#13&1/2 Mark's Revell 1/48 F-117 Nighthawk

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
So entry number 3 is here
This time i will be building Revell's 1/48 F-117 Nighthawk
A plane that bacame famous as the stealth fighter that bombed Baghdad during the first Gulf war back in 1991 without a single loss

About the kit
The kit is a mix of 2 others i think as some sprues are from the early 90's but some fuselage bits are from 2005
My only complaint is the lack of the bomb bays
A major part of this sig and something i was looking forward to be building in this black plane
So i decided to order in a resin bomb bay kit from CMK wich is for the Tamiya kit but i will make it fit ......somehow
So that will arrive soon along with something of a payload for it as that is not in the kit or in the bomb bay kit

Now that my complaining is out of the way
Here is the kit

20180606_000520 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Boxart


20180606_000552 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
What is in the kit


20180606_000834 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Fuselage parts


20180606_000846 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The finish on the bomb bay doors is different from the rest
Almost like they made some changes to the molds
Also there are some locating lugs on the inside where a box shape could fit in between
So i guess i will be cutting these badboys out


20180606_000857 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
One of the sprues


20180606_000935 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The other sprue


20180606_001005 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Tinted clear parts


20180606_001011 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Quite a bit of distortion
So i will be building it with a open canopy


20180606_001059 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The decals
The shark mouth looks cool but that belongs to a testing unit and not to one of the planes that flew over Baghdad so i think it will be a regular black plane

And that is all i have for now
I will be ordering the needed parts this week so they should be here soon enough for me to get started
Allthough i am allready working on the cockpit
But i may end up with a cockpit set from Eduard aswell
If i am spending money on a bomb bay kit i might aswell have a decent cockpit to match

So hopefully i will be back soon with the first build update
Take care
Cheers
Mark

[Twokidsnosleep]

Another cool one, Mark
Good luck with her

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you Scott
I wanted to start today but sadly work is more like a madhouse then anything else (and i am a chef not a madhouse employee)
So not that much is done yet
But atleast i decided to only add a bomb bay kit (to keep the cost reasonable,it was a cheap kit) so i can prime the cockpit
Wich will happen once i am done masking the Heinkel and i am wirking on that at the moment

[Fridgy]

The sprues look excatly like my monogram kit....

[Stokesy44]

The sprues look excatly like my monogram kit....

Almost certainly a common ancestry given the company links between Revell and Monogram.

[MarkVerploeg]

The sprues look excatly like my monogram kit....

Almost certainly a common ancestry given the company links between Revell and Monogram.

They are common ,it even is molded on the fuselage (very Revell like to do so)
But once upon a time these kits had a bomb bay and seperate bomb bay doors
This kit doesn't have that
I was planning on buying a resin bomb bay kit but that doesn't include the doors
And these things are a real pain in the rear to remove from the fuselage
So i decided to just leave it as it is and keep them closed

[Fridgy]

Do your instructions have a colour call out better than
Black
White
Grey
??

[MarkVerploeg]

Yes it does actually
It has a full list with the Revell paintnumbers with it

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
Time for a build update
The build is going pretty well considering i abandonned my plan of adding a resin bomb bay
That was a expensive set comparred to the kit and it didn't include replacement doors so i would have to either make very clean cuts in the kit part or make some new ones
I didn't like either option so i decided to keep it a cheap and easy build and just build it out of the box

So here is a short run down of the build proces

20180611_025603 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The cockpit parts where painted


20180611_025605 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
And the upper part was painted aswell
At this point i wasn't sure if i wpuld keep the canopy open or not but this would make future painting easier as it means less masking trouble later on


20180611_101444 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Some internal parts


20180611_101454 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The cockpit tub was fitted


20180611_101641 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
And those internal bits where placed


20180611_123122 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Next step was building the wings


20180611_123458 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
And the rudders


