Hobby Master Archive

The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F/A-18 Hornet is a supersonic twin engine all-weather night fighter and attack aircraft. The F/A-18s first flew in November 1978 and the first production flight on April 12, 1980. The first 380 aircraft were F/A-18As and in September 1987 production switched to the F/A-18C. Variants A and C are single-seat aircraft while B and D are tandem-seats. The Hornet can operate from either aircraft carriers or land bases with the capability of in flight refueling. A total of 1,480 A-D variants were built.

In 1953 VMA-332 adopted the polka dots, top hat and cane when they replaced VMA-312 “Checkerboards”. Mocking the black and white checkerboard painted on VMA-312 aircraft cowlings VMA-332 painted their cowlings with red polka dots on a white background. Their 2 letter identifier “MR” looked like the abbreviation for Mister and the pilots considered themselves gentlemen so the top hat and cane were adopted. In early 1960s the name “Moonlighters” was adopted and the tail letters changed to EA. In 1993 the unit became VMFA(AW)-332.

Specifications for the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C/D Hornet Role - supersonic twin engine all-weather night fighter and attack aircraft Crew - 1 x F/A-18C, 2 x F/A-18D (Pilot and Weapons Systems Officer - WSO)

Dimensions Length - 56 ft (17.1 m) Wingspan With AAMs - 40 ft 5 in (12.31 m) Folded - 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m) Height - 15 ft 4 in (4.7 m)

Weights Empty - 23,000 lb (10,400 kg) Loaded - 36,970 lb (16,770 kg) Maximum Take off - 51,900 lb (23,500 kg)

Performance Powerplants - 2 x General Electric F404-GE-402 turbofan Dry Thrust - 11,000 lbf (48.9 kN) per engine After Burner Thrust - 17,750 lbf (79.2 kN) per engine Maximum Speed - Mack 1.8 (1,190 mph) (1,915 km/h) @ 40,000 ft (12,190 m) Range - 1,089 nmi (1,250 miles) (2,000 km) with 2 x AIM-9s Combat Radius - 400 nmi (460 miles) (740 km) air-to-air missions Ferry Range - 1,800 nmi (2,070 miles) (3,330 km) Service Ceiling - 50,000 ft (15,240 m) Rate of Climb - 50,000 ft/min (254 m/s)

Armament 1 x 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon mounted in nose with 578 rounds 9 x Hardpoints - a capacity of 13,700 lb (6,215 kg) with external fuel tanks and ordnance 2 x wingtip missile launch rails 4 x under-wing 3 x under-fuselage Rockets 2.75 inch (70 mm) Hydra 70 rockets 5 inch (127 mm) Zuni rockets Missiles Air-To-Air 4 x AIM-9 Sidewinders or 4 x AIM-132 ASRAAM or 4 x IRIS-T or 4 x AIM-120 AMRAAM and 2 x AIM-7 Sparrow or Additional - 2 x AIM-120 AMRAAM Air-To-Surface AGM-65 Maverick Standoff Land Attack Missiles (SLAM-ER) AGM-88 HARM Anti-radiation Missile (ARM) AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) Taurus Missile (Cruise Missile)

Anti-ship AGM-84 Harpoon Bombs JDAM Precision-Guided Munition (PGM) Paveway series of Laser-guided bombs Mk. 80 series of unguided iron bombs CBU-87 cluster bombs CBU-89 gator mine CBU-97 Mk. 20 Rockeye II B61/Mk. 57 nuclear bombs Others SUU-42A Flares/Infrared decoys dispenser pod and chaff pod Or Electronic countermeasures (ECM) pod Or AN/AAS-38 Nite Hawk targeting pod (USN only) to be replaced by AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR Or LITENING targeting pod (only used by USMC, Royal Australian Air Force, Spanish Air Force and Finnish Air Force) Or Up to 3 x 330 US gallons (270 imp gallons / 1,200 liters) Sargent Fletcher drop tanks for ferry flight Or Extended range/loitering time Avionics Hughes APG-73 radar ROVER (Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver) antenna for use by USN F/A-18C strike fighter squadrons Inertial Navigation System (INS) GPS 2 x mission computers HUD (Head Up Display) cockpit display Very High Frequency (VHF) omni-directional landing system Multiple-functioning Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display

Hobby Master 1/72 Air Power Series HA3505 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18D BuNo.164967, VMFA(AW)-332 “Moonlighters Feb 2007

True 1/72 scale Professionally painted Great attention to detail All markings are Tampoed (pad applied) Option to display the model on a stand that is provided Model can be shown with the landing gear in the down or up positions Canopy can be displayed open or closed Extremely heavy metal with a minimum of plastic Highly collectable