ESCI ERTL F/A-18A DESERT STORM

[Shashman]

Hi all,

 

Does anybody have any experience with this old kit? Has it been re-packaged under another brand, perhaps more recently?

 

I picked it up for about £8 on ebay a couple of months ago, and the detailing is quite poor so I'm looking into buying some aftermarket improvements for it.

 

Thanks in advance 

 

[Wm Blecky]

I believe it is ESCI's own.  Not one of their best.  Quite honestly, I would not invest any money into it.  Build it as practice.  Perhaps chase down a Hasegawa F-18 or even better the Academy kit (which is quite good on it's own - save for maybe a set of ejection seats).

[Shashman]

13 minutes ago, Wm Blecky said:

I believe it is ESCI's own.  Not one of their best.  Quite honestly, I would not invest any money into it.  Build it as practice.  Perhaps chase down a Hasegawa F-18 or even better the Academy kit (which is quite good on it's own - save for maybe a set of ejection seats).

Thanks for the quick response.

 

I thought as much.

 

I may use it to practice painting on, as I've not built a modern aircraft for over 20 years (just got back into the hobby recently) and there are so many techniques I've soaked in from hours of Youtube videos which I need to try.

 

Looks like 'Emil', my bf109E-3 practice aircraft can finally be retired. He's been everything from red, to blue, to silver in the past couple of months. Poor little bugger.

[Giorgio N]

Esci's own and ERTL era kits are generally less sharply moulded than the original kits. Also appeared under the AMT brand.

The kit is based on the original kit of the prototype, with some modifications to bring the shapes more similar to a production Hornet. I built the prototype many, many years ago and fit was pretty poor. I should say that I was not really a skilled modeller back then, so maybe today I could do a much better job... but no skill is going to make this kit up to the level of other offerings. This iss unfortunately one of the worst Hornet around.

The kit was issued in an era when all that existed in terms of aftermarket parts was Aeroclub's catalogue and little more, so there's nothing designed specifically for this kit. Any suitable resin or metal seat would likely fit (or be made to fit...) and it's possible that PE sets made for other Hornet kits may be made to fit or at least supply some useful parts.

The question you may want to ask yourself is if it's worth spending money on this kit. If you plan on practicing then why not, afterall a Quickboost resin seats and Eduard zoom set are not too expensive... at worst you can use this kit to practice the kind of weathering that USN aircraft are subject to and that result in a true patchwork of grey shades

 

[Shashman]

1 hour ago, Giorgio N said:

... at worst you can use this kit to practice the kind of weathering that USN aircraft are subject to and that result in a true patchwork of grey shades

 

This is exactly what I was thinking of doing. Practicing mottling technique, which I have never attempted before and attempting highlights and shades for the first time.

 

I signed up to the 'In the Navy' Group Build, so need to get my techniques up to scratch!

[Nigel Bunker]

The ESCI F/A-18 does not build into am accurate production model. However it is a great basis for an MDD F/A-18 prototype (as Giorgio says) or a Northrop YF-17, although having to be modified in both cases.

[Aardvark]

10 minutes ago, Nigel Bunker said:

However it is a great basis for an MDD F/A-18 prototype (as Giorgio says) or a Northrop YF-17,

As I know  MDD F/A-18 from Italery also prototype, as You think what best for conversion to Northrop YF-17 ESCI or Italery?

 

B.R.

Serge

[Giorgio N]

I wouldn't say that the Esci kit is a good basis for a prototype if the modeller wants an accurate representation... the kit sure was of the prototype but was not even then considered the most accurate kit of this. It is exactly because this kit is not a good prototype that it was suggested as the best starting point for a YF-17 conversion, conversion that however requires quite a lot of work as the two aircraft really only share the same general configuration.

A very detailed article on such a conversion was included in the July 1998 issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling, starting from the Esci kit of the prototype.

I personally considered doing such a job but in the end when I found an Anigrand kit for sale at an acceptable price just bought that one. The Anigrand kit is in resin and is not accurate itself, but if the modeller can live with the excessively deep fuselage, it's an easier build than a conversion.

 

For a proper F-18 prototype, best option would be to search for the original Hasegawa kit. The D&S book mentioned the Italeri offering as their favourite, however this kit is more representative of one of the FSD aircraft than of the first prototype as misses the notch in the taiplane leading edges. This and other modifications were introduce over time so better check for pictures of each aircraft to verify the configuration at a given time.

[Hook]

Scale Aircraft Modellings July 1998 issue has an article on converting the Esci / ERTL F-18 into an YF-17.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Shashman]

To be honest, I'm just going to use it to practice painting on.

[Aardvark]

7 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

I personally considered doing such a job but in the end when I found an Anigrand kit for sale at an acceptable price just bought that one. The Anigrand kit is in resin and is not accurate itself, but if the modeller can live with the excessively deep fuselage, it's an easier build than a conversion.

Anigrand? No!

I do not know why, but I have a strong rejection of this manufacturer.

7 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

A very detailed article on such a conversion was included in the July 1998 issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling, starting from the Esci kit of the prototype.

 

5 hours ago, Hook said:

Scale Aircraft Modellings July 1998 issue has an article on converting the Esci / ERTL F-18 into an YF-17.

Yes, I know about this article, but  if I don’t confuse anything, they contain general drawings of YF-17.  In addition, if I remember correctly the nose of the YF-17 was identical to the F-5E, so the most optimal for creating the YF-17 is the F-5E and first prototype F / A-18 kitbashing?

 

2 hours ago, Shashman said:

To be honest, I'm just going to use it to practice painting on.

But after all, in this topic no one has yet taken out a revolver and ordered: "No make F/A-18!!! Quickly make YF-17 from F / A-18 ESCI!"?

If this happened the site could be renamed "GangsterModeller"!!!

😁😁😁

 

So far, I see only an exchange of views during which I found out:

- inexpediency of buying an aftermarket for F / A-18 from ESCI;

- some feasibility of building the prototype F / A-18 (or YF-17) from the ESCI model.

 

Only that.

 

B.R.

Serge

[gingerbob]

I would think that any resin cockpit could be made to fit, and would perhaps be the biggest (added) bang for the buck.