The US navy’s latest fighter acquisition, the F/A-18 Super Hornet, is slowly making its way into service upon US carriers. This aircraft is 30% larger than its predecessor is and can fulfill the following roles: air superiority, fighter escort, reconnaissance, close air support, day/night precision strike, aerial refuelling, and air defence suppression. It saw limited action enforcing the former “No-fly zone” over Iraq.

Black Box has released a resin cockpit set for the Italeri F/A-18F (dual seat) kit, which is dreadfully lacking in this important and highly visible area.

The set consists of 24 resin pieces moulded in Black Box’s familiar tan resin. The entire cockpit is replaced by the resin pieces and includes such items as sidewall detail, instrument panels, detailed instrument coamings, HUD frames, control column/throttles, and two finely detailed Martin Baker SJU-17/A (NACES) ejection seats. The main “tub” is a single casting showing fine console detail and bulkhead cabling.
Additionally, a welcome inclusion are the parts to detail the canopy. These consist of the rear canopy decking and internal canopy rails. The kit cross-brace is retained and incorporated into this assembly.

The instructions are well illustrated, including exploded views of the parts and their locations, a parts count and description, and detailed rendering of the ejection seat with detailed painting instructions (something I particularly like).
Also included is a list of additional references where the modeller can more deeply research the subject.

Anyone considering adding the US Navy’s latest dual seat fighter to his or her collection should check out this offering from Black Box, as it is infinitely superior to what is offered in the kit, and will definitely draw attention to this highly visible area. This set has a manufacturers suggested retail price of $40.30.

Review sample provided by Sky Grid
Review by Robert Blum