Wobblin’ Goblin

[bar side]

Having built a 1/48 TR-1 and a SR-71 Blackbird these seemed a logical next project to go on the list.  As most of my builds are Europe based 80s & 90s jets, and many are HAS dwellers, there is a cross over.  The F-117 Night Hawk or Wobblin’ Goblin.

Afew weeks back I got hold of an old Monogram / Revell kit of one (1/48 as usual) and when I finished my Phantom double build I pulled it from the stash.  
 

 

Looks pretty good & even comes with etch grills.  Thinking about putting some lights in it too.  All three undercarriage legs have taxi lights & top & bottom anti collision beacons.  This is a sim shot but you get the idea

 

 

Why HAS dweller then?  Well I have read that they unofficially ended up in the HASes at Lakenheath and Spangdahlem when over this side of the pond.

 

I had always thought they were a bit small, but this is the main body with a Phantom for scale

 

 

So I will have a proper look at the kit & see how it looks.  Any hints or tip appreciated

[LorenSharp]

This should be an excellent build. i''ve built  this kit a time or three in the past. Biggest drawback was it didn't have a viewable weapons bay but otherwise went together without any issues. The bottom seam attaching to the top was the worst if I remember. Had a bit of a gap.

[bar side]

Good to know it’s an ok kit @LorenSharp.  I do want to find a picture of the nose of one poking out of a Lakenheath HAS

 

 

The kit decals are both one digit off the airframes that visited Lakenheath

 

https://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=187395

 

[Lord Riot]

That’s huge, I hadn’t realised how big these were either. I never caught them at Lakenheath but did once see one do a fly by at Woodford airshow.

 

I always think it rather odd how they seemed to be retired with almost unseemly haste, when some other far less advanced types served over 30-odd years. Was the F-117 actually not really very good? Or just had its role superseded by drones? Yet the F-15E is still active and that basic design is far from stealthy and about fifty years old!

[alt-92]

2 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

how they seemed to be retired with almost unseemly haste, when some other far less advanced types served over 30-odd years.

It's 1970s stealth tech.

By the end of the 1990s, the progress made in the field was quite different. Add to that the small amount of by now aging airframes, less 'need' for their niche capabilities in non-contested airspace and enthusiastic cost-cutting.... 

 

Old scans from the archive - Gilze-Rijen AB in early 1990s.

 

 

 

[Mikey-1980]

 

I remember them being at Air Fete at RAF Mildenhall in the mid 90's. and they are HUGE up close.

 

looking forward to seeing your build progress

[bar side]

Cheers guys - good to know people are interested.  I hear they are still working at the Tonopah ranges & probably make interesting aggressors to go up against.  I guess it was out of date once the F-35 came on stream & the lack of speed to get out of a situation.  The business end of a F-35 is quite I pressive, as is the noise!

 

[billn53]

2 hours ago, bar side said:

 The business end of a F-35 is quite I pressive, as is the noise!

 

We’ll be getting F-35s soon here in Madison, with the Wisconsin ANG. (Their F-16s are already history, having recently been turned in and the pilots now doing transition training).

Some residents have been up in arms about the F-35s’ allegedly high noise levels, but I for one can’t wait to hear them overhead!!!

[bar side]

Well @billn53 I have to say they are about as good as the F-15s for noise.  I wasn’t expecting great things but they are good

 

[k5054nz]

Which reminds me: how neat would it be to see an F-117 and F-35 formation?

[bar side]

Well @k5054nz there wouldn’t be much to see on radar….

[kiseca]

4 minutes ago, bar side said:

Well @k5054nz there wouldn’t be much to see on radar….

Just two hummingbirds doing 450mph

[Antti_K]

20 hours ago, bar side said:

I hear they are still working at the Tonopah ranges & probably make interesting aggressors to go up against.

