Hi guys, I just finished my Academy 1/48 F-22A Raptor. I actually started this kit back in October or November but lost interest in it after a while…mostly because I saw how much work the intakes were gonna be. So it sat in my closet until about 3 weeks ago. I figured I paid good $$$ for it so I should finish it.
This kit is completely OOB although I did make some seatbelts from metal foil tape. The fit was mostly good but then again this kit is very simple. The 2 fuselage halves, the 4 flap parts, the 4 vertical stab parts and the 2 horizontal stab parts make up about 90% of what you can see. Its kinda hard to screw that up. The weapons bays fit like gloves. The weapons themselves were really nice. No matter how you arm it you will have some left over weapons to donate to other kits, too.
The one thing that sucks are the intakes. They aren’t very deep and they are really hard to make seamless. And the turbine faces are pretty cheesy. Also, some of the parts are too thick IMO, like the edges of the wings.
Unfortunately for me I’m going to be moving, getting married and moving again so this might be one of my last builds for a while. Anyway, here she is:
Very impressive build. I love the detail on those weapons - I always get lazy towards the end of a build and just slap mine on, but yours look like the real deal. The detail in the weapons bay looks great too.
Is the nose gear a metal part or just plastic? I read a review a while ago, which complained the nose gear on one of the 1/48 F-22 kits was a bit too thin, how’d you find this one?
Thanks guys for the compliments. I really appreciate them.
I figure my fiance and I be settled in in about 1.5 years and then I can start building again. I just hate to set everything up and then have to move again. Plus I’m worried about some of my builds getting trashed during two moves. Actually, I have to pack everything up to stage this current house for a sale which could take a while. Tha’t the real drag.
jeaton…yeah, she’s a keeper. She’s into God, guns, and rock n’ roll. And she’s cool with my hobbies. She’s easy on the eye’s, too [;)]
Chris, the nose gear is just the stock kit part. I’m not sure if its 100% accurate or not. It probably is too thin. It is solid, though. I’m sure that it will have no problem holding up the weight of the plane over time…which is heavier than it looks BTW.
Nice build, Fly-n-hi. I have one by Academy siting on my shelf waiting for me to get more painting experience before I takle it. Best wishes on your wedding and your future. The “into God” part sounds real good. Indeed, keep her!
Thanks. The good news regarding painting the F-22 is that most of the maskings are just a bunch of straight lines! This was probably one of the easiest “complicated” masking jobs I’ve done. The camo patterns were some card paper cutouts that I made. In fact, I kept them in case I ever get a Hasegawa F-22.
Medicman, thanks. The paint is a brand called Citadel. It’s used for figure painting and its marketed toward the guys who play games like War Hammer. I saw someone else use it with good results so I tried it.
People keep raving about that Hasegawa F-22. I really think the Academy is the superior kit. I haven’t built the Hasegawa so I can’t speak to its fit, but the pictures I have seen of the Hasegawa look way too bumpy compared to the real F-22s I have seen.
I have built the Academy, and it was probably one of the best fitting kits I have ever put together. Places where you swear you are going to have trouble go together perfectly.
Thanks for the compliments and the encouragement. Hopefully things will move quickly with the home sales (she"s selling hers, too). Unfortunately her’s is a short sale and mine might be. If we both short sale then we will have to rent for a few years to get out credit scores back up. Sucks.
And as far as