The F/A-18 now is the dominate a/c on board U.S. carriers. The air wing will have either 3 navy F-18 squadrons, or 2 navy & one marine squadron as its compliment. This sheet depicts the latter.

As usual, the instruction sheet is in full color, with a separate b/w page for stenciling placement. All the decals are on one sheet. Common & maintenance stenciling is provided for one aircraft, but in this instance, that’s all you need. The stenciling is divided on the sheet by fuselage location, an appreciated gesture. Also, according to the instructions, neither aircraft had the anti-skid walkways applied on the leading edge extensions. The sheet has gray & black national insignia, but the black ones aren’t used on either a/c. There is also a page on the various colors the Hornet has worn over it’s service life so far, including the FS numbers. Both aircraft are in the standard dark ghost over light ghost gray.

The first a/c is the CAG a/c from VFA-82 "Marauders". All the markings are a shade of medium blue, except for the Bu. no. & some warning placards. The instructions state there were no other stenciling or walkways on this particular bird , but I’ve found mistakes in research data made by Aeromaster before (not to take anything away from the quality of the excellent decals & wanted subject matter).

The second a/c is from VMFA-251 "Thunderbolts", while they were part of the air wing. What immediately got my attention about this a/c were the tail codes, modex’es & squadron identifier. All were printed in what appears to be New Times Roman, an distinctive departure from the common block lettering. Four little gray thunderbolts are provided to mark the external fuel tanks. All other markings are gray (modex’es excluded), including all four national insignia.

If you like this sheet, & plan to do several F/A-18’s, pick up Aeromaster sheet # 48-394 also. It has the markings for VFA-86 "Sidewinders", the other Hornet squadron from CVW-1. Look for the review here soon.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by a site that has over 2800 visits a day, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.