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extra weaponry for a CF-18?


erewhon1872

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Hi all,

I'm currently making a CF-18 in 1/48 from a Hasegawa kit, there's a great plan for external stores in the instructions but only one problem, the kit just comes with three rather boring drop tanks which limits my options!

As I have not built too many models so far I do not have an extensive spares box to dip into, so wonder if any advice where I could get something more exciting than drop tanks for the Canadian version of the Hornet?

Thanks in advance,

Peter

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Wow, great project. I also have one on the go with a few other Hornets.

Peter, your options are huge. Depends on what you would like to depict. Air Intercept role or ground attack? You could also do an aggressor load for Maple Flag.

What are the parameters here?

not sure if there's a rule against posting external links to pictures on the forum, if there is I am pretty sure I'll get told off but this configuration looks good to me

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_CF-18_Hornet#/media/File:CF-18_Hornet_(5538991744).jpg

and whatever this is looks better than just a droptank

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_CF-18_Hornet#/media/File:Sniper_XR_pod_mounted_on_Canadian_CF-188_(5624032086).jpg

not sure if this array is real or not?

http://zarco-macross.wdfiles.com/local--files/wiki:f-a-18-hornet/f18ef_load.jpg

.......... so any suggestions how to pep up my CF-18? :)

Peter

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Peter, disregard the 3rd link you posted, this is for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, a different aircraft.

The Canadian Hornets have recently been used to drop weapons onto ISIS position using an asymmetric load: sidwwinder on wingtips, GBU-12 on outer right pylon, tank on inner right, AIM-120 missile on fuselage right, Sniper pod on fuselage left and one GBU-12 each on inner and outer left wing pylons.

Operations over Libya saw the use of a configuration with 3 tanks and 2 GBU-12s (bombs under the outer wing pylons). The same conflict saw another interesting asymmetric onfiguration: Sidewinder on wingtips, 2 AIM-120 on a dual launcher under the outer right pylon, a tank under the inner right, a 3rd AIM120 on the right fuselage, tank under the fuselage, Sniper pod on left fuselage and one GBU-12 under each inner and outer left wing pylons

Now the problem is where to get the various weapons and I guess that you'll have to buy at least a couple of sets from hasegawa

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Peter, disregard the 3rd link you posted, this is for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, a different aircraft.

The Canadian Hornets have recently been used to drop weapons onto ISIS position using an asymmetric load: sidwwinder on wingtips, GBU-12 on outer right pylon, tank on inner right, AIM-120 missile on fuselage right, Sniper pod on fuselage left and one GBU-12 each on inner and outer left wing pylons.

Operations over Libya saw the use of a configuration with 3 tanks and 2 GBU-12s (bombs under the outer wing pylons). The same conflict saw another interesting asymmetric onfiguration: Sidewinder on wingtips, 2 AIM-120 on a dual launcher under the outer right pylon, a tank under the inner right, a 3rd AIM120 on the right fuselage, tank under the fuselage, Sniper pod on left fuselage and one GBU-12 under each inner and outer left wing pylons

Now the problem is where to get the various weapons and I guess that you'll have to buy at least a couple of sets from hasegawa

thanks for the very detailed response Giorgio, much appreciated.

I did notice that there are Hasegawa armaments kits and going off the pictures on the box (very technical!) I thought Weapons Set D was for the F-18 but no doubt the USN version?

Trouble is they were all, on dreaded eBay anyway, in the far East so expensive and a lot of postage costs.

Are the Hasegawa kits the only option do you know?

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Weapon set D is good, should contain all the laser guided bombs I've mentioned and these are fine for the Canadian aircrafts too.

Not sure about any other weapon set, there sure are some in resin but I don't know immediately off the top of my head

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You could also look at Belcher Bits for some Rocket pods.

http://www.belcherbits.com/lines/148conv/bb18.htm#

Also, do a google search for these items:

1) "Wolfpack Op Mobile set 1/48" this includes a Sniper pod and the cheek station to hold it. You also need at least one FAT ECM pylon for a CAF Hornet and this set includes one.

2) Look at this http://www.eduard.com/store/Eduard/Brassin/Aircraft/1-48/AIM-7M-Sparrow-1-48.html

3) http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/details/edu/detail_edu_648155.shtml

It really depends on what type of aircraft you're wanting to depict. As I said before, air-to-air or air-to-ground?

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Which era do you want to do as the CF-18 carried a variety of weapons over the years. I was a CF-18 Load Crew Chief from 1985-94 so i have a listing of what you can put on, mostly of the early time period but i am up to date on the current loads.

