Revell 1/144 YF-23

[Daikan]

Greetings everyone,

I currently have three projects on the table, two of them being Revell kits. They are the Vasa, which of course does not belong here, and the YF-23. I already built Revell's YF-22 this summer so this is a nice addition:



Wasting no time, let's get started.



Now the first thing that had to go was the cockpit. It was rough, poorly molded and inaccurate. So I assembled a new cockpit from F/A-18E parts with an ACES II seat from an F-15E:



As with Revell's YF-22, they fail to mention this is a huge tailsitter. Lots of lead were required:



A nice feature are the raised lines which allow for adding some detail in the ceramic exhaust tiles.



With some basic geometry and Pritt posterbuddy, the 40 degree angle for the ruddervators can be reproduced.



Speaking of which, as with their YF-22, Revell fails to mention that the numbering of the ruddervators is wrong, they are switched, something I realized too late with the YF-22 when the rudders were already painted. Too bad.

That's it for now.

[Toolman Toto]

This looks great. I am going to bookmark your thread and wait excitedly for the report. Of the small 144s I've only built one so far, but they're really cool - especially they don't need so much space in the display .

[Daikan]

Thank you for your kind words Toto. As you can see, I am very fond of 1/144 as well. It originated from my (much) younger years when my room did not allow for much storage... So I conceived the plan to build as my aircraft in the scale as possible, so both building and collecting. Below you can see my current collection. All the small aircraft are 1/144 except the Dutch Police AH-64, which is 1/100 and was meant as a bit of a gimmick. I ordered the decals from Peddinghaus in 1/72 but the EC-135 was a disaster.

The armor and the Huey are from 2005, when I did not airbrush yet or paid particular attention to weathering. My current favourite is the Polish C-130E in centennial markings. It's not a Revell, but still a great kit. The He-111 is from Minicraft, the F-4J is Doyusha.

Enjoy.

[Daikan]

I primed and airbrushed the fuselage with FS36375/15% scale fade.



Tonight was all about the camouflage, being the darker FS36320/15%. I spent quite some time thinking about masking options but I went for posterbuddy anyway.








Then there were the AIM-120 missiles. Initially, I wanted something more unusual for armament, however, the YF-23's already intricate weapons bay system was molded so crudely that there would not be enough room for say, JDAM's or other munitions it could theoretically carry.




That's pretty much it for today, with some luck, I may add this to my 2019 builds.

[Green-Tiger]

Wow that is an interesting way to airbrush a model with the cardboard.
Very nice YF-23 i always liked that aircraft

Greets,
Dom

[Fox2]

Hi, could you finish your YF-23?

How does it look like? My YF-23 is just simple built. Completely painted with dark grey 77. Like all my 1/144 airplanes, the landing gear is retracted.