 

They are. Or at least some of them are. F-117As has been spotted at low level flying a racetrack pattern together with an F-16 over Panamint Valley. And there is a brand new decal set for these present day Nighthawks! If you are going to use the kit's decals then check whether you need the original style main wheels and the cylindrical radar reflectors on the underside (I started my Tamiya kit as #828 but the decals were useless and all my scratch built details had to come of). The new decals can also be used for the original paint scheme (before F-117A was revealed to general public).

 

Cheers,

Antti

[bar side]

Useful info @Antti_K do you have a thread with your build on?  I guess like the F-35s now they had radar reflectors when peace time flying. I was going to go for decals for their 93 Lakenheath appearance, so need to have a closer check as to what they were wearing & what the kit decals include
 

 

 

[bar side]

Looking at what’s in the box and found a couple of lumps that shouldn’t be there.  Injection point residue - can’t even test fit the right wing until they are gone

 

 

So there are 4 little L shaped location points around the bomb bay doors but no kit internal structure to go there.  That’s what you were talking about @LorenSharp?  Wouldn’t be a massive job to cut the doors out an make new ones from plasticard.  But then got to build a whole bay.  Is it worth it?

 

 

So lots of masking tape and this is what you get

 

 

 

And the fit seems pretty terrible!  Going to have to start putting bits together together a better idea.

Now centre of gravity looks to be an issue.  The kit comes with a clear rod to stop it tail sitting.  So nose weight needed 

And lights.  Three wheel taxi lights, top& bottom anti collision beacons and it seems mall under wing tip lights.  I thought this would have less lights.  Oh well

[LorenSharp]

This will definitely give your patience a workout. It's like they were going to include the bomb bay but for whatever reason( classified information maybe?) it was never added. Interesting little aside on the faceting, One of the selling points to the Air Force was it had the  radar signature cross section of a BB. Air force didn't believe them so it was rigorously tested  to make sure Lockheed didn't "fudge" the figures. But it was reconfirmed with each retest. But the funny thing is with faceting, this configuration no matter how large you made the aircraft, say the size of a B-52, or as small as this model, the radar cross section was still the same as small as a BB. In fact on of the tests they thought they had caught Lockheed exaggerating when the test model showed up on the Pylon, which had to be re-designed because it had a "larger cross section, turned out a bird decided to land on the top of the model. This was mentioned in the book Skunkworks by Ben Rich. If you can find it, well worth the read.

[Antti_K]

2 hours ago, bar side said:

I was going to go for decals for their 93 Lakenheath appearance, so need to have a closer check as to what they were wearing & what the kit decals include

 

It looks like you need the Caracal Models' decal set CD48138. It gives you both the Holloman letters "HO" and 49th FW tail markings, plus a wide selection of other possibilities.

 

In 1993 those Nighthawks were most likely already equipped with new brakes and late style wheels with triangular slots on wheel hubs. Originally the hubs had round holes. At that time national insignias were painted on slightly different locations when comparing with the original paint scheme. Be careful with the stencils and ejection seat triangles as they changed slightly over the years.

 

I didn't create a WIP thread and I'm still "planning" a RFI for my #803 (chose a plane that participated in most combat operations). I have some WIP photos mainly of the cockpit and underside as the praised Tamiya kit has some visible faults.

 

Cheers,

Antti

[bar side]

That’s interesting @LorenSharp - just imagine a B-52 sized design!

 

For those who don’t know the F-117 came from Ben Rich’s Hopeless Diamond concept based on long overlooked Russian radar research.  The former Lockheed Skunkworks boss Kelly Johnson (designer of the F-104, SR-71, U-2 and much more) disagreed with the design concept and lost a bet to Ben Rich when the concept worked.  The design is aerodynamically unstable and only flies due to computer control.  The result was that the early Have Blue prototypes wobbled a lot - hence the nickname the Wobblin’ Goblin.  Apparently these wobbles had been eliminated by the time the F-117A arrived but the name stuck.

 

The kit des come with HO decals @Antti_K I will get a better shot later of what is in the box

[LorenSharp]

18 hours ago, bar side said:

That’s interesting @LorenSharp - just imagine a B-52 sized design!

