A few months ago I bought the Hasegawa 1/48 F/A-18F Super Hornet kit… I did this in the wake of the Australian decision to replace the F-111C/G at Amberley AFB with Super Hornets…
I am in the process of getting everything ready to build it, but I am curious as to how the aircraft will be displayed… Will they be painted in the darker grey with black markings and roundals like the current F-111C/G’s, or will they (as I think they will be) displayed in the low-vis scheme that we see the current Australian F/A-18A/B’s displayed?.. Also, will they be displayed with the current 1 and 6 squadron markings? I am trying to decide what to do, and what relation I should display them in as in a capability sence.
I would love to hear any thoughts and if anyone has done a project similar. I would definately love to see it…
Chris, where have you been mate? Long time, etc, etc.
Mate, I’m not sure how the RAAF is going to tart up it’s new rentals. Logical thought would be, they receive the same two-tone grey as the ‘C’ a/c, but since they are replacing the pigs & performing that role, they may well end up in 36118. Either way, 1 Sqdn will be assigned the planes.
From what I have read, Australia are actually purchasing this a/c and not renting them like they did with the F-4’s in the 70’s… 6billion for 24 of them…
I am guessing they will be done in a low-vis scheme, so its just a matter of working out a tail design to go on it… If the trueth be known, I have always hated the lightning bolt on the tail… Infact I have always hated any lighting bolt on any aircraft… So I was thinking about either using the Kookaburra or the Boomerang design… I grew next to Amberley AFB and think back to the camo days of the F-111 and I remember the big"1" that used to be painted on the tail… Might have to re-introduce it on my Super Hornet…
If you, or anyone have any design ideas, I would love hear or see them!
Sorry, yes you’re right, we are buying them. Given the short period we’ll be using them, it seems like they’ll be rentals. To commemorate the anniversary of 1 Sqdn (it was an AFC sqdn in WW1), the pigs have been getting around with a replica of the kangaroo standing up, applied by the erks to the a/c back then. Don’t know if the 18F’s will carry on with that though, but may be something else to consider. If I come across anything down here modelling wise about them, I’ll PM you.
Cant say I have seen the Kangaroo design you speak of as yet, sounds interesting… I have dry fitted the main body parts as I always do before I begin, but for some reason I am wanting to do an Indonesian SU-30 aswell…
I was thinking about doing a really long inflight display about 2m long and have a 1/48 Indonesian SU-30 at one end, and my 1/48 Aussie Super Hornet at the other end behind it launching a misile at it…Maybe done as a wall design that can be mounted with a sky background and the models mounted from the side onto the fixture!..
Growing up on Amberley AFB brought the reality home… When the base would go into lock down, or when they did exercises, you understood the realness of it… Growing up I was always told to watch out for Indonesia, but they didnt come…
Not sure of the feeling now-days, but I am not sure if they could do a whole lot anyway… Never could understand why we always pandered to them?.. Forever helping them with aid ect, yet they always felt they have a higher standing in the world than we do… This is not a thought of “we are better than you”, but I could never understand a person who always bit the hand of its feeders?
As for the Super Bug, I am actually happy to see some cool toys finding its way to Amberley. For me, I am not upset about the purchase, and do believe the Raptor is the way to go with the F-35. But we all know that will never happen. So I am happy we have something that is not being held together with band-aids for a change… maybe Australia should learn from the Japanese and start designing and building our own industry and aircraft?..
After looking on the defence site, I was looking at the new C-17 Globemasters stationed at Amberley… I also noticed that they are painted in the dark grey like the F-111’s and with black markings…
What is the signifiance of this, as it only seems to be aircraft at Amberley that are painted this colour?.. All the other Hornets ect are painted in low vis colours… For me, this would make me feel that the new Super Hornets at Amberley will be painted in the dark grey…
If anyone knows the technical reason why Amberley aircraft are painted in the dark grey, then I would really love to know…
It is just coincidence that the 2 types of a/c based at Amberley happen to be in Gunship Grey. From what I can gather, current ADF policy is to leave all a/c in the colour scheme the parent country supplies them in. I think you will find, the RAAF changed the pigs to their current colour at about the same time the USAF phased out Euro 1 (which of course the 111’s didn’t wear, however this was the standard ‘land-locked’ scheme used after the Asian temperate scheme).
Contrary to my earlier post, this would seem to make more sense, rather than using the same gunship colouring as the pigs.
So if I understand your thinking. Then you believe that the new Hornets will be the current grey used by the USN?..
My next question to that would be. Are they a two tone grey, like the A,B,C,D’s or are they the one tone grey?
edit: Pretty dumb question really. I just need to read the instructions… Infact I am happy that you answered with that last reply, because I really didnt want to do it in the dark grey, but just asumed there was a reason that I should. I also noticed that Maylasia have painted their F/A-18’s the dark grey, and was curious for that as well…
That would be the 2-tone grey, Joe. FS #'s 36320 & 36375 IIRC. Having said that, I haven’t researched the colours for my USN -18E kit, so I may be wrong.
I used to live in Tara , just down the road from amberly, and it used to thrill us at school when th 111’s came over the school,wed drop everything and RUN to the windows, teachers got so pissed off!!![soapbox]
you could dentify the sound and get to a good spot just in time if ou were lucky
I wanted AUS to get raptors, whats the sense of going to war with the 'us if thy dont help us out??? - pipedreams i know…
Mate… Know how you feel, but at this stage no-one is getting the Raptor… So its not like the US is just dissing on us… They are (or might have already left) here in Japan Okinawa, and they were something to behold…
As for down the track. I dont count out Australia getting Raptors, but at the momment, its a long track… I also do believe that we would be first in line, as the Brits have become part of Europe and have focused their efforts with the other nations (Typhoon)
For me, I can understand people not understanding the reasons we got the Super Hornets. But as I am an optimist, then who knows. 5-10 years down the track, Australia starts to recieve most of its F-35 fleet, and throw a few more billion toward the US for an old carrier, and then you have a Navy with some aircraft to give them (a.k.a the F/A-18F) And I say that with the full belief that this was part of the reasoning for the decision to go with this aircraft and not others… I really dont think people have thought too much about that fact…
I hear alot of people saying we cant support an Aircraft Carrier fleet anymore. And I say why not?.We did up until the 80’s?. And why shouldnt we atleast try to again, now that China is building its own Carriers (all-be it Russian)…
The F-111 will be gone soon, and although the F/A-18 is good, it needs a little help in getting to where it needs to be… I honestly believe that Australia will have once more, one or two carriers in its fleet within 10 years… And the purchase of the Super Hornet is what leads me to believe that…