*Hobby Master HA3512C 1:72 F-18 "Centennial Hornet"

Hobby Master CF-18 "Centennial Hornet" celebrating "100 Years of Powered Flight in Canada" 2009 HA3512

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 inflight refueling. A total of 1,480 A-D variants were built.

In 2009 to mark the 100th anniversary of powered flight in Canada CF-18 188719 from the 4 Wing, Cold Lake, Alberta was given a special paint scheme. Unlike previous special schemes that only had the tails painted 719 received a complete make over and is referred to as the “Centennial Hornet”. The design incorporates many of the graphic features found on earlier Canadian Forces aircraft as well as markings representative of Canada. The blue and gold represents 85 years of the Canadian Air Force and 100 years of powered flight in Canada. The gold also represents the colors of the former Centennaires and Golden Hawks, the red and white striping is a stylized representation of the lightning bolts of the CF-101 Voodoo. On the vertical stabilizers just above the inscription 100 1909 - 2009 is a depiction of the “Silver Dart” that made the first powered flight in Canada in 1909. Also on the vertical stabilizers are colorful depictions of the Northern Lights with the single North Star at the top. On the actual aircraft just below the red and white markings as well as several other locations there are 100 printed names of people considered to have made noteworthy contributions to Canadian aviation. On the left engine cowling are the names of the people that paint crew, on the outside of the landing gear door are other names of people associated with this project as well as the CF-18 Demo Team logo. There are some signatures and company logos on the inside of the landing gear doors and other little markings for you to discover.