The F/A18 has the unique distinction of that slash in its designation, something no other aircraft in the U.S. inventory carries. The reason for this is simple; the plane can perform both the fighter and attack roles equally well. It's not a fighter with additional attack capabilities or an attack plane that doubles as a fighter, but a true fighter/bomber.

The tangible evidence of this came on the night of Jan. 17, 1991. A flight of four VFA81 Hornets armed with 2000 pound bombs was headed toward an airfield in western Iraq when they received a report from an E2C Hawkeye that two bogies were headed toward their flight.

In the past, fighters armed for strike missions would have had to jettison their bombs to combat interceptors. But not the F/A18Cs; the four planes switched from airtoground mode to airtoair mode and quickly picked up two MiG21s approaching at a closure speed of 1200 mph. The MiGs were not maneuvering, so LCDR Mark Fox selected a Sidewinder missile and fired. Fearing the Sidewinder had not tracked, Fox then launched a Sparrow missile. The Sidewinder did in fact track; there was a flash from the missile's impact, followed by a brilliant orange flame and a burst of black smoke. The Sparrow also struck the already doomed plane seconds later. When the plane went by Fox, the canopy was still on. "I don't think the pilot got out," Fox told reporters.
LT Nick Mongillo engaged the second MiG simultaneously, firing a Sparrow that slammed into the Iraqi aircraft and sent it spinning out of control. The entire incident lasted less than 40 seconds from the E2C's call to the final missile's impact.
The most impressive part of this engagement was that the four planes then continued to the airfield and put their bombs on the target!

The model depicts LT Mongillo's Hornet a few days after the shootdown, carrying the same load of Mk. 84 2000pound bombs as it carried on Jan. 17. Just above the formation light strips on the nose is a MiG21 silhouette signifying the kill.
I started with Hasegawa's F/A18C kit, which is a difficult model to begin with, and added Flight Path's resin wings, Verlinden's cockpit set, and plenty of scratchbuilt material. The Verlinden cockpit is acceptable, though the other parts of the set (replacement missiles, a radar unit for the nose, etc.) were not used. I preferred to keep the clean lines of the Hornet intact, and the missiles seemed like more trouble than they were worth.
Once the basic fuselage was assembled, I added the Flight Path wings. I used these because they offered dropped slats and flaps, and while this does make the airplane look much more candid, the effort involved was extensive. While the wings themselves are nicely molded and detailed, I had to cut away a chunk of the wing molded to the fuselage and fill the resulting hole with styrene. The wings come with no instructions, so the experience was somewhat frustrating.
I added wiring to the speed brake well, the wheel wells, and the aft cockpit, and used photoetched parts from True Details for some antennas and the AOA vanes.
The plane was painted with Testors Model Master paints, followed by a gloss coat and decals from a SuperScale sheet. After the decals were sealed, I weathered the plane using various shades of watercolor pencil. This is a terrific tool for getting the grimy, stained, and retouched look of Navy planes, because they go on easily, blend well, and if you make a mistake it washes right off!
I drilled out the lights on the LEXs and added drops of 5 minute epoxy stained green and red with food coloring. The Sidewiders, Sparrows and bombs came from Hasegawa's weapons sets the 2000pounders were first textured with an application of liquid cement, which was then scrubbed up with a toothbrush to simulate the rough surface of Navy bombs. As a final touch, I pencilled graffiti on the bombs using a sharp white artist's pencil. One of the bombs reads "For Spike" in memory of VFA81's LCDR Mike Speicher, who was killed the same night as the MiG shootdowns.

F/A18 Hornet in 1:72 at a glance:
Kit used: Hasegawa F/A18 Hornet
Wings, flaps, and ailerons: Flight Path
Cockpit components: Verlinden
Bombs and Missiles: Hasegawa weapons sets
Antennas, AOA vanes: True Details
Paint: Testors Model Master
Decals: SuperScale

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