Jari

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Which era do you want to do as the CF-18 carried a variety of weapons over the years. I was a CF-18 Load Crew Chief from 1985-94 so i have a listing of what you can put on, mostly of the early time period but i am up to date on the current loads.

Jari

Hi Jari,

thanks for the reply, I have a Leading Edge decal sheet I want to use

http://www.kitreview.com/reviews/cf18decalsreviewpg_1.htm

and as it says '2000 special' I guess that dates it to 2000? :)

The instruction sheet for the decals shows it clean so not much help there I'm afraid?

Peter

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You could also look at Belcher Bits for some Rocket pods.

http://www.belcherbits.com/lines/148conv/bb18.htm#

Also, do a google search for these items:

1) "Wolfpack Op Mobile set 1/48" this includes a Sniper pod and the cheek station to hold it. You also need at least one FAT ECM pylon for a CAF Hornet and this set includes one.

2) Look at this http://www.eduard.com/store/Eduard/Brassin/Aircraft/1-48/AIM-7M-Sparrow-1-48.html

3) http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/details/edu/detail_edu_648155.shtml

It really depends on what type of aircraft you're wanting to depict. As I said before, air-to-air or air-to-ground?

thank you for the links, looks good and as the Hasegawa kit may be a bit elusive then the Eduard/Wolfpack etc. add-ons may be easier to find?

As I replied to Jari I want to do the 2000 ann. scheme on the Leading Edge sheet but no idea what that particular aircraft would have carried, plus the date of the scheme would put it before any of the current conflicts?

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Which era do you want to do as the CF-18 carried a variety of weapons over the years. I was a CF-18 Load Crew Chief from 1985-94 so i have a listing of what you can put on, mostly of the early time period but i am up to date on the current loads.

Jari

being ex-CAF perhaps you can answer the question, do the a/c that carry these special anniversary schemes continue on in normal service or are they used only for displays?

I may be barking up the wrong tree entirely adding weapons loads to a CF-18 in one of these special schemes?

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Normally the special schemes were used for displays, mainly flying displays however if an a/c is needed for normal operations then it is inserted into the flight schedule no matter what colour it is. Back when i worked on the CF-101 Voodoo, the specially painted Hawk One did do some QRA duty so it was loaded with missiles. As for the CF-18, 749 the "first" specially painted Hornet, unofficial of course, was used in the normal flight schedule and i loaded it with chaff and flare when it went to do some ACM, naturally it was picked on a lot and it always came down with the buckets empty. Plus during alerts all servicable a/c were loaded, air to air mainly, so can can put weapons on the painted planes if you want but normally they wouldn't have any aside from a luggage carrier on the c/l when they went away.

Jari

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There's a set of 2 or 3 pics around, of one of those nice paint scheme CF-18's with AGM-65 Mavericks. Think that it was the 60th anniv plane. 2 Mavs under 1 wing, and at least 1 was fired off.

Regards,

Gerard

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Normally the special schemes were used for displays, mainly flying displays however if an a/c is needed for normal operations then it is inserted into the flight schedule no matter what colour it is. Back when i worked on the CF-101 Voodoo, the specially painted Hawk One did do some QRA duty so it was loaded with missiles. As for the CF-18, 749 the "first" specially painted Hornet, unofficial of course, was used in the normal flight schedule and i loaded it with chaff and flare when it went to do some ACM, naturally it was picked on a lot and it always came down with the buckets empty. Plus during alerts all servicable a/c were loaded, air to air mainly, so can can put weapons on the painted planes if you want but normally they wouldn't have any aside from a luggage carrier on the c/l when they went away.

Jari

thanks Jari, it looks like because of the scheme I have chosen I will have to do it sans any armaments at all for it to look right? The one thing I will do is gather all the info that yourself and other kind people have supplied and file it away for future use on a CF-18 in a standard scheme? Still on the bright side I won't, for the moment anyway, have to buy any extra sets of weaponry?

Thanks for all the input, much appreciated.

Peter

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There's a set of 2 or 3 pics around, of one of those nice paint scheme CF-18's with AGM-65 Mavericks. Think that it was the 60th anniv plane. 2 Mavs under 1 wing, and at least 1 was fired off.

Regards,

Gerard

thanks Gerard, could find this collection of special CF-18 schemes

http://hsfeatures.com/hornetcollectiontc_1.htm

and the one I want to do is here with a central tank fitted, I may just follow this example and fit that tank but nothing else, at least that way it won't be a completely 'clean' aircraft?

