Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 (edited) We Gen-X'rs and older remember well when the F-117 Stealth Fighter was rumored in the same way that government-flown UFO's are. We remember Testors' smash hit educated-guess F-19 Stealth Fighter in 1986. Then a year later, Monogram jumped on the bandwagon with their offering of same. The problem was, Monogram's version, while based on an actual concept artwork which appeared in aerospace trade magazines, their actual kit was FAR below the quality of the Testors. Almost no features to speak of, really. The 1/72 version was not only scaled down from their 1/48, it also had almost no features at all. No landing gear, no weapons, no nothing except a desktop stand...unless you count the cockpit, which would have been nice for a kit released 30 years earlier. Unfortunately, this was 1987, not 1957. Here is my version of the 1/72 Monogram kit. Instead of air-to-ground like the Testors (or like the actual F-117), I figured this design was better for air-to-air, as sleek and streamlined as it is. Improvements/features include: - Scratchbuilt wheel wells - Scratchbuilt weapons bay w modified doors - Outer wing panels cut and positioned as partially folded for landing gear clearance - Control surfaces scribed (kit has them only partially done) - Hasegawa F-16 cockpit modified and fitted - True Details ACES II seat (actually a bit undersized, but just right for this project) - Snap-Tite pegs on canopy removed, canopy massively re-shaped and polished in affected areas (not gonna do that again, nope!) - F-5B nose gear added from spares, w scratchbuilt well doors - Italeri F/A-18 main gear (thanks Chris!) - AIM-9X and AIM-120 from spares - "Have Glass" gray used for lighter color with "Have Glass" clear over everything, including the black RAM - Decals from "Have Glass" F-16 sheet and lo-vis USMC F-4 sheet, plus "TR" tail code (Tonopah) from lettering decal sheet Edited June 24 by Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted June 24 Author Share Posted June 24 Some in-progress shots: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
southwestforests Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 Chosen color scheme has that "It just looks right" quality. 5 minutes ago, Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy said: canopy massively re-shaped and polished in affected areas (not gonna do that again, nope!) Hmm, I just can't imagine what manner of traumatic experience could lead someone to develop such an extreme outlook on life. 😉 Anyway, the pair do look grand togetner. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 Still have a couple of those in the stash - excellent work! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Spruemeister Posted June 26 Share Posted June 26 Love it! Rick L. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drifterdon Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 Super cool! The box art for Hasegawas 1/48 A-7D shows this version of the Stealth fighter in the background. You did an amazing job on it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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