There has never been a shortage of fancy schemes for the CF-18 Hornet. It seems that every year the Canadian Air Force manages to produce an even more fanciful scheme than the year before.  To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Hornet operations, 410 Sq, the OTU for the Hornet, definitely outdid itself and produced the wildest scheme I've yet to see on an F-18. Thankfully, Leading Edge has managed to put all of this onto what is by any regard a huge decal sheet. In fact it is two sheets as there is not enough room on one 8 x 12 sheet to do this one justice.

A very nice addition to the sheet are some color rectangles to help the modeler match the colors as some of these will have to be painted on. To further assist, there are full size masks in the accompanying four instruction sheets so that the proper colors can be applied where they are needed. Full data and stencil placement guides are also given.

This is by far the most comprehensive and largest decal sheet I have seen for a single 1/48th aircraft. Over the years there have been three 1/48 F-18 kits produced. First was by ESCI and we can pretty well discount that one as not only is it generally unavailable but it a prototype. Next came the Monogram kit. This one isn't bad and is relatively inexpensive. Finally, the Hasegawa kit. Most of your serious modelers will use this as the basis for this sheet. However, it is quite expensive when compared to the Monogram kit and though it is the most accurate, it is also the most fiddly.

Regardless of which kit is used, this will make your next Hornet a real show-stopper.

Review sheet courtesy Leading Edge Decals. Thanks for your support

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