle curve on the rear fuselage, to better conform to the airfoil of the h.stabs.

4. I have read that the v.stabs are very poorly fitting, but haven't tried yet. And the C/D models have different stabs, and might fit differently.

5. The LEX fences (a 1990-esque modification, but fleet-wide) are included with the A model, FYI.

6. As yet unkown pair of holes in the "keel" of the main gear bay. Square, fairly large.

7. Sidewinders SUCK, Sparrows below average. Being Blue Angels that doesn't matter at all, but I wouldn't want them on a "real" Hornet. Perhaps later kits include AMRAAM's, the later F-16 kits do.

8. Cockpit is plain and featureless, even as 1/72 Hase's go. But I've never been good at 1/72 instrument panel painting, so decals are fine for me. But all the AMS people will certainly complain. And there's NO sidewall detail.

9. The rear canopy decking (where the 2nd seat would be in a B/D) fits VERY well, thankfully. As does the airbrake, if you just sand the underside a bit thinner. You could quite literally snap the airbrake in place (but then it's impossible to pry it out).

I've read a suggestion that the kit fits better if you glue the wings to the upper fuselage, the fuselage sides to the lower fuselage, then all of that together. Wings---definitely. Fuselage sides---I'm not sure, I might try gluing them very last. Will need to do a more "finalized" dry-fit with nearly all the parts before I decide.

[Vince]

David, sure like to see some pictures.

[David Hingtgen]

I took a few pics of my main dry-fit a few nights ago. Comments before the pics:

1. I say install the wings last. They fit great, and the fuselage side parts will determine exactly how they sit. If you do them early, it might force the later attachment of the fuselage sides to be like 1 mm too low.

2. V.stabs fit fine.

3. Overall, all the wings/fins line up amazingly well. One of the hardest things in most planes is to get everything lined up and square, with the right dihedral and all. The Hase F-18 kind of "self-aligns" if you just move everything as far as it'll go. Like, make the v.stabs as vertical as you can--and that'll be the right spot. Make the wings as "high" as you can, and that's the right spot.

4. Still haven't decided whether to attach the fuselage sides after the upper and lower fuselages are together, or to attach earlier to the lower fuselage. I'm leaning towards the latter, to assure the gear bays are correct. But I still wonder about the "upper edge of the fuselage side, to lower edge of upper fuselage" seam...

5. Maybe I'll do one side one way, and the other side the other, and see what's best. (I THINK it'll work that way)

Edited April 18, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[David Hingtgen]

Hmmn, all pretty much the same angle, and taking pics at 3AM never gives good results. Sorry for the quality, but here's what a Hase 1/72 Hornet looks like in basic mock-up.

[Grayson72]

Hmmn, all pretty much the same angle, and taking pics at 3AM never gives good results. Sorry for the quality, but here's what a Hase 1/72 Hornet looks like in basic mock-up.

Hey thanks for the shots David. Judging by the background pattern I'd say you were married or still living with mom

[David Hingtgen]

Hey, I'm only a few months out of college. Give me a year before I can afford my own place(finally!)

And I often photograph on those vinyl placemats, for they are soft and won't damage models.

[hellohikaru]

Dave

Why is the Hornet kit molded in blue ? Or is it really a Blue Angels kit ?

[David Hingtgen]

Yes it's a Blue Angels kit, and is thus molded in blue. (The wrong blue, BTW, it's very "teal")

The odds are good that I actually won't go past this stage, as the decals are more brown than yellow, and there are NO other 1/72 Blue Angels decals available. It'll probably just be a collection of spare F-18 parts for other kits. Though it will give me a chance to test out various methods/sequence of assembly. I'll do an actual "decal on blue" test tonight and see how it looks. Better to find out now if the decals will look ok, than after I've built the kit!

Rant time: my biggest gripes with Hasegawa/Fujimi decals:

1. "White" that is printed as ivory/beige, and thus unusable. (Especially annoying when "true white" decals are also printed on the exact same sheet).

2. Yellows that are way, way too dark. Orange/mustard may be opaque, but I'd much rather double-layer 2 sets, than have the totally wrong color.

Edited April 19, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[hellohikaru]

Dave

Sorry for hijacking this thread but is there any news on the QF/A-18A Hornet drone conversions ?

I heard the Hornet is more likely for the aerial target role than the QF-16A due to its better undercarriage for repeated landings. Same thing with the Delta Dart drones which were instead dump into the sea.

[David Hingtgen]

Update:

1. The yellow decals look fine when put over blue. I think a big part of it is the very "aqua" color of the decal paper itself. Still decidedly not *Blue Angels* yellow, but about as good as you can get without layering multiple pale yellow decals over each other. Good enough. (And painting the yellow is not an option, unless you happen to have a very large "US NAVY" mask for the wings, mirrored, and tapered to fit an F-18 wing)

2. Still will have to mix some paint to match the decal's applied appearance, to paint the wingtip launch rails.

3. I did take a pic, showing the applied decal color and how well the airbrake fit, but accidently deleted it off the memory card itself, not my C: drive. Oops. (And it featured everyone's favorite flower-covered placemat, too)

As for QF-18A's:

Well, we haven't run out of QF-4's and QF-106's, but they only number in the dozens. F-15's, even early A models, are generally too big and valuable to make into general-purpose drones, they'll probably be kept in reserve, at least most of them. Air superiority fighter, and a heck of a good one. F-14's won't do at all---they are generally flown until they're ready to fall apart. No hours left on the airframe. Any F-14 available isn't really fit to fly. And the maintance cost is so high. Any F-14B/D is generally kept in reserve in good condition. You never know when we'll need a REAL fleet-defense fighter again.

