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What`s up guys? :) Here is what i got yesterday - this wonderful HobbyBoss kit in 1/48. The YF-23 is a very cool plane, but i plan to make it even cooler - for instance how it should look like as a serial F-23A Black Widow II. Of cource, i don`t plan to start it any time sooner. Yet check out this monter kit - so nice boundaries and continuities and curves and shapes... beauty beauty!

 

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Edited by my favs are F`s
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And the "other" parts of the kit: just 2 sprues + 1 with the clear parts. The details are amazing though. Perhaps the 2nd most detailed 1/48 cockpit i`ve ever came across. 

 

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The markings and the decals are just a few, with a good amount of "no step" stencils... i think they are for the YF plane. I`ll have to check out the situation with these stencils on a typical Raptor, cause i suppose that they are quite less. The instruction sheets are easy and beautiful as well.

 

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I started making a list with all the mods needed for a conversion into the F-23A, and will uppload it a bit later. Cheers for now and thx for coming by! :) 

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Hi buddy! These joints are flawlessly spot on... so perfect that i don`t want to touch them. But, the entire body will be extended 7-8mm, so the location of the wings too... and the joints respectively... :)))) w8 me a just bit more to finish editing the Edits list....ppp

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This is the EDITS List for now... subdivided into what should take place around the NOSE, MID-fuselage and AFT-fuselage sections:

 

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NOSE:
1 - Delete the nose chines and make instead angle-sloped chines like in the Raptor, and make them angle flat with the wings` leading edges.
2 - Improve the cockpit - add a pilot figure, a seat/side joystick, and a HUD like on the Raptor.

3 - Remove the humpback curve behind the cockpit.

4 - Make the slopped area infront of the windshield flat and smooth with the nosecone.

 

MID:
1 - Make the wings and the stabirudders at least twice thinner than they are just by gluing their 2 halves.
2 - Reshape the wingtips slightly downwards like on the Raptor.
3 - A complete modification of the intakes.
4 - Rescribe the new locations of the payload doors.
5 - Upgrade the MLGs with larger tires/wheels and straight pylon mounting mechnisms.
6 - Reshape the entire underfuselage surface - highlight the curves around the engines; lenghten the curves around the intakes.
7 - Extrude the entire length of the plane from just behind the intakes` leading edges area.

 

AFT:
1 - Extend the stabirudders`s trailing edges to math the 2-zig-zag shape.
2 - Round and reshape the nacelles on top to give them a slightly inward angle, and the nacelles`s shape on the bottom fuselage too.
3 - Move the engine nozzles slightly forward and add completely modificated nozzle flaps - like on the Raptor.

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Perhaps there are plenty of other things to do... such as editing the antenna mounting locations (making new antennas), adding RAM patterns over the edges of the panels, etc.... I would love to see some more suggestions....
 

Edited by my favs are F`s
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1 hour ago, my favs are F`s said:

Hi buddy! These joints are flawlessly spot on... so perfect that i don`t want to touch them. But, the entire body will be extended 7-8mm, so the location of the wings too... and the joints respectively... :)))) w8 me a just bit more to finish editing the Edits list....ppp

Yeah it could have been my doing maybe.  Good luck on your project.  

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Yeah I think it is a beautiful aircraft too and in my mind should have won. Oh well at least we now have a 1/48th kit. I got mine a few years ago and plan on doing a what-if. Have not decided if I should do an Israeli AF bird in a tri-coulr scheme or a JASDF aircraft in a scheme like their F-2s. Hmm maybe I should get another one and I can do both.

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I used to drive by the hulk of that lovely plane all the time in Torrance, CA- it's at the base of the runway with a couple of other display a/c. Nice choice for a build- cheers!

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  • 5 months later...

I got it started these weeks... The intakes first. So in the YF version the intakes are rather rugged, bold and angled, while in the production variant they should be very similar to the intakes of the Spirit. Lovely pic:

 

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A huge change was needed. The kit parts had miniscule diameters of the inner ends, not to mention the lack of any compressor fan imitations. So after some "enlargement":

 

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Then i cut the intakes for easier accessing and further editing:

 

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The front parts are already installed and basically done with the major reshapement, but are still not ready for pics.

 

 

 

Edited by my favs are F`s
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Meanwhile - the rudders (i found these "wings" mentioned in perhaps 5 different way, so i`ll call them simply rudders) also went through some preliminary editings, yet not completely prepped. The thickness of their profiles is quite... impressive:

 

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So upon glueing the two halves i cut off at least a couple of mm from the long straight conjunction of their base, which helped shrink the overall thickness just a hint. Then i`ll sand them furthermore from the outer sides as well. And also before gluing the halves, i added tiny PE pieces at the corners of each rudder, which after a correct sanding should keep these edges sharp and fine.

 

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They are glued now and drying, and after that they have to be extended nearby the actuator axis a little bit more... these days... :) 

 

What a plane guys! It has some very nice smooth shapes. 

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It`s pretty ugly right now, but, yeah.... hopefully it will become beautiful when finished. I have a whole new pack of Tamiya Putty coming on the way. :P 

So here are some edits of the intakes from the fuselage side. The YF model had relatively angled intake lips and quite steep slopes of the transitions with the fuselage:

 

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The drawing where you overlaid the kit graphic with the outline you want to attain, behind the cockpit on the centerline aligned with the wing junctures is the refueling slipway. To the left above the left intake is something similar to a refueling slipway painted guide. That's the item in question.

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A-ha, got you! The prototype version`s aerial refueling receptacle is located on the centerline behind the cockpit. While the F-version`s receptacle is re-located above the wing - somewhere right inside the divergent cone inside the intake. And respectively the slipways are re-located also. ;)

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Btw, this overlay is my own interpretation of the changes that should take place. Otherwise i use the original drawings at the yf-23 website and the Ken Scott`s visualizations for  F-23A (i posted somewhere above the exact one from where i took the upper-fuselage view and the profile view). I trust mainly these 2 sources to make the conversion.

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On 11/30/2017 at 8:28 PM, Slartibartfast said:

So, I guess you read this?

 

https://www.amazon.com/Northrop-YF-23-ATF-Force-Legends/dp/0989258378/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512095143&sr=1-1&keywords=Yf-23

 

It has a modeler's section that provides a comprehensive list mods to accurize the shape of the HB kit.

 

Highly recommended - and I don’t even have the kit !!!!!

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The edits from the upper fuselage: the engine area is extended from the second point for extention - right at the start of the leading edges of the rudders. The nozzles only are moved slightly inwards after the extention. The curved tails on both sides of the nozzles are ... changed fondamentally. The engine nacelles are angled. And there are plenty of other edits too...

 

Some overviews with the YF fuselage:

 

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Aaaand.... not the prettiest sight, but it`s the F fuselage. :)

 

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