![]() ![]() ![]() A great deal of thinning is needed, but it never felt as if there was any danger of breaking through the kit plastic. ![]() Once the tub is thinned as much as you dared, work turns to sanding and scraping the area below the kit’s cockpit side rails on the inside of the upper fuselage. A bit of material also needs to be removed from the front upper edges of the cockpit tub for a good fit. It will be very easy to sand holes into the cockpit sidewalls, so extreme care is needed. Sanding started on the outside of the cockpit tub’s sidewalls until they were as thin as seemed prudent. Once the kit’s upper fuselage has been initially modified, a great deal of sanding and material removal will be needed to allow the cockpit tub to slot into place. Additionally, on the upper fuselage once you’ve attached kit Part F3, the area between the rear cockpit hole and the start of Part F3 will need to be removed to allow the “turtledeck” area behind the rear cockpit in Aires’ tub to settle evenly with the side rails. Not mentioned in the instructions is the need to remove the center divider between the front and rear cockpits on the upper fuselage (This is the attachment point for the rear instrument panel cowling, kit Part F1 or R4 depending on the version of the kit). As called out in Aires’ instructions, the existing front instrument panel cowling will need to be removed entirely from the kit. The meat and potatoes of the build will be fitting the cockpit tub, Part RP 11, into the kit’s upper fuselage, Part A3, and as the instructions accurately point out, “Thinning of the plastic parts and dry-fitting of the assembly needed!” The kit’s upper fuselage will need some major modification to accept the resin cockpit tub. Once removed, assembly of the now freed parts is performed in several sub assemblies, which are brought together onto the base kit. The standard caution when working with resin parts applies here: the dust from cutting and sanding is poisonous and care should be taken to avoid breathing it in while working on the parts, as well as remembering to dispose of the dust residue afterwards. I used a small razor saw to free the parts and quickly had the job finished, although it may be possible to use a standard hobby knife to repeatedly score the attachment points, but will likely require much more work. The casting blocks were very well thought out and thus very easy to remove. The first step when working with any resin parts is to remove them from the casting block and Aires has made this very easy as the instructions clearly identify the areas of the casting that will need to be removed so there is no guess work involved with what stays and what goes. Recent Hasegawa Super Hornet kits representing the Block II aircraft have an alternate rear cockpit cowling, Part R4, with the additional upper screen that the industrious modeler could use to modify Aires’ cockpit to represent this later ACS cockpit. The Block II F/A-18F and EA-18G Growler were delivered with the Advanced Crew Station (ACS) featuring a large center screen in the main instrument panel as well as an additional screen above the instrument cowling for the Weapon Systems Operator in the rear cockpit. One note of importance to modelers is that Aires’ F/A-18F cockpit represents the Block I Super Hornet rear cockpit, which is nearly identical to the front station. The instrument panels and cowlings also raise to the level of artwork, with the “glass” cockpit featuring even the small buttons on the edges of the various instrument display screens. The cockpit tub itself is nothing short of a work of art, featuring fine switches and sidewall details. The cockpit set contains approximately 40 parts, 13 cast resin parts on 8 casting blocks, a photo-etch (PE) fret, and a clear film sheet with HUD “glass” and instrument faces, and a detailed two-sided instruction sheet. The busy “turtledeck” behind the rear ejection seat is represented by only a flat plane, and the canopy’s internal structure is limited to the rear portion of the frame, omitting the center brace.Īires has offered a fantastic upgrade for Hasegawa’s F/A-18F kit with their beautifully cast resin cockpit replacement set. Hasegawa’s cockpit is very simplified with basic ejection seats and decals for the blank instrument panels and side panels. Those modelers who have previously built Hasegawa’s F/A-18F Super Hornet will be very familiar with one of it’s weakest areas - the cockpit. ![]()
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