Peter

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thanks Jari, it looks like because of the scheme I have chosen I will have to do it sans any armaments at all for it to look right? The one thing I will do is gather all the info that yourself and other kind people have supplied and file it away for future use on a CF-18 in a standard scheme? Still on the bright side I won't, for the moment anyway, have to buy any extra sets of weaponry?

Thanks for all the input, much appreciated.

Peter

As Jari has mentioned, it was rare to see weapons on a color jet. My Squadron received a few of the color jets (three in total) and we did operate them for a period of time before they went in for repaint. I know the 75th jet carried weapons at least once. I may have pictures of the 2000 jet carrying weapons although I am on vacation in the States until August 24.

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As Jari has mentioned, it was rare to see weapons on a color jet. My Squadron received a few of the color jets (three in total) and we did operate them for a period of time before they went in for repaint. I know the 75th jet carried weapons at least once. I may have pictures of the 2000 jet carrying weapons although I am on vacation in the States until August 24.

thanks for the offer of the pictures.

Jari mentioned a 'luggage carrier on the c/l' so trying to find a picture of that but with no success so far. I suspect it's nothing like the drop tank I have with the Hasegawa kit though!

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Peter, disregard the 3rd link you posted, this is for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, a different aircraft.

The Canadian Hornets have recently been used to drop weapons onto ISIS position using an asymmetric load: sidwwinder on wingtips, GBU-12 on outer right pylon, tank on inner right, AIM-120 missile on fuselage right, Sniper pod on fuselage left and one GBU-12 each on inner and outer left wing pylons.

Operations over Libya saw the use of a configuration with 3 tanks and 2 GBU-12s (bombs under the outer wing pylons). The same conflict saw another interesting asymmetric onfiguration: Sidewinder on wingtips, 2 AIM-120 on a dual launcher under the outer right pylon, a tank under the inner right, a 3rd AIM120 on the right fuselage, tank under the fuselage, Sniper pod on left fuselage and one GBU-12 under each inner and outer left wing pylons

Now the problem is where to get the various weapons and I guess that you'll have to buy at least a couple of sets from hasegawa

Actually the Op IMPACT Hornets were carrying GBU-12s, but now almost exclusively GBU-49s and GBU-38s, sometimes in mixed loads. Depends on what is being targeted or if they are tasked for XCAS .

Here is an early example from Nov 14 with 2xGBU-12 and 1 x GBU-38:

http://images.defence.gov.au/20141110raaf8202385_0446.jpg

and here is a later one with GBU-49s:

http://www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca/netpub/server.np?find&catalog=photos&template=detail_eng.np&field=itemid&op=matches&value=69794&site=combatcamera

occasionally GBU-49s paired on BRU-55s:

http://www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca/netpub/server.np?find&catalog=photos&template=detail_eng.np&field=itemid&op=matches&value=67348&site=combatcamera

or just a pair of parent mounted GBU-38s:

http://www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca/netpub/server.np?find&catalog=photos&template=detail_eng.np&field=itemid&op=matches&value=67258&site=combatcamera

Edited by Biggles81
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Actually the Op IMPACT Hornets were carrying GBU-12s, but now almost exclusively GBU-49s and GBU-38s, sometimes in mixed loads. Depends on what is being targeted or if they are tasked for XCAS .

Here is an early example from Nov 14 with 2xGBU-12 and 1 x GBU-38:

http://images.defence.gov.au/20141110raaf8202385_0446.jpg

and here is a later one with GBU-49s:

http://www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca/netpub/server.np?find&catalog=photos&template=detail_eng.np&field=itemid&op=matches&value=69794&site=combatcamera

occasionally GBU-49s paired on BRU-55s:

http://www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca/netpub/server.np?find&catalog=photos&template=detail_eng.np&field=itemid&op=matches&value=67348&site=combatcamera

or just a pair of parent mounted GBU-38s:

http://www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca/netpub/server.np?find&catalog=photos&template=detail_eng.np&field=itemid&op=matches&value=67258&site=combatcamera

thanks for the pictures, all useful information to file away!

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thanks for those Jari, I wonder if anybody does a resin version? But then again it does look like a plain pod so maybe have to try the dreaded scratch building?!

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I may be wrong, but aren't the luggage carriers just old napalm canisters?

if that's correct I'm therefore looking for a napalm canister in 1/48 :)

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