F/A-18A Hornet VMFA-531 'Grey Ghosts'

[Parabat]

Next in line is the venerable Hasegawa 1/48 F/A-18A Hornet, I know it's the 'C' boxing but I planned this years ago when 'A's were hard to find (I've already removed the 'C' tail fin fairings).

 

The kit, inspiration and AM

 

Ever since I built the 1/72 F/A-18A when I was a lot younger, I've always wanted to reprieve the build with the awesome looking VMFA-531 'Grey Ghosts' tail marking (the skull glaring lighting bolts).

 

With what seems to be a common occurrence with these Hasegawa Hornets, the first order of duty will be to repair the rather fragile wing extension/backing for the LAU-7/A5 launcher rail. Fortunately it's still in the bag.

 This might be a slow burner as I'm not guaranteed regular hours to build this.

[DaveJL]

Nice one mate, look forward to seeing this come together.

[Parabat]

A pleasant few hours spent cutting, trimming, sanding and glueing pieces together.

Pretty decent fit, though dry fitting is definitely recommended. I ended up cutting off the underwing locating pins as they were not allowing an alignment of panel lines. 

Probably some light sanding over some of the seams and Mr Cement 'tidelines' before a coat of primer to see how things look. 

[adamg1987]

What are the reskit parts like, thinking of getting some armaments for a f14 I’m building 

[Parabat]

7 minutes ago, adamg1987 said:

What are the reskit parts like, thinking of getting some armaments for a f14 I’m building 

I'm pretty impressed with the detail, quite remarkable when you're used to plastic blob bombs.

 

[Geoffry M]

On 6/1/2025 at 3:24 PM, Parabat said:

Next in line is the venerable Hasegawa 1/48 F/A-18A Hornet, I know it's the 'C' boxing but I planned this years ago when 'A's were hard to find (I've already removed the 'C' tail fin fairings).

 

The kit, inspiration and AM

 

Ever since I built the 1/72 F/A-18A when I was a lot younger, I've always wanted to reprieve the build with the awesome looking VMFA-531 'Grey Ghosts' tail marking (the skull glaring lighting bolts).

 

With what seems to be a common occurrence with these Hasegawa Hornets, the first order of duty will be to repair the rather fragile wing extension/backing for the LAU-7/A5 launcher rail. Fortunately it's still in the bag.

 This might be a slow burner as I'm not guaranteed regular hours to build this.

True, I had one with the same tip broken off.

[Parabat]

1 minute ago, Geoffry M said:

True, I had one with the same tip broken off.

It's pretty annoying. I have another Hasegawa Hornet kit where the rail backing is just AWOL 🫠

[Geoffry M]

At least this one repairable.  

[adamg1987]

12 hours ago, Parabat said:

I'm pretty impressed with the detail, quite remarkable when you're used to plastic blob bombs.

 

They do look pretty awesome, Did you have to get rails to mount them I seen Reskit sell the rails too or will you modify the standard kit items?

[Parabat]

44 minutes ago, adamg1987 said:

They do look pretty awesome, Did you have to get rails to mount them I seen Reskit sell the rails too or will you modify the standard kit items?

I'm going to use the kit provided BRU-33 dual bomb release unit for the Mk20s. They mount directly to the BRU. Reskit do provide adaptors with items such as AGM-65s which have a bespoke launch rail.

[coneheadff]

I have several of these waiting to be build...I'm following 😁

[Parabat]

13 minutes ago, coneheadff said:

I have several of these waiting to be build...I'm following 😁

I'll  go into a bit more detail then! 😉

[heloman1]

Looks like an interesting project, I'll pull up a seat...

 

Colin

[Parabat]

This evening I have been sanding seams and rescribing panel lines. 

 

Who remembers the Radu Brinzan scriber?!

 

Don't forget (as I did) to open the pylon holes BEFORE you glue the lower wing halves to the top ones...

 

Rescribed the nose panels. The join line is still showing, but is not stepped, just a ghost line.