F-16's---any F-16A can be converted to an F-16 ADF, or the F-16A MLU, which is what many NATO nations are doing. Modified F-16A's are VERY capable planes, and we can always sell off what we don't need.

F-18A's however, have no real update program, and are frankly very limited in capabilities. F-18C vs F-18A is like F-15E vs F-15A, for what weapons it can use, and nifty stuff like FLIR, LANTIRN, etc. F-18A's are little more than a small A-7, technology-wise. Neat cockpit and radar, but the weapons systems are still 1970's. And they're cheap, available, LOTS of hours left on the airframs, and easy to maintain. By far the best candidates for the next line of drones.

But so far, AFAIK nothing at all has really been done or studied about it.

[Mule]

Do any of these Hasegawa F-18s come with pilots or do they go the route of the VF-1?

[David Hingtgen]

All Hase 1/72 F-18's come with pilots, but the C/D ones also include new, better pilots as well.

[Mule]

All Hase 1/72 F-18's come with pilots, but the C/D ones also include new, better pilots as well.

I just picked up a Hase F-18E and it does not have a pilot. Just thought I'd let you know if you were thinking of getting one. This kind of sucks since both of the ways I was planning on displaying this model require a pilot behind the stick.

So, uhh... anyone know where I could get a pilot figure for a 1/72 F-18E?

Edited April 29, 2004 by Mule

[David Hingtgen]

Well, the E/F's are 100% new molds, whereas the A/B/C/D all share most parts. So I'll amend my statement to "All Hase Legacy Hornets include pilots".

Legacy Hornet: New but quickly-gaining-acceptance term for "Not Super" Hornet.

Anyways--I'm not going to use the pilot that came with my Blue Angels Hornet, since he's in flight gear, and not the uniform the Angels wear. I could snip that section of the sprue off and mail him to you. Don't know if he'd fit in a Super Hornet cockpit, but he is a 1/72 Hase Hornet pilot. He is molded in blue, BTW.

[onezero]

I've wanted to do a vignette with a chase plane and a VF-0 since the latter came out - picked up the F/A-18D today for has ten bucks based on the strength of your recommendation, David. Only things I would add to the discussion is that the bang seats are .... rudimentary (but I'm normally a 1/48 guy - is this normal for teeny-tiny planes?) and the pilots are about 50% bigger than the macross jet pilots.

Edited May 2, 2004 by onezero

[David Hingtgen]

If there's one thing 1/72 Hase's skimp on (except new-mold F-14/15), it's the cockpit. But for 1/72 seats, I've seen worse. The Hornet certainly isn't the best, but not TOO bad. Want bad? Esci/Italeri F-104 seat. Ewwwww. Good seats? Fuji or Hase F-14, Hase F-4. (Of course, nothing but resin is good enough for most of you 1/48 guys!) I come from airliner modelling--with a 1/200 gloss-white DC-10, you don't worry about the cockpit, nor do you weather much, if at all.

PS--they say 2-seat Hase Hornets have a kink in the spine. I haven't dry-fit my D yet, but it is supposed to be the major flaw--gotta putty up the area. (Thankfully there's no detail in that area besides maybe 1 panel line)

Annoyingly--nobody makes a 2-seater pre-cut canopy mask! Yarrgh, all they'd have to do is add like 4 more little pieces to the A/C set...

[onezero]

Not that it matters .... with wheels up and pilot/rio in place, it's not like you can see much of the cockpit anyway.

I didn't notice a kink, but I didn't look too hard. looks more like a Bug than a Mirage to me, which is all I care about.

[David Hingtgen]

I'm going to be starting my Blue Angels F-18 very soon, will let you know if anything comes up during construction.

PS--is it the VMFA-224 (Bengals) F-18D? About the only D there is. I bought that kit because I saw several of their planes this summer, and had no D-models yet.

[David Hingtgen]

Started gluing and painting.

1. Fuselage sides. Glue to fuselage lower half first, ensuring the "center" area of the sides are firmly and flushly attached to the lower fuselage in the wheel well area (especially the 'triangle' part--it won't want to stay at all if you do the front or rear sections first) . You can glue the front and rear later. You'll need to fill the front and rear seams anyways, but the gear well is impossible to fix if you mess it up. (And if it's off, you'll have lopsided gear and an obvious gap in the well)

2. LEX "fillers". No idea why they're there, the whole LEX should be one smooth piece. There's no panel line there that I've ever seen, even when I'm at an airshow taking pics of the LEX undersides. Anyways--pieces are too wide, and SLIGHTLY too long. Sand until they fit, glue, then just coat the whole area with Mr Surfacer. Might as well fill the boarding ladder's door while you're at it, it's scribed deeper and wider than the flaps. (It's not INVISIBLE when retracted, but it's more flush and tight than most panels are since it's in an aerodynamically critical area)

3. "aft of the canopy" piece. Too high, doesn't match the rest of the spine. The "correct" approach (to get a 1:1 scale profile) would be to build up and fill the entire spine aft of that piece, from antenna to airbrake. The much easier solution is to sand down the area just ahead of the dorsal antenna. Will still "curve" a little, but looks far better than the step the piece prevents. (It's also slightly too wide, but you can sand it down so perfect you don't even need to fill the seams, they're nice and thin, and there's obvious panel lines there in real life)

4. That's all I have so far, except for the "area aft of the seat" piece is a LITTLE too narrow, and paint will just love to wick its way in the tiny gap while you're painting around there. Do the grey cockpit interior first, then the black sills.