The Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet is the US Navy's frontline
multi-role fleet fighter. Scaled up in size from the early
F/A-18A/C Hornet, the Super Hornet has more power, range
and payload than its predecessors. The F/A-18E and its two-seat
sister, the F/A-18F, replace the F-14 Tomcat in the fleet CAP/air
defense mission and interleave with the earlier Hornets in
the strike and night/all-weather strike mission.
Classified as a generation 4.5 fighter, Boeing has continued
development of the Super Hornet to create a Gen 4.75 variant
that incorporates a number of improvements in avionics, low-observability,
and engine performance. These improvements will keep the Super
Hornet in the front lines to provide air defense as well as
precision strike alongside the F-35 Lightning II when it enters
fleet service.
While the Super Hornet quietly entered operational service
during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi
Freedom (OIF), the quiet has only been on the home front as
these aircraft have provided continuous day and night support
of the allied forces on the ground in both theaters. The versatility
of the airframe must keep the navy test and evaluation folks
busy as new systems come online for the aircraft. The weapons
load charts for the Super Hornet must be some of the longest
tables in aviation history as it would be a much shorter list
for the weapons and stores that the Super Hornet can't carry.
The Kit
When we saw this kit both in test shot images as well as at
iHobbyExpo, there was no doubt about the size of the model,
but there was no indication of the level of complexity of the
kit. While Trumpeter does tend to over-engineer some of its
kits, rendering lots of details in areas that will never be
seen after assembly, such is not the case here. There is lots
of detail, yes, but thankfully Trumpeter limited that to visible
areas of the model. For the record, there are 41 sprue trees
in this kit - a new record for me at least.
If you look at the first image in the
stack to the right, you see the kit as it appears with the
lid first removed. The fuselage halves are nicely packed in
separate packaging along with the clears, metal strut cores
and rubber tires. The rest of the kit is packaged normally
except for that box in the upper left that has the F/A-18E
title. That box alone is about the size of a 1/25th scale car
kit and contains all of the external stores. For the sake of
clarity, I'm going to break this review into two sections:
airframe and stores.
Airframe
The basic airframe kit as packaged is molded in light gray
styrene and presented on 15 parts trees plus the separately
packaged upper and lower fuselage halves. The kit also consists
of four smaller trees of clear parts (some of which are used
in the stores section), one small fret of photo-etched parts,
one set of metal landing gear strut cores, and one set of rubber
(vinyl) tires.
As I look over the kit, my first observation is that the rivet
and panel line details seem to be finer that before. What's
more, the engine compressor and turbine faces are much better
as well. If you've seen the J57 engine faces on the Trumpeter
F-100 and F-8 kits, the odd curves of the blades or the strange
offset of the fixed stator vanes detracted from some otherwise
nice work.
The kit's F414 compressor faces have normal looking compressor
blades though they didn't add the fixed stators ahead of the
compressor. You can add the fixed stators if you'd like, but
I doubt you'd see them on the far end of the intake ducts after
assembly. Your call. The afterburner chambers also look presentable
as provided.
Considering all of the parts in this kit, I'm quite surprised
how few are photo-etched. The photo-etch provided in this kit
are primarily the shoulder harness and seat belts for the ejection
seat and two reinforcement strips. This means that the model
will be a little easier to build for those less comfortable
with photo-etched parts.
As with most aircraft kits, construction starts in the cockpit
and the kit provides a nice ejection seat and cockpit tub.
The main instrument panel is glass, so the multi-function displays
(MFD) are rendered with decals. The kit also provides decals
for the side consoles should you choose not to paint your consoles
(I'll paint mine). The kit provides stick and throttle separately,
but no rudder pedals.
The landing gear is styrene with metal cores. These cores
provide the strength to hold up this beast, while the styrene
parts build up around the cores to make assembly and painting
easier for most.
This is the first kit I can recall that has an AESA radar
that can be displayed. The kit provides the APG-79 AESA array
inside a positionable radome.
As I mentioned above, the F414 engines are not over-engineered
and while they do have some plumbing detail that will make
these nice to pose with an access bay door open, they are not
critical for the fit of the engines in the fuselage should
you plan to keep your engine bays closed.
Among the various features and options in this kit:
Nicely detailed NACES ejection seat
Positionable canopy
Positionable boarding ladder
Positionable radome
APG-79 AESA radar under the radome
Metal landing gear cores for strength
Full length engine intake ducts with engines at the ends
Nicely detailed wheel wells
Positionable leading and trailing edge flaps
Positionable wings (folded or flight)
Positionable ailerons
Positionable stabilators
Postionable rudders
Positionable air refueling probe
Rubber tires
Three external fuel tanks
Stores
As I mentioned above, there is a box inside the Hornet's big
kit box that is large enough for a 1/25th scale car kit and
there are another 22 sprues inside! What you're looking at
are the most (if not all) of the sprues that will be in the
upcoming 1/32 US weapons set and there are a few items provided
here that aren't obviously used with this kit. What's in the
box:
4 x AIM-120B AMRAAM
2 x AGM-84A Harpoon
2 x AGM-84E SLAM
2 x AGM-84H SLAM ER
2 x AGM-154 JSOW
6 x GBU-12 LGB
6 x GBU-22 LGB (should not be used)
2 x LGTR
6 x ADM-141 ITALD
1 x targeting pod **
2 x TER (should not be used on the kit)
2 x MER
In addition to the weapons above that are shown in the instructions
for use in the kit, one of the items included on the sprues
but not shown in the instructions is an ALQ-131 pod which is
going to head straight over to my F-16C project.
One of the weapons shown on the box art and not in the kit
is the AGM-88 HARM which is unfortunate. Another common store
also not in the set are the range of JDAMs that are widely
used in the fleet.
** The kit identifies the targeting pod as an AAQ-25 though
I think this is really an AAQ-28 Litening pod. There is another
pod also provided and not called out by the instructions that
could be the ASQ-228 ATFLIR
Thanks to Kurt Owens for his insight to the latest weaponeering
on the Super Hornets!
F/A-18E, BuNo 166608, VFA-143 Pukin Dogs, AG/100, CAG aircraft,
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower
F/A-18E, BuNo 165860, VFA-27 Royal Maces, NF/200, CAG aircraft,
USS Kitty Hawk
The decals are provided on three sheets, one with the VFA-31
markings as well as the airframe stenciling, the second with
the VFA-27 and VFA-143 markings, and the third with all of
the weapons stenciling. The decals are all nicely printed and
in register.
Conclusion
Overall this looks like a really nice job by Trumpeter and
kudos to their design team for not over-engineering this model.
There is lots of detail here, but nothing wasted inside areas
that won't be seen. The scribing and panel lines are really
nice and if this builds as nice as it looks, the kit will be
worth the price.
