Academy 1/72 F/A-18C "Chippy Ho" Hornet

This one is in the stash, looking forward to it, I've always wanted an F/18 in the collection, although the decals on the nose look daunting.

Box Art

Finished Model

Comments
This was a great build. I have built academy kits before and have not had much joy with them, but the online reviews said this was a good kit so I approached it with caution. I need not have been worried the molding and part fit was excellent and with care and patience, this builds into a very accurate F/A 18c aircraft. I do question the Tamiya light and dark ghost grey I used as they appear too blueish and dark to me, but I know having been up close to an F/A 18, they can be blueish in the right light. I also debated going semigloss or matt, but in the end, I went matt only becuase I know being up close the aircraft are always matt and you never see any shine on them. I think I made the right choice.
I learnt a lot on this kit and developed a few new skills around seam line filling using glue instead of filler, but overall I was very happy with the way it turned out and this will make a fine addition to the collection.

Rating:
Instructions - 3 - very easy to understand

Assembly Complexity - 2 - Requires moderately experienced person to do this one

Quality of Molding - 3 - Excellent quality, fine detail, no flash

Part Fit - 3 - Excellent part fit, but be warned its not a snap fit kit, it requires finesse and patience to align all the parts exactly.

Overall Score 11/12

Paints Used
Fuselage - TamiyaAS25 - Dark ghost Grey
Underside - Tamiya AS26 - Light Ghost Grey
Cockpit- Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey
Wheel wells - Tamiya XF-2 Matt White
Jet Exhaust - Tamiya X-10 - Gun Metal on outside and XF-84 Burnt iron on the inside
Antiglare strip - Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black
Wheels - Tamiya XF-85 - Rubber Black
Clear Coat - Testors Dullcote 1260