Starting out 'over-easy,' with just a straightforward build with just a change of markings.
I ordered Hasegawa's Egg-Plane Hornet online--dirt cheap---from an Asian supplier. I knew shipping would take a while (it actually didn't quite take two weeks), but for the ridiculously cheap price, that was okay.
This was the 'stock' illustration on the web-page from which I ordered:
However...when it comes to dealing with far-away suppliers, this is not my first rod-e-ar-u; I understand that what you see is not always what you get.
The good news: the kit came in 4-D! (And I didn't have to pay any extra for that....)
Nice instruction sheet, showing the choice of marking options....
But unfortunately...none of those markings were actually in the kit. No decals of any sort, in fact; the on-the-sprues pieces came tampo-printed with...well I'm not sure what.
US wing markings, obviously, but...is that the Maltese AF insignia on the tail?
[I fully acknowledge that one of the 'adventures' of buying things with foreign-language text on the packaging is that you're never quite sure that they're not telling you so right there on the lid: "Heads up, you gullible Occidental, what's in the box has no relation to the otherwise very-appealing box art!"]
As it happens, I had other plans for the markings, in any case, so the situation didn't bother me. I happen to be currently-building the old Italeri 1/72 kit of the 'RF-18A'...destined for some cool Kuwaiti aftermarket markings...so I had these lovelies left over in about the right size:
Oh, Canada! I had toyed with the idea of actually trying to do one of the very stylish Canadian Hornet Demo schemes from over the years...but I ran into a problem dictated by the 'egg' design. The kit's tail fins...where most of the dazzling demo-scheme art would go...are only about the size of a penny:
Even given the possibility of enlarging the fins somewhat, there's not a lot of display space to work with...besides which the 'egg' contours kind of screw up elaborate trim-lines and such. So I'll probably just have to settle for a 'plain wrapper' CF-18, with appropriate tweaks...like the nose-mounted spotlight and the LEX fences...to make it suitable.
Until next time...let me be the first to say it:
"The Egg-planes are on the flight-line...waiting for the order to scramble."
Onward and upward....