MattSimps74 Posted June 28, 2017 Share Posted June 28, 2017 Hi All, My first WIP, and to be fair this one's been 'in progress' for quite a while. I've finally figured out photo posting, too -Thanks Bullbasket, I'm loving Village Photos! My Mojo for the build has been restored by this brilliant (as ever) Steve Ginter monograph, written by the guy who flew this gorgeous but ultimately doomed prototype. Bit of a double edged sword tho as I now have a shedload of really good photos and drawings of the thing (that will all have to be faithfully reproduced, so says that nagging little voice!) Anyhow - the shortcomings in this kit are well written up and bemoaned elsewhere - I just want to show you my fixes, for what it's worth! 1 - Awful (and really obvious) top of fuselage contour hollows amidships........ Solution - Traced the panel lines with frisket film, good old p-38 filler and then the panel lines were reinstated using the tracings. I also deepened the panel lines a bit on the bleed doors too, to break up a very stealthy and uniform top surface (which it was!). 2 - The Intakes (ohh the intakes) - no "before" pics from I'm afraid but they're readily available if you must look! ZACTOMAN is my hero here -he's doing a phenomenal 1/32 YF-23 project, I mean, just incredible! I've shamelessly plundered his project to knock these into shape ... His ones ... And mine !!!! Loads of reworking on the inside needed after this surgery! Hadn't really forseen that, but I cannibalised the kit trunking and broke out the Milliput to produce this.... Bit rough, but it will get another round of filler and primer and it will be pretty dingy in there anyway! And then (another) moment of lunacy - compressor faces (actually 1/72 Revell Victor ones as they are the perfect diameter for the kit's trunking).This had to be converted from oval to round with Milliput. Well, I know it's in there, as they say. 3 - bottom End - this was my biggest bugbear with this Kit. Northrop made two of these beauties - PAV-1 (Prototype Air Vehicle,BTW), with Pratt and Whitney YF-119 engines, and PAV-2, with GE YF-120 motors in. Result- two different back ends. Being the masochist I am, I wanted to do PAV-1, whereas Hobby Boss have depicted PAV-2. I just think the plane looks cooler in all-over Gunship grey. More surgery, then..... Heat-dissipating tiles rescribed - not 100% accurate (a tile spans the centreline of the trough in reality), but it's better than the Topps Tiles they've depicted!! Then a separate kit to make for the rear end conversion! I'll have to have another crack at casting copies of these bits - wonder if anybody else would like a set? and in situ (sidewalls anyway)...... Hopefully something like this will result. The edges of the trough will be covered with some thin metal foil or litho sheet or sommat, and embossed with a knife sharpening steel (in my mind!!) From what I can see the ZACTOMODELS kit will have both exhaust trough options, and not just the easy one!! 4 - Front office - What's in the box is fine. Aft of the seat the detail is mostly fictional, but who knows what access Hobby Boss had to the info. Most of the pics of this area I've seen come from the restoration projects, i.e. from after the PAVs were rescued from the desert. I added an Aires seat and scratched the Red/orange camera mounts. I razor-sawed some kerfs and scribed a bit to break up a rather flat and featureless wing or two.... And a few belly details amended, couple more to go!! and that's about it for now!!! Thanks for looking in, hope this has been of interest so far!! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted June 29, 2017 Share Posted June 29, 2017 Hello, very interresting WIP. do you planed to modify the bottom noze shape? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattSimps74 Posted June 30, 2017 Author Share Posted June 30, 2017 Hi Roadrunner - Wow I hadn't realised about the nose but you're dead right -it's well off! So yes -just printed off some nose sections from scale plans to template, and then out with the P38 and the coarse sticks! Thanks for the heads up - i'll try and post when the nose job is done!! Cheers, Matt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted June 30, 2017 Share Posted June 30, 2017 Very interesting work you are doing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattSimps74 Posted July 2, 2017 Author Share Posted July 2, 2017 So I've had a crack at that nose over the weekend - First off, scaled and printed the side elevation from plans, pritt-stuck them to some plastic sheet and cut them out. Oh dear it's worse than I thought!! And it's not just the underside either - the bridge of the nose is too high - there's a lump where there should be a hollow. Having a look through the monograph I spotted some 3-view drawings from Northrop showing views of the planned production F-23 airframe. As the YF-23 had no Radar, being more of a proof-of-concept sort of thing, it had a pretty skinny nose. It makes sense that production F-23s would have put on a bit of weight - have a look at the difference between the YF-22 and the production Raptors and you'll see what I mean! I reckon this is where Hobby Boss derived their nose profile and also perhaps why they included in-service decals? I dunno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattSimps74 Posted July 2, 2017 Author Share Posted July 2, 2017 Anyhow, the Fix went as follows.... Frisket film stuck down and panel lines traced with a sharp 2B pencil for later on..... Dammed the nose and filled it with resin, as it was clear I was going to be sanding though... Liberated this wonderful Makita belt grinder from work! - 120 grit belt and turned right down to the lowest speed setting so it didn't melt the plastic too much. got pretty close to the template outline. Ended up being a 3 minute job!! Then the tricky bit. Now I see why Hobby Boss chickened out here - It's a very complex profile!. Basically you've got a fairly standard F-16 type radome in the middle of that shape. Then the chines on the grow out either side to give it its stealthy characteristics, inspired by the TACIT BLUE prototype. So after some hours of sanding, checking with the templates, pictures and videos I arrived at this, and i'm pretty happy with it! The overall effect really ties the nose in with the lines of the rest of the model. Thanks again Roadrunner for the info. Next up, proper sand and polish, and replacing the scribing ! Cheers, Matt 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted July 3, 2017 Share Posted July 3, 2017 Great job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k5054nz Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Very impressive work! The sander is ideal for a job like this, excellent to see the result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space-Monkey Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Hi Matt, I'm following your progress with great interest and (from what it's worth from a novice) excellent work so far. I'm currently working on a Trumpeter F-117A 1/32 scale, but a dual build of both YF-23 prototypes will be my next project, so I'm looking forward to seeing you continue your build. Best regards, Peter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattSimps74 Posted June 25, 2019 Author Share Posted June 25, 2019 Goodness me I’d forgotten about this one, so no progress for a couple of years 😬!!! Hi Space Monkey - I’m planning to get my Airfix Spitfire XIV done first, then the FJ-4! Let me know if you’d like me to cast copies of the exhaust troughs when the time comes though!! cheers, Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Poultney Posted June 25, 2019 Share Posted June 25, 2019 Saw it said black widow so I read pretty confused when I saw something resembling an f22... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now