Model Aircraft – August 2019

on the lower section of the fuselage, and as
well as this, and prior to closing the fuselage,
you need to build and position the internal
intake trunking. The location for these parts is a
little vague and it proved challenging getting a
seamless inish between the trunking and the
intake. I was never happy with the appearance
of this area, so eventually decided to fabricate a
set of intake covers to resolve the issue.
The unique proile of the Hornet means that
the kit fuselage is not broken down by the more
traditional left/right coniguration, rather the
lower part is mated with the upper fuselage and
wing. As mentioned earlier, Kinetic seem to be

attempting to retain a degree of commonality

to their F/A-18 tooling’s, but it does mean

that there is quite a lot of ‘interchangeability’

to create the diferent marks of Hornet. For

example, with this build, the nose section is

entirely separate to the main fuselage. Once

made up it locks into the main airframe via

a system of tabs, what this means is that the

‘universal’ fuselage part has a rather delicate,

unsupported upper section which needs to

be very carefully aligned with nose part. Once

done you do get a ‘step’ below the windscreen,

but this was easily rectiied with careful illing

and sanding. The dedicated ATARS modiication

then simply slips into the recess on the lower

side of the nose. An interesting feature of the

kit is the option of displaying the wings in the

folded position, this is something that can prove

to be a tricky process, however, Kinetic provide

the outer portions of the wing fold option

as separate moulded parts, with the chunky,

toothed fold mechanism as an individual item.

If you go for this option (as I did) you do need

to remove the upper section of wing from the

main airframe. There is a positive, recessed

detail line to follow to get an accurate cut, and

this was done with a sharp blade, and cleaned-

up with a sanding stick. Personally, I think Kinetic

The detail provided in the kit is superb The cockpit is really well detailed

MODEL AIRCRAFT AUGUST 2019

MISSION MODELS MASTERCLASS

WWW.MISSIONMODELSUS.COM^75