If you want to do a current USN fighter, odds are good that you will be building an F-18 Hornet of some sort. In the next few years, you will have no choice. The F-18E/F is slated to replace the F-14 in Fleet service, starting with VF-14 in the year 2002. Already, VFA-122 is training instructor pilots and the first fleet pilots should be going through the syllabus in the next year or so. Unfortunately for the USMC, the new Hornets will be USN only. But since the Marines concentrate on ground support, it is understandable that the longer ranged and better turning F-18E/F will be a mount of the Squids.

Anyway, there have been Hornets on carriers since the mid-late 1980s and though most of the early F-18As have been withdrawn from service, it was those Hornets that are on this sheet. First a few notes about this particular sheet. First of all, there are only enough insignia for one of the three aircraft. There are stencils for two of the three. The sheet states that an additional sheet, 72-267 will be needed for the VFA-87 bird, but I'm not sure why they picked on that aircraft unless it was assumed that modelers would build the aircraft in sequence as shown on the sheet. A rather odd way of looking at it!

As was typical at the time, what little color there was is limited to the fin and rudder, the rest being in the standard two greys of the time:  FS 36375 undersides with FS 36320 uppers.

First aircraft on the sheet is  from VFA-136 aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. AG/300 has the CAG colors on the fin in a nice sunburst pattern.

AA/100 of VFA-131 is a little more subdued. This USS Independence based aircraft has just a colorful fin tip, however, it does have the NAVY markings on the aft fuselage in white. Unusually, the ship's name is near the top of the fin.

Finally, we have the USS Theodore Roosevelt's VFA-87 CAG bird, AJ/400. This one has the CAG colors in the headdress of the unit's badge on the tail.

Again, all of these markings are for an F-18A and not the later C model. There are very good kits of this plane in 1/72 from both Fujimi and Hasegawa. Most will undoubtedly choose the less expensive Hasegawa kit and I'm sure that which ever is chosen, a fine model will be made from it.

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