20180611_125027 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Then the fuselage was put together and the wings and rudders where placed
I added some weight aswell
I used the same method as i used with the B-1
I simply place nails on a strip of tape and roll it up
That roll gets placed with some ca glue and a piece of tape while the glue is setting


20180611_125035 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
A better look at the tailsection


20180611_125056 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
I don't know what the designers where thinking here


20180611_142950 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Then the filling began


20180611_143015 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The same happened on the bottom


20180611_143728 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The landing gear was added


20180611_144154 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The wheels where put together


20180611_144507 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
And the lifting parts of the canopy where glued in place


20180611_145309 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Then some masking with masking fluid and it is ready for some paint

And that is all i have for now
I will be back with another update once the painting is done
Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care
Cheers
Mark

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
Time for a little update
The Nighthawk is now painted so i thought i would share that bit of the build


20180612_011203 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
I started with a coat of one shot primer
Because all the shops where out of grey i mixed a bottle of black and white to make grey


20180615_011806 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Then some shading
I used Tamiya black for the edges and Vallejo pale blue grey for the centres of the panels


20180615_011816 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Then it looked like it had spent too much time in the sun while on Area 51


20180615_025018 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
I then thinned some Tamiya black but i thinned it more then usuall so i would have to build up the layers of paint
But the black lines still show through


20180615_025033 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Here you can see them a bit better


20180620_002457 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Then some paint damage was fixed


20180620_002508 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
The last bits of the cockpit where painted


20180620_002517 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
It still looks very dark but the area around the exhausts where painted with Mr Metal color dark iron (the buffable paint)


20180620_002524 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
Landing gear and the landing gear bays where painted

And then i coated it with Alclad Aqua gloss
So now it is drying and tomorrow i will be adding the decals
And coating it again for some washes allthough that should not be a lot as this still is a black(ish) plane

Thanks for stopping by and having a look
Take care
Cheers
Mark

[Kevthemodeller]

Coming together very very nicely mate, lovely surface to the paint

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much
The only part that isn't as nice are the bomb bay doors
For some reason those are smooth as glass
But the inside has some corners that could hold a bomb bay in place so i suspect the doors are nothing more then a plug so they didn't had to add a extra sprue with the bombs and the bomb bay
But i didn't dig in to it to see if i am right or not

[1975GinjaNinja]

Love it Mark,

I think the F-117 is one of my fave planes and you are doing great things with it. Not easy doing "black" planes but that surface paint looks very nice. Looking forward to seeing more of it.

Well done,

Nige

[MarkVerploeg]

Love it Mark,

I think the F-117 is one of my fave planes and you are doing great things with it. Not easy doing "black" planes but that surface paint looks very nice. Looking forward to seeing more of it.

Well done,

Nige

Thank you very much Nige

[Les0012]

Looking so good Mark' You're a model master

Les

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much Les

[MarkVerploeg]

Hi guys
Time for an update as this build was finished last week actually but i only posted some pics on my modelling facebookpage and the ISM facebookpage
So it is about time to finish up this thread aswell

20180622_104738 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20180622_104750 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE

20180622_104757 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
After painting and gloss coating the Nighthawk i added the decals
Pretty much typical Revell decals if you ask me
They went on quite well but then again i never had problems with Revell decals before


20180627_113400 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
After a dark wash for the grills i added the wheels


20180627_113549 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
And the canopy
The wash worked in the grills but as this plane doesn't really have panel lines the effect of the wash was lost in other places


20180627_113602 by Mark Verploeg - Flickr2BBcode LITE
And the lights where colored to finish it off

Some proper reveal pics will be posted in the final reveal section
I hope you like it even though this was a wuick and easy build without anything really special about it .....i think
The only suprise this one had for me was the size
It is a much bigger plane then i thought it would be

Take care
Cheers
Mark

[digger303]

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you

[Kevthemodeller]

That's cool lovely build Mark

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much Kev

[1975GinjaNinja]

That's beautiful. Makes me want to build mine from the stash now.
Well done, great work again.

Nige

[MarkVerploeg]

Thank you very much Nige