Recommended F-18C kit for Swiss Hornet?

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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Looking for the best 1/72 scale kit to represent a Swiss Hornet from 2004. Anyone have any recommendations?

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i like to use the hase kits for the swiss and other countries that use it u can usually find them on ebay at a good price.

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Thanks for the Recommendations

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Looks like the F-18 the Swiss use are the “C” & “D” models, and they are externally identical to US Navy Hornets, right down to the ECM “bumps” (see picture below), so any decent 1/72nd “C” kit should do. The main diference between the Navy Hornerts & Swiss Hornets is structural and, of course, you can’t see that.

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One difference that stands out already in the pic that was just posted is the fact that the Swiss machine has a searchlight installed on the port side, while US Navy & Marine Corps versions do not.

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Yes, I noticed the search light. Wonder Why, They don’t have to worry about bears or elk like the Canadians.

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well in a way the had to worrie about bears the soviet bear bomber the russian use to fly to close to thier airspace so thats whay thier was a search light added. the only countries that have it are canada, austrilia (?) on that spelling and swiss hornets for the same reason also the spanish have it on thier hornets to. and i am not to sure about the kuawtie or the mayalishen hornet.

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it’s for target i.d., during the coldwar there were too many close calls of airliners being targeted. better safe than sorry and not shooting a sparrow or sidewinder off willy-nilly. the only coldwar fighters canada did not have this on where the cf-100, f-86, cf-116, and cf-104.

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Swiss hornets also have different pylons because they don’t have to carry air to ground weapons.

http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/hangar/1999/swiss/acmi.htm

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with all that said, are there then any Hornet kits which would have the search light and the Swiss pylons available in 1/72?

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for the light just drill a hole in the square panel below and infront of the windshield the use clear sprue for the light its self.

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That is great advice. I haven’t heard that one before. Thanks

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For the outboard wing stations, you can steal the small wing pylons from the Hasegawa or Italeri FA-18E/F kit to use on the Swiss birds. I don’t know for sure if the pylons are identical but they are very similar at least in external appearance. For the Swiss inboard stations, I think the kit-supplied pylons are OK as I believe that tanks can still be carried and the small pylons are not wet. Note, though, that ALL Swiss Hornets use the double-bucket ALE-47 countermeasures dispensers in front of the MLG wells which requires a bit of modification from the kit and the all also use the late-style swept antennas on the spine and under the nose. As for the light, drill an appropriately sized hole in the nose and fill it with Krystal Klear or something similar. Or just use a circle punched out of decal film of a suitable color.

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I stumbled onto this web site with a walk around of a Finnish Hornet according to the article they are very similar to the Swiss ones (even a few photos of a Swiss Machine). It has good photos of the spot light and of pylons (the Finn’s F-18 are also Air Defence only, so most likely same as the swiss (not sure on this though).

http://personal.eunet.fi/pp/vmhalme/hornet_finnaf/index.html

Hope it helps

PS: Also a Swiss Hornet walkaround on http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

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My recommendation is go with a 1/48 scale. If you don’t mind the extra work and detailing you can turn out a fantastic Swiss Bug. Revell makes a decent F-18, it will require some work on your part but, if your up to the challenge get the 1/48 Blue Angels kit, it has everything there to build an F/A-18C. If you need help with that kit feel free to contact me as I have built two Revell 1/48 Bugs.

Air Master

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Hey Rob,

Whatever kit you use, be sure to remember that the Swiss machines are late-model F-18s with all the latest equipment. The gun panel (the panel under the nose, immediately forward the front gear bay) is slightly different with a grill mesh instead of the original design, like the one that the super hornet uses for its gun panel.

this pic here shows it a little:

http://www.airsceneuk.org.uk/hangar/2004/nomad/spike.htm

Another difference is that the Swis hornet uses the GE404-402 EPE engine, so be sure to paint the inside of the tail cones off-white instead of gunmetal. The -402 uses a ceramic inner rather than metal.

Also is the double bucket ale-47, as was mentioned before, and as well as the searchlight.

Incidentally, the Australian hornets don’t use the light, but the Kuwaiti do. The Swiss aircraft was built to the same standard as the Kuwaiti ones, with a little better internal structure to withstand the +9g requirement that the Swiss set.

If you can get one, Hasegawa makes a good F-18. If you do the 1/48 R-M kit, you will have to change that panel to the correct version. Other than that, the choice is yours.

Hope this helps.

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I am looking for 1/72 because I have a set of aftermarket decals in that scale, the Tiger meet 2004 by Model Alliance. So I would want to match that plane, I believe it is J-5011. Thanks for all the input