Trumpeter 1/32 F/A-18F Super Hornet

[Merad]

This originally started in the Multi Seat GB, but I never got beyond assembling some ordnance.  Shortly after starting 6 months ago my dad's health took a decline and he passed at the end of the year.  That, plus dealing with his affairs, has meant no modelling for the last 6 months.  Time to get back into it!  The rest of this post and the comment with the drop tanks and bombs, are reposted from my original build thread.

 

 

 

I went just a little overboard and got basically all the aftermarket goodies I could find for this kit.  We have

• Aires ejection seats
• Eduard exterior PE set
• GT Resin 1-piece intakes
• Master Model AOA probes
• Quickboost ECS vents
• Quinta Studios interior set
• Reskit exhaust
• Reskit wheels
• Scale Aircraft Conversions metal gear legs - not sure these will be used, will depend on how sturdy the kit gear is

 

 

Closeups of the lovely Quinta set -

 

 

 

 

Aires seats -

 

 

GT Resion intakes -

 

 

Reskit exhausts -

 

 

I also have a full load of Reskit ordnance.  I really like the asymmetrical loads that Super Hornets often carry (example below) with a tank under one wing balanced by bombs on the other side.  I'm planning on 2 tanks, a GBU-31, 4x GBU-12, 3x AIM-120, 2x AIM-9X, and the targeting pod from the kit.  I haven't found any examples of Hornets actually carrying AIM-120s on stations 2/10 while also carrying bombs, but I'm going to go with it for a "beast mode" look.  I can't get good pics while everything is still in the protective cages but I'm in awe of the detail of the Reskit 3d printing.

 

 

[Merad]

I've started on the Reskit ordnance.  The textured FPU-12 tank was all one piece except for the nose and tail cones, but the smooth FPU-11 is in 3 parts.  Some of the supports on the edges of those parts are sturdier than they look and caused the edges of the tank to crack when they came off, but nothing that couldn't be filled with black CA.  I used 5 minute epoxy to assembly that tank and had to do some cleanup of the seams.  The rear shackle is broken on the FPU-11 but I'm not going to worry about it since it will be totally hidden in the pylon.

 

 

Lovely GBU-31s.  I believe these are depicting a BLU-109 bunker buster warhead which might not make sense in the same loadout as the normal GBU-12's that I'm planning, but honestly it doesn't bother me enough to change them.

 

 

Last but not least some of those GBU-12s.

 

[antonlemmy@yahoo.com]

Sorry to hear about your dad.

Nice selection of AM goodies! On the Academy kit I used the stock gear but just used epoxy around and between the metal inserts and the styrene. It’s been rock solid for years. Not sure if this is an option for the Trumpy kit?

[Merad]

On 5/7/2026 at 7:48 PM, antonlemmy@yahoo.com said:

Sorry to hear about your dad.

Nice selection of AM goodies! On the Academy kit I used the stock gear but just used epoxy around and between the metal inserts and the styrene. It’s been rock solid for years. Not sure if this is an option for the Trumpy kit?

TY.  Sadly there's no inserts in this kit.  I haven't looked at it too close yet but now that I think about it the way the Hornet gear has built in bracing should help with strength.

[Merad]

Got started on the aircraft built, put together the main parts of the cockpit and immediately destroyed their detail prepping for the Quinta set. 😆  I didn't think to take a before pic but I would say the kit detail is pretty average.  Lots of mold seams and visible ejector pin marks.  Doing some dry fitting of the cockpit area -

 

 

Notice there's a large gap on the sides of the front cockpit.  I added some thin sheet styrene to the front cockpit so those openings are hidden:

 

 

Sadly those nice Aires ejection seats don't fit the kit.  They're a good 2.5-3 mm wider than the kit sets and at least 1 mm too wide for the cockpit tub.  I found a company called IW Models with a new-ish listing for 3d printed F-14D seats that are the same MK14 NACES I need.  I don't know if the Aires seats are too large or if the entire Trumpeter cockpit is undersized, but I took a gamble and ordered a set.  I hope they fit, their 3d renders look incredible.  If not I'll attempt some surgery on the kit seats because they're really just blobs that are vaguely seat shaped.

