This is another of those reviews that I've been waiting a long time to get to. Ever since I discovered World Peacekeepers/Power Team Elite brand of toys, I was especially enthused to get my hands on a few of these being a big fan of Joe-compatible jets. My first and best love among GI Joe vehicles was the SkyStriker, which when I started this blog were very easy to find at retail However, by that time, the Big PTE jets had long since come and gone from retail and online was the only option; even then, they were expensive and sporadically available. My hunt for one of these things went on for nearly a year: I had won an internet auction and had gotten it for a steal, but then the seller claimed it was "damaged" and refunded my money. Second attempt broke down because I didn't have the requisite cash at the time (in honesty, I had low-balled a little on the offer). Eventually my patience was rewarded and I was able to collect a total of four over the next year or so.
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| Power Team Elite 'Hornet' in retail packaging |
Do I really need four?! It's likely I don't, but then again there are a few variants out there and one I do not yet have. Plus, I'm hooked on aircraft in general, and an airfield full of planes all laid out would be a dream diorama for me if not for the prohibitive space issues. The four variations I know of are the grey, black, green camo, and a desert camouflage. I have examples in gray and one in black (one of the grey examples that someone had done a Sky Striker custom paint job on has broken wingtips, more on that later...).
There's really not much to say about the retail packaging other than it shows you pretty much everything you're getting in the package. There's nothing elaborate going on with packaging arrangement, but as it's not a playset there really doesn't have to be. It's actually pretty easy to take out and detach from the few wires that are holding the main body of the aircraft in place.
The bare plane is very sleek looking. This gray model seems to be the most widely available of the variants. It's body has been 'weathered' with a light blackening, detail the other variants lack. The canopy has been given a tinge of blue to complement the grey scheme. As far as I know, the other variants all have a transparent canopy.
Between the above and below images, you'll find all the accessories that come with the Hornet. You receive two figures: a pilot and what appears to be some sort of landing signal officer. The accessories that belong with the figures are a paddle, signalling wand, and a few gas cans that you see quite frequently with PTE sets. While the paddle and wand match the LSO well, the inclusion of the gas cans is nonsense in principal. Jet fighters carry thousands of pounds worth of fuel, and filling them a few gallons at a time is just silly.
The figures themselves are an afterthought, a given in this line of toys. They are blocky with rough articulation and the pilot lacks any head articulation (but at least that orange vest is a complete win!). Nothing different than from previous reviews of this line. However, the rest of the accessories really shine!
Rounding out the accessories are a ladder, two bomb racks, four bombs, four missiles, and two external fuel tanks. The bombs look like Mk 82s, the missiles on the above right are AIM-9 Sidewinders, those on the left look like AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles, and rounding it off are two external fuel tanks. On the grey version, you will see yellow (or black) tips on the missiles, and a darker shade of grey on the fuel tanks. Near the bottom of this review, you will see the Black version replaces these colors with red.
The one-sided instruction sheet is simple and probably isn't really necessary, provided you can figure out that the wings actually need to be put on. It's just one of those obligatory things you have to include, I guess, so there it is.
The stickers are plain and not very fancy. They do offer you a good array of number choices, which is often something missing from Hasbro sticker sheets.
One thing I find very appealing about the F/A-18 from Power Team elite is that it fills a certain hole in the GI Joe organization for me: a true multi-role jet armed for both air-to-air and air-to-ground engagements. The Sky Striker has six air-to-air armaments and the Tomcat was built primarily as an interceptor designed to protect the carrier fleet from cruise missiles and other air threats. It was a large aircraft with a lot of thrust and speed. While later it was adapted for use as a bomber, close air support (CAS), and Forward Air Control (FAC) roles where it performed admirably. However, it was expensive and lacked the low speed agility of smaller fighters. To me the Sky Striker's primary purpose is better suited for air-superiority, while the Hornet can be the workhorse strike fighter.
The PTE Hornet's accessory compliment suits it for the strike fighter role well, but it cannot carry all of it. It has one PTE styled slide pylons on each wing tip and two more on each wing interior. It has six total weapon stations. The four bombs can be attached to a total of two pylons by first attaching two to each multiple ejector rack.
The mount format is identical to that of the A-10 Thunderbolt from PTE that I reviewed some months ago. The fit of these accessories isn't always the correct fit moving from one toy to the next, but with a few adjustments mixing and matching various bombs, missiles, and other ordinance works just fine.
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| Note the FLIR mounted on the starboard intake nacelle and the asymmetric load out. |
Of course, the load out doesn't necessarily need to be symmetrical as the Navy shows us in the image above with one wing pylon featuring an air to ground munition and the other with a couple of A2A missiles on a multi-ejector rack. What is very interesting is that this toy reflects the weapon stations on the real jet quite accurately. It's only missing a central hardpoint and two hardpoints on the sides of the fuselage that are often used to mount electronics equipment. The below image shows such a piece of equipment molded into the fuselage of the Hornet which appears to be a Forward Looking Infra Red (FLIR) pod. However, this shape is molded on each side of the body, even though you only need one FLIR mounted. I guess this is a minor point, but it would have been great to have included an asymmetric fuselage to reflect the need for only a single FLIR with either an empty or a different shaped blob of plastic to include something like an ECM pod, or even better two weapons pylons and a few AAMRAM missiles (very wishful thinking).
