It's not Scarlett Johansson, but it is a Hobby Boss 1/48 Northrop YF-23 Black Widow II, FINISHED!

[LorenSharp]

I know, it's not like I don't have two VERY big projects already on the bench, but here we go once more into the breech.

Although it is another Northrop subject. Number 3 on the bench. But this will be a nice little diversion that SHOULD be OOB.

Simple and easy to break the monotony of these long builds.

Let's see what we've got shall we?

[LorenSharp]

Though it seems like a simple kit, it does have some pretty good detail. Starting with the gear bays,

First a coat of white then dark wash to bring out the detail.  

[LorenSharp]

The instrument panel I used a coat of silver to the LCD screens then a light coat of transparent yellow then a coat of green. Then highlighting the buttons and switches with a silver pencil.

Same with the cockpit

The instructions call for 20g of weight I added 4-7g  stick on wheel weights to the nose.

[LorenSharp]

Next the addition of the intakes

[Gadget2012]

I built one of these a couple of years ago, forgot to add the noise weight so had to perform rhinoplasty on a very beautiful airframe 🫣

I have another in my stash so following with interest!

[LorenSharp]

Welcome aboard Gadget. 

 

[LorenSharp]

This is a rather straight forward kit. After letting interior parts dry, time to put the top and bottom fuselage parts together and the wings and ?tail.

Now it looks like something that would be at home on the Battlestar Galactica. I do have to fix one wing though, It decided it wanted to go on an unauthorized test flight off the bench, separating a wing but not a serious development.

Next the gear added.  at least it's not a tail sitter(Thank God). I 'll get the wing tended to then I think it will be time to stick on the decals. not much left to do.

 

[Thom216]

The fighter that should have been... 

Some lovely goings on here.

[LorenSharp]

Yes by all accounts from what I found out the "Widder" beat the Raptor hands down with possibly the exception of the cost per unit. It came down to DOD wanting to keep their contractors busy, and since Northrop had several projects in the works it needed to keep Lockheed busy. So they got the project. which even though was initially cheaper per unit cost, ended up costing more and delayed almost to the point of cancellation because of problems with the design that didn't show up until start of manufacture. I liked how the project manager kept the general in charge of the testing away from the aircraft before the flight so he didn't see the red hour glass on the bottom. Once seen in flight, and on the cover of Popular Science the Pentagon said' Remove that NOW!" Myself I think it brought a bit of class to the competition.

[LorenSharp]

Well time for a final update. This build went faster than I expected. But here are the final small bits. So far the only modification I've made has been to add some wires for the brakes on the main and nose gears.

[LorenSharp]

Then masked off for the engine exhaust tiles. a little bit of AK titanium and Model Master Burnt Metal followed with a dark wash, that didn't really do much. The panels lines are very fine and shallow. Not much room to get any shading to stick,

 

[LorenSharp]

Then the decals and the canopy.

And that takes us to the very last panel.

 

[LorenSharp]

A brief walkaround...

And being a black widow it must have the infamous red hour glass on the belly,

And for the heck of it, it's competitor in the fly off, a YF-22 Raptor I built a long time ago, for comparison.

 

[LorenSharp]

So there you have it,  An aircraft worthy of a Marvel character. Though looks more appropriate for a Mutant, but that's just me. I want to thank everyone for following me along on this brief little jaunt.

Not an outrageous over the top build like normal, but a simple, virtually OOB. All the comments and suggestions and assistance were greatly appreciated.

You can find the RFI here:

Now I have to get back to a large bomber that would be this planes cousin... Until next time, Stay Safe, Stay Healthy and Model on! 

[AdrianMF]

Fab work Loren. My favourite out of the F-22, 23, 32 and 35 collection, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that preference!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[LorenSharp]

Thanks Adrian. I'm glad you liked it.