 

 

 

[Merad]

Replacement seats came in today and my goodness they're lovely.  And the same dimensions as the kit seats so they fit perfectly.  My only complaint is that the ejection handle/loop/thing was filled in.  I guess that's a printing limitation, but mildly annoying that it wasn't a separate part.  I tried to gently open one up with a pin vise but predictably it broke, so I removed them and used the kit's handles instead.

 

 

I hadn't heard of IW Models before this but I'll definitely be checking them out in the future.  I also got some exhaust nozzles for the GWH F-15E that's sitting in my stash, they look fantastic as well.  Though I dread handling them without breaking all of those fine details...

 

All the detail is removed from the cockpit preparing for the Quinta 3d decals.

 

Now comes the fun part of this build. I didn't do a lot of research before getting this kit and aftermarket.  I wanted to do a relatively current Hornet so when ordering the Quinta set they offer early and late variants, I picked late.  As it turns out that is for a Block II Super Hornet cockpit, which has a significantly different instrument panel for the WSO compared to the Block I.  The kit, of course, has a Block I setup, so it gives me this:

 

But I need this:

 

The Quinta set includes all of the screens, but the angular hood over the instrument panel and that extra screen up top will need to be scratch built.  Thankfully it's mostly a boxy shape made of flat panels, but it'll be the most ambitious bit of scratch building I've attempted to date.  Wish me luck...

[cairnsy]

@Merad The Super Hornet is looking great mate. If you can get hold of somebody that has the Trumpeter EA-18G boxing the Later configuration rear instrument panel is on a duplicate sprue so it includes 2 of the panel and the coaming, might be worth asking around to see if anybody will part with them before you have to scratchbuild?

 

As for carriage AIM-120 on 2/10 when carrying Air to ground weapons whilst it wasn’t really a config used during Afghanistan for Enduring Freedom due to the lack of air to air threat for Inherent Resolve supporting Iraq/Syria it was certainly used and it has been for the more recent Yemen and Iran operations. Some Pics of VFA-105 below.

 

https://www.dvidshub.net/image/6383877/50th-ears-refuels-super-hornets-over-iraq

 

One final small detail is whilst the SJU-17 was used on both the F-14D and Super Hornet, the larger canopy breaker “spikes” were a tomcat thing, both forward and aft seats on F/G will have the smaller type as included in those IW seats.

 

the build is coming along great and I can’t wait to see even more progress.

 

Cheers

Cairnsy

[Merad]

@cairnsy great info!  I am on the hunt for the spare parts from the Growler kit.  I have already started painting the seats but it shouldn't be too difficult to fix the spikes on the rear seat.

[Merad]

I have sprue P from the Growler kit on order from Hobby DNA - that's the one with the Block II WSO panel and glare shield that I need.  Shipping ETA (from China) is 2-3 weeks but those parts can easily be added to the cockpit after it's in the fuselage so it doesn't block the build for now.  I also ordered a sheet of DXM Jolly Rogers decals additional marking options. 

 

Bit of painting on the ejection seats, tho not complete.  I've found a number of references where the cushions are different colors and decided to do that for visual interest.  I had a moment and grabbed olive green for the backrest instead of olive drab, didn't even realize it until I was halfway thru painting the second seat... 🫠  So that will require fixing.

 

It's very subtle in person but the main seat is NATO black and I've painted the various wires and details in flat black.  A bit of dry brushing will help bring out the details.

 

The rear seat has had its spikes removed with a razor saw and some bits of sheet styrene adding that will be sanded to (hopefully) match the mini-horns of the front seat.  I went this route because was afraid that sanding and reshaping the original resign spikes would result in them breaking and possibly taking off part of the headrest.

 

While paint was drying I assembled the lower section of the nose.  No issues, decent fit, but there are some seams to work on.  A fair amount of Eduard PE will go on this section too.

 

All of the landing gear legs in the kit come as two halves that fit around a core piece, I guess for strength?  In the Growler kit Trumpeter upgraded the core pieces to be metal, which made me a little concerned that there had been issues with the all plastic gear.  After letting the glue dry for a day the front gear feels pretty strong, hopefully the main gear will turn out as good because I'm not very impressed with the SAC metal gear.  The metal is soft and easily bent with your fingers.  Detail is not great, and some of the dimensions are smaller than the original part.