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| View of the port wing and fuselage and the associated FLIR. |
The Landing gear of the aircraft is simple, robust, but it lacks much in the way of sophistication. It swings out towards it's resting position against the body or latches closed thanks to a simple friction catch. In between, it is just free to flop around and there is nothing to hold it in the open position other than the weight of the toy when in its landed position. This is probably a great decision to keep the gear simple and avoid breakage from a toy perspective, but it leaves something to be desired for more adult collector looking for a bit more in the way of elegance.
The cockpit is large and spacious. This is one of the criticisms that I've heard voiced about this particular toy:that it's too big and bulbous and detracts too much from the overall shape of the otherwise sleek aircraft. It is large and fits even the largest 4" figures (trying to find my Retaliation Roadblock for confirmation) in either seated position. I honestly don't think the enlargened cockpit detracts from it's looks and in fact is one of a number of strong points on the airplane.
Both the front and rear seat positions have a lot of detail, including an elaborate panel with a series of multi-functional displays for the Radar Intercept Officer. Both seats also have a removable flight stick, which makes it play easily as a trainer. Buttons line the side consoles for a very high depth of detail. While I can't vouch for whether this looks like a real Hornet cockpit, it's busy enough to imagine that it gets pretty close.
The canopy and windshield is made of three pieces of soft, clear plastic. The main piece attaches with a formed hinge into the rear piece and secures itself closed with a friction tab against the front for a fairly secure fit. The canopy is removable and the simple friction hinge appears to be fairly reliable.
However, under the category of potential deal-killers, let's talk about something not so reliable.
This PTE Hornet features wings with folding tips, just like the real thing. Displaying the big planes can be a challenge because of space, but this feature helps a lot and is quite cool, visually. The wingtips come uninstalled, and once they snap into their slots (below), it works well locking in place in both up and down positions....at first.
The wingtips assemble by sliding the tabs on the tips into the slots on the wings....
Nearest I can tell, Power Team Elite tried to remedy this in later versions by reinforcing the tab and changing the slot it turned within to accommodate the change. Above I have what I believe is a more recent model of this airplane (top) and below it is another, probably older version of this same toy with a slightly different style tab. The bottom one is a simple cylinder forming the axis of the folding wing, and the top image shows a plastic reinforcement to that tab.
(never mind the color scheme, I bought this second-hand. It was part of someone's project to paint it up like a Sky Striker)
In the image below you can see where this tab has been sheered off completely.
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| Sorry about the blurry photo, but you should be able to see the difference between the un-reinforced tab (above right) and the reinforced tab (below left) |
When it holds up, the folding wings are an amazing feature. It's cool to look at and just as importantly, it makes the plane a little easier to display. I'm really not sure what else they could do to make this stronger. I suppose if you are able to get one of these that you should remember to be very careful and try not to assemble/disassemble the wing ends too much. I would rather have this feature than not even with its fragility. I suppose you can always just glue the wingtips if they break (although I prefer to try to epoxy the tabs back on). Just be aware of this issue when buying, and of course be very careful when handling it.
I've accepted the fact that Joe scaling is a mismatch of proportions. Some jets like the Skystriker measures out pretty close to 1:32 compared to it's F-14 counterpart, while a lot of land based vehicles are closer to 1:18. That said, the real F-14 was substantially larger than the real legacy F/A-18, and seven feet longer. However, the PTE Hornet is larger than the Sky Striker; the hornet is just over 23" and the Sky Striker is just under 23". It may be a little tough to judge based on the image below with my makeshift photo setup with the two tiered effect, but the toys are roughly comparable in size.
It's hard to judge Power Team Elite for this because making the plane smaller would have involved either making it a single seat toy, taking away the ample space of the well-done cockpit, or degrading the proportions of a very good looking toy. Given all the possible compromises, I think they chose all the right ones for this toy.
In summary this is one of my favorite Joe scaled planes due to it's features overall look and polish. It's durability score takes a hit because of the wing-tip issue. I envision this plane as one that fills a perceived gap in Joe Equipment, that of a versatile strike fighter less expensive than the Sky Striker.
Anyway, here are some shots of the black version. While it doesn't presume towards the realistic appearance of the grey model, it's more striking, visually. Please note, many of the decals are NOT from the original Power Team Elite kit. I bought this one from someone who placed some well chosen GI Joe stickers on it as an enhancement. I wasn't going to remove them. You can see the remanent of the sticker sheet below.
Quality: C- (D on earlier models with weaker wingtips)
It takes a hit for it's fragile wings, but otherwise it's well built and should take decent abuse. The wings are a big deal, however
Appearance: A-
Very sleek and I like the proportions. Ample decals and detail in various places
Play Value/Features: A
Good accessories, good figure compatibility. Wingtips create a quality problem, but they are a boon for the toy overall.
Overall Score: B/B+
If somehow they could have made the wingtips more rugged., this would launch itself up towards "A" territory