[Parabat]

After looking at the zero armament in the Hasegawa box, the rather odd looking AIM-9L's in the Hobby Boss Hornet kit, I've just put an order in for some ResKit AIM-9M's. 

[heloman1]

Neat looking scriber, I use a defunct/broken dental probe, sharpened on a green stone. It's surgical stainless steel so keeps a good point. I ask my dentist for broken ones aad he gave me a couple. One, I've ground into a micro chisel.

I do like the new Reskit 3D printed items/goodies. I recently built the main rotorhead for the MH-53E. I posted in tin the RFI pages a few weeks back.

 

Colin

[adamg1987]

On 6/12/2025 at 9:01 PM, Parabat said:

This evening I have been sanding seams and rescribing panel lines. 

 

Who remembers the Radu Brinzan scriber?!

 

Don't forget (as I did) to open the pylon holes BEFORE you glue the lower wing halves to the top ones...

 

Rescribed the nose panels. The join line is still showing, but is not stepped, just a ghost line.

I did this too on another build. A bright torch shone from behind will show you where you need to drill  

[Parabat]

Some more movement on this after my sojourn to Jadlam models.

 

I've decided,  being a USMC aircraft, that I'm going to put the pilot in it. It's not often you have the opportunity to do a M81 Woodland camo helmet cover!

The pilot has been constructed on a Blutack'd in seat, so I could make sure his arms were attached in the right orientation. Some more cleanup required on his visor and around his arms (mazing what a macro view reveals 🥴)

 

Applied Mr Primer Surfacer 1000 to the assembled bits to check for surface correction where needed. Great stuff this primer and thinner combo, sprays very nicely and dries really quickly.

 

[Parabat]

For @coneheadff - the kit provides etch for the lower left instrument panel, with different parts for either A or C variant. I've used part MA5 for this A variant, MA6 is for the C variant.

 

[Parabat]

This stuff is great! Tamiya polishing compounds, used after wet sanding the seam from the canopy. 

Brilliant. 

[coneheadff]

Good progress, just don't forget to remove the seamlines of the insert on the flaps. No idea why Hase made those inserts

 

[Parabat]

I'm actually pretty impressed with the kit wheels, which include the two internal 'nubs' seen at 2 and 8 o'clock inside the cutouts.

 

[Parabat]

Finally managed to get a bit more done this evening. The metal landing gear struts are really nice, but you do have to use some needle files to remove the casting lines on them. Seemed to go OK and look pretty decent now they are primed.

 

 

I had also prepped a few other bits for priming, so took the opportunity to prime them as well. Still one or two annoying ejector sink holes remain, so I'll get the Mr Surfacer 500 on them.

 

 

Next step is to get the pilot's helmet camo sorted and get the cockpit done so I can start to assemble the fuselage. Should pick up the pace once that's done.

[Parabat]

In the background, I have been building up the Hobby Boss F/A-18C with the idea of using it as a practice piece - the layout and construction is VERY similar to the Hasegawa Hornets.

The quality and detail is miles behind the Hasegawa, but it has been useful and will also become a paint mule.

 

If you think the Hasegawa has issues with ejector pin marks in the undercarriage doors, Hobby Boss has potholes! 

 

[Parabat]

Finally got the fuselage halves together, after matt coating the cockpit. 

No real dramas, a simple squeeze of the forward fuselage area allows the intricate trunking connections and LERX extensions to slip under the mating surfaces. 

 

I did notice that the rear fuselage mating surfaces are pretty scant, so once together I glued some shims to the inside to prevent them from cracking later on in the build.

 

I'm also building this canopy closed, so I'm going to have the ladder stowed. Not the greatest fit, a bit gappy, and I put some Blu-Tack in the forward portion to support the ladder and have it level with the forward LERX slab.

 

 

Now it's on to the rear fuselage and gear bay sides, which is involving a lot of test fitting, sanding, test fit, sand etc. Highly complex moulding shapes which have a myriad of mating surfaces to get 'just right' to avoid a lot of filling and sanding later.