The Modern Super Hornet Guide: The Boeing F-18E/F & EA-18G Exposed
I do not use the term astonishing lightly. I have quite a few built-up F-18A and later models in my collection, dating back to a highly modified and corrected Testors F-18 in 72-scale, ca. 1982. I swore at the Italeri kit, released and built about 9 or so years ago in 48-scale. I started research on an EA-18G recently. Every single question, concern, and nagging detail consideration on any Super Hornet kit I ve wrestled with is answered by this book. A modeler in research mode will find answers less in the chapter text, but more in a very thoroughly documented or captioned series of photographs, often referencing back to page numbers in the text. Reproductions of some tech data are included, for example, weapons and stores loadout charts. This book serves the purposes of the modeler exceptionally well. There are indeed 969 color photographs as promised by the publisher on 168 glossy-paper pages in a 8.5 x 11 binding, All work appears to be properly referenced, and one will quickly notice that the majority of the photos are taken by the author. The guide title is well-taken, with the book organized into chapters covering aircraft examples and squadron operations, top, bottom, inside and outside views, a special chapter on the Growler, and an unusually detailed chapter for books of this type. There are 22 pages devoted to the weapons that the Super Hornet is capable of carrying. The accidental or unexpected detail information is great, such as weapons carts and tugs in the background, even the refueling drogue on a buddy store. I found two very small negatives that may not matter much to most readers. Captions are sometimes a little bit tricky to tie to the correct photograph, but given the density of photographs and how one caption will occasionally address two or more photos, this is a very minor concern. I found myself annotating the book with arrows connecting the caption to the picture, so I wouldn t get lost. I really appreciate having a bibliography or reference list to follow up with more research and there is no such list. This is also a very, very minor point. Reid Air appears to be a very specialized publishing house catering to a niche market. Some of their modern jet guides are out-of-print, or nearly so. So my suggestion is take whatever action you feel is appropriate if Super Hornets are of interest to you. As way of summarizing this book, consider an attempt to win Nationals in two or three years. You could use this book as a major reference to build a Super Hornet large-scale cutaway perfectly, down to the level of the hydraulic pressure gauges being in the incorrect needle position, since naturally your model s hydraulic pumps would not be operating. All dreaming aside, this is a book well worth having. --IPMS USA websiteA good reference book is something every single serious modeler or aviation enthusiast desperately looks for and I am both. With unconcealed impatience I went on reading and analyzing Jake Melampy's new book "The Modern Super Hornet Guide- Boeing F-18E/F & EA-18G Exposed". Already at first glance the book seems to be of high quality and pure luxury with a beautiful cover photo of a Super Hornet completing this impression. The insides of the book continuing in the same manner... printed on the highest quality glossy paper with exceptionally high quality printed photos leaves you with your mouth wide open. In my huge book collection, I have not had the opportunity to see a book printed with so much attention on the quality of photos as in this book. Reid Air Publications has clearly set new standards for anyone in the business. The book itself fascinates you just by taking into hands and it's simply difficult to resist the impulse to possess it. A great addition to everyone's library!      Between the covers    The book is divided in sixteen logical sections:    1 Introduction  2 Air Wing Work-Ups  3 Super Hornet Squadrons  4 Forward Fuselage  5 Fuselage top (more appropriate would be Forward Fuselage or Forward Top Fuselage)  6 Cockpit  7 Fuselage top  8 Wings  9 Vertical Stabilizers  10 Horizontal Stabilizers  11 Aft Fuselage  12 Fuselage Bottom  13 Landing Gear  14 EA-18G Growler  15 Super Hornet at War  16 Weapon Stations and Ordnance    Most of these sections are further divided in subsections, allowing Jake to give us unprecedented insight on every single detail of the Super Hornet - regardless of version. There are a lot of good books covering a similar thematic, but there is one thing that distinguishes Jake s books far above the most of the others and leaving competition far behind the way Jake has taken the photos. Often we have the photos of some aircraft details, but still we find it difficult to create an idea of the actual appearance and shape. And this is exactly where this book is brilliant! All photos were taken from best angle allowed to represent that part or detail and if needed, from couple of carefully chosen different angles that leaves you no doubt about the shape or size of these aircraft parts. And somehow, Jake has avoided the disruptive backgrounds that would steal the focus from many main objects. This is only possible when the author has done their homework in order to become familiar with the airplane to the last detail, before he started the shooting session.    I have desperately tried to find some detail or part of the Super Hornet not covered in this book and to highlight on it... but I haven t managed to do that. Earlier versions... later versions of the Super Hornet... Growler... everything is inside the book.    In preparation for reviewing the new Hasegawa 1/48 EA-18G Growler I am going to get from Hobby Link Japan, this book is the best thing that has happened to me and it couldn t appear at a better moment. Maybe you want to build the latest large scale Trumpeter 1/32 EA-18G Growler? Or you are looking beyond all this and waiting for 1/24 or even larger scale? No place for worries... the book will provide you more info than you will ever going to need.      Once again with this ultimate Super Hornet book, Reid Air Publications raised the already high standards set up by their previous editions, which make their publications one of a kind. Maybe with no intention to doing that, but Reid Air Publications continues to create the modelers' Bibles, one after another. Their books have all attributes to be preserved as archive documents that will last forever. We, who are contemporaries of these books, will be proud to have original copies for our shelves ... and for our offspring that will follow us. --inscale.org website