2005 is the 20th year of F-18 Hornet operations in Australia and to commemorate this milestone, the RAAF decided to do a special scheme aircraft. This turned out to be a very nice dark blue scheme over the usual F-18 camouflage. With huge wing roundels and red/white striping, the scheme is quite striking.

This particular sheet is for the 1/72 aircraft so you can see how large the markings actually are. The upper color on this scheme is Gloss Oxford Blue and Model Alliance has provided a number of optional paint manufacturers as well as FS 595 and BS381 references for this and the other colors used on the aircraft.

Kits abound in 1/72 for this scheme, specifically from Fujimi, Revell, and Hasegawa being those recommended. A note has been included that this aircraft has had an update done to it that includes new IFF antennas on the nose forward of the windscreen. Model Alliance will offer an update set for those wishing one. Included in the superb instructions are masks for the tail flag.

Overall, a really excellent sheet that should be on your list of things to get.  This sheet is available in 1/48 and 1/32 scale as well.

July  2005

Review sample courtesy of Jon Freeman. This sheet can be found at http://homepage.mac.com/daleclarke/Aviationworkshop/ and at quality hobby shops worldwide.

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