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Price: |
$19.99 |
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Review By: |
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Notes: |
Eight options |
Furball Aero-Design 48-040: 2014 NAS Oceana Air Show Review
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Price: |
$19.99 |
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Review By: |
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Notes: |
Eight options |
I would first like to apologize to Furball Aero-Design for the lateness of this review. My furball house-mates knocked this behind a bookcase and I only discovered it when retrieving another item they had hidden back there.
This set
is part of their Air Wing All Stars series that are basically USN CAG birds.
These are, for the most part, painted in the current scheme of FS 36320 over
36375, two shades that are quite close to each other and can often appear to be
just one color. The lone exception is the F-18A+ that is the first option on the
sheet. This VFC-12 plane is in asplinter scheme of FS 37925, 36375, 36081, and a
cockpit surround/antiglare area in black. The instructions provided a four view
of this scheme so one can break out the masking tape for painting it. There are
no dedicated F-18A+ kits of which I'm aware in this scale, but there are
conversion sets.
I was surprised that there were still F-18C units operating from carriers, so apparently their end is still to come. On this sheet there are three of these units. One is a VA-34 'Blue Blasters' aircraft with an upper spine and tail painted in 15042 dark blue. These guys used to fly A-6s before those planes were retired. VFA-83 was an ex-A-7E squadron and their CAG bird also uses the dark blue for the upper fuselage and fin. The third F-18C is from VFA-131. In this case, only the fin is in dark blue. Note that on this plane, the left side fin interior is red while the other is blue.
Moving on, we have a pair of F-18Fs. These squadrons transitioned from the Tomcat. The first is VFA-32. This one has nice yellow fins. The set includes decals for this area. One simply paints the upper fuselage and fins in dark blue and applied the decals. The darker yellow of the decal is apparently the correct shade. I base this on looking at photos of the real aircraft. Note that on all the super bugs, the very trailing edge of the rudder is left unpainted. The other two seat plane is from VFA-103, again with dark blue upper fuselage and fins.
Two single seat F-18Es finish out the sheet. The first was flying A-7Es before going to F-18A/C aircraft. VFA-105 'gunslingers' eschews the large areas of dark blue as does the final option. VFA-143 used to fly Tomcats before transitioning to the F-18E. Thankfully, the 'pukin' dogs' have kept their markings pretty much unchanged from even their Phantom days.
The decals themselves are superbly printed by Cartograf and there are enough common markings to complete at least three options, though you can easily snag other data and insignia from the kit. A complete load-out diagram is also provided . A full stencil placement guide is also included. I am thinking that the majority of modelers will go for the Hasegawa kits when using this sheet.
March 2015
Review sheet courtesy of http://furballaero-design.com. You can get yours now at this link.
If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.