 

For those who don’t know the F-117 came from Ben Rich’s Hopeless Diamond concept based on long overlooked Russian radar research.  The former Lockheed Skunkworks boss Kelly Johnson (designer of the F-104, SR-71, U-2 and much more) disagreed with the design concept and lost a bet to Ben Rich when the concept worked.  The design is aerodynamically unstable and only flies due to computer control.  The result was that the early Have Blue prototypes wobbled a lot - hence the nickname the Wobblin’ Goblin.  Apparently these wobbles had been eliminated by the time the F-117A arrived but the name stuck.

 

The kit des come with HO decals @Antti_K I will get a better shot later of what is in the box

Kelly also tried to warn Ben that the Wobblin' Goblin would be a security nightmare, it was. This from the man who routinely left highly classified documents on his desk opened. His reasoning for doing this," Nobody would pay attention to something setting out in the open, when you start stamping "Classified, or Top Secret, or Cosmic or what ever people get curious and they have to have a peek." This gave the higher ups conniptions on a regular basis. But since this was Kelly, nobody dared try to correct let alone cross him. Spitting God's eye would have been safer, not to mention easier. When he retired, things changed with super cautious security.

 I hope your kit decals are better than mine were. heavily yellowed.

[bar side]

Checked the kit decals - they look ok but no HO codes. I guess these are older but don’t look too yellowed

 

 

I checked eBay and there are no aftermarket decals available on UK location, some may have a look at local suppliers or have to stick with the jet decals.

**- just checked Hannants and they have them for £14 plus postage.  Best part of £20.  Will have a think about that!

 

Talking sticking to kit items, the cockpit isn’t all bad.  Raised detail, no decals, but I am not sure that an etch set would make a massive improvement.  The seat is ok too - even comes with etch buckles!  
 

 

I have since out a grey prime coat on to see how it stands out.  
 

Got a few bits together on the tail and ailerons.  Comparisons to the Phantom don’t really do it’s size justice as the Phantom  is fairly chunky.  So how about a Cessna 150 for scale?

 

 

Also figured out why the back end wouldn’t sit nicely - I taped the exhaust section in upside down.  Fits somewhat better now. Doh

 

The wings have out & starboard lenses top & bottom so fitting an led between them will be easy.  Then three drop down leds in the wheel wells to go on the undercarriage.  Always risky as the wiring needs to be finished before the body is sealed up and one knock and the led will break.  Then the two flashing leds for the top & bottom anti collision beacons.  Wiring them together always causes a problem.  Even with resistors in place the power draw from the led flash makes the fixed lights dip.  So maybe two circuits would be better.  Need to check I have enough leds

Edited December 13, 2022 by bar side

[bar side]

I was sitting there thinking about this tonight & realised I never resolved whether the bomb bay doors should be open or not.  Definitely doable scratch build, but would they be open in a HAS with the aircraft lights on?  I suspect if the pilot was getting in the bombs would already be loaded.  Like the F-35 the internal stores would be away and ready to taxi out.  So gut feel is they stay closed, but inside the bomb bay would give a good place to hide away the electrical connections, although underneath they would hardly be prominent.

Decisions, decisions…

 

I did however think that I should prime the main panels before fitting the clear panels in the nose & underside.  Then they can be masked up before top coat.  No point preshading under black!  Bit of pastel grey or white after to pick out panel lines etc

[LorenSharp]

I've seen video of the f-22  closing it's bay doors right before starting to Taxi out. The Nighthawk might do the same? At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. and as you mentioned it would make hiding the electrics easier.

[Bell209]

On 12/9/2022 at 10:28 AM, billn53 said:

I for one can’t wait to hear them overhead!!!

That'll wear off. Loudest aircraft I've ever heard in 'burner - even louder than the B-1B!

[bar side]

Tell me if it works but try this F-35

 

https://vimeo.com/781246044

[bar side]

Mind you F-15s still sound pretty good

 

https://vimeo.com/781244652