#16 in the Osprey Modelling series is this volume on the F/A-18 Hornet. Following a standard format, there is an introduction with a short history of kits dedicated to the Hornet and a section on tools and materials. This is followed by five construction articles. There is a section on 'Special Modelling Ideas' and the usual appendices on references and kit/accessory availability.

As is the norm for these books, it seems as if the build articles increase in difficulty, with each article requiring more in terms of modification or aftermarket than the one before.

First is a Hasegawa 1/48 F-18C using an Eduard detailing set. Skill level is 'intermediate'.

Next is a 1/32 Academy F-18C, again using little more than an aftermarket harness set. This is also listed as 'intermediate'.

A Hasegawa 1/48 F-18D in Malaysian markings is the third article. This time it includes a resin cockpit set and is judged to be 'advanced'. There are also a few other aftermarket bits and pieces added. A nice touch are some overcast photos of the real aircraft taken at an air show.

The fourth article is an Italeri 1/48 F-18F. This one is also listed as 'advanced' due to the replacement cockpit and all the reworking needed to bring what is a prototype aircraft up to specs.

The final build is an Academy 1/32 F-18C done in Top Gun markings. This is listed as 'master' and has all the bells and whistles in terms of aftermarket stuff added to it. Also included in this section are four pages of photos of the actual aircraft.

A section on 'Special Modelling Ideas' has been added. This includes things like making a base, aircraft weathering techniques, enhancing panel lines with pastels and 6 pages of photos of real aircraft and those models used in the builds.

The appendices include a bibliography of books and internet references, a listing of available kits and accessories, and in the back, a section of colors used on the Hornet. This last section is of dubious value as the shades are not paint chips and differ from the actual colors  to some extent due to the limitations of the printing process.

Now I do feel that I should mention that this book is by no means complete. The author has chosen to totally ignore 1/72 and 1/144 scale in the articles. 1/72 had more kits available than 1/32 and 1/48 combined and to not include at least one kit article is a rather major oversight. I'm sure that one of the two Academy 1/32 F-18s could have been substituted with a 1/72 Hasegawa Hornet kit. It may well be that, like the 'Modelling the P-47' book, there is a section on the Osprey website covering a 1/72 F-18 build. However, the fact is that not everyone wants to log on to get more information when it should be included. I also felt that there was a bit more 'fill' to this edition. It is nice to have all those images of the real plane, and of various book covers, but couldn't those pages have been used for another kit article? A few near duplicate model images could have been foregone to make even more space.

Aside from those few concerns, I found the book to be well done and interesting. The builds are well explained and profusely illustrated. There are several techniques that can be used by any modeler regardless of their level of expertise and that is really what makes these books so valuable to the enthusiast.

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