It is a prototype stealth fighter developed for the US Air Force in 1990. It wasn’t deployed because it was not selected. At the time of its release, it was talked about as a rather maniac aircraft.
Quite large parts of the fuselage stand out. At first glance, there seems to be no distortion.
The YF-23 is a prototype stealth fighter and only 2 have been built. This decal is different from the real photo in terms of numbers and unit marks. I found out that this decal is different from the actual marking. Fictitious markings of what it would be like if YF-23 were deployed, and a combat unit at Langley, Virginia. The aircraft of the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) project is the actual one. What should I do, no marking? The parts fit well, but Hobby Boss… I bought it about 8 years ago and had it in stock, so I can’t complain now. I should have checked and bought it carefully. I don’t care if it’s a fictitious unit, let’s just finish it anyway. There are decals from Caracal Models, but they are in short supply, so I wonder if I can barely get them from overseas mail order. Even if there is a stock, those who offer a premium or low price are fraud websites.
The mold of the cockpit is fine, firm and feels precise.
There was a landing gear cabin under the cockpit, and even the tires were glued.
It’s also a rare process to assemble three landing gears first. There were quite a lot of parts. However, the landing gear assembly wasn’t as confusing as the Russian jet, and it worked. The mounting position of the parts is a little suspicious…
I just glued the landing gear parts mentioned above to the fuselage.
The upper side of the fuselage has jet engine nozzles glued to it, and the interior color of the fuselage is blown, so it’s going to take a little more time before the top and bottom of the fuselage are glued together.
(2024/06/27)
The cockpit seat had a tiny bit of a seatbelt mold, but I glued a few more seatbelt parts on it.
The meter panel of the cockpit was attached with a decal, and I felt it was a little colorful, but when I put it on, it makes me feel more real. I haven’t actually seen the inside of the cockpit of the actual aircraft, so I think it will be OK if the atmosphere increases. Just in case, I covered the decal with clear coating.
The aircraft was instructed to put a 20g weight in the nose. This fishing weight, 1 piece is 15 g, so I added 1 whole piece and crushed it finely and stuffed it a little more.
I attached the main wing and vertical stabilizer roughly. It’s not vertical, though, in this case. Oh, this aircraft is pretty cool. Its unusual form makes it interesting to make. I am impressed that wings of this shape fly well.
It’s a prototype stealth fighter, so it doesn’t have any missiles and doesn’t open weapon bays, so it’s a pretty simple aircraft. If the decal is supposed to be used for actual deployment, I wish Hobby Boss would have shown the spirit to open the weapon bay and actually see the missiles and bombs.
(2024/06/29)
Painting the cockpit area in black and airbrushing the jet engine nozzles in black. The panel line is quite shallow for the Hobby Boss kit, I dug it all over again. It was twisted quite a lot but I traced the whole area. Despite the impression that the fuselage was simple, there are quite a lot of panel lines when I take a closer look.
Again, the landing gear was assembled first, so I painted it white. Masking here is troublesome, but if I assembled it after painting and the painted surface gets dirty with adhesive, I wonder which method is the best, such as recovery.
I just finished painting the plane. I used 2 colors, gray FS36320 and gray FS36375. These two colors are quite similar, so I can’t tell the difference unless I look closely. When I was airbrushing, I often tried to see how far I had painted by shining strong light. The 1/48 is impressive because the aircraft is so big.
Although it is plain and not many, decals are attached. The decal, which is clearly an fictional setting, passed this time. It may not be the same as the original aircraft, but this kind of marking might be present during many flight tests. I guess they don’t care too much about the appearance because they just fly around the base for a test.
(2024/07/02)
I noticed a crack in the landing gear post while weathering. The supports are surely thin for the weight of this kit. Moreover, I thought that the degree of force applied was not the angle that can bear the weight. That’s why metal landing gear is on the market for the 1/48 scale YF-23. As a solution, I made holes in the airframe and tires and reinforced them with 1mm brass wire. If I paint it black, it won’t stand out so much, and I don’t want the poles to bend when I decorate it. I’ve seen Hobby Boss and Trumpeter aircraft plastic models with metal struts in the big ones. I was impressed by its strength when I actually made it. It may be because they took countermeasures in these circumstances.
YF-23 is completed. The YF-23 is a stealth fighter prototype jointly developed by U.S. companies Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) and McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). The YF-23 was designed as a competitor to the F-22 Raptor as part of the US Air Force’s Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program.
It has a low radar cross-sectional area and is designed to be less likely to be detected by enemy radar. Stealth is enhanced by the characteristic diamond-shaped wing and tail arrangement. The YF-23 marks an important milestone in the history of stealth technology and fighter design. Its innovative design and high performance have greatly influenced future aircraft development.
A total of 50 flight tests were conducted on the 2 prototype YF-23. These flight tests were conducted between 1989 and 1990 to evaluate stealth performance, maneuverability, flight characteristics and engine performance.
I thought about blowing smoke on the canopy, but I didn’t because it was more interesting to see the inside.
There was an instruction to paint the air intake in white. I tried my best to paint with a Vallejo brush paint, but the unevenness of the brush always comes out, so I sprayed it with an airbrush at the end.
I thought it would be unnatural if the landing gear was pure white, so I weathered lightly as usual.
If I look at this aircraft closely, it has a complicated curved surface. There must be various ways not to be caught by radar.
It’s as big as the MiG-31 out of all the ones I’ve made. I think it’s pretty big even for modern jet planes.
The airplane has an interesting shape, but since it is large and there are not many protrusions, I thought it might be a monotonous modeling, so I added some variations such as darkly smeared the panel line or slightly faded colored and patchy painting. I had some trouble with decals and landing gear, but I’m glad that it was completed properly.
(2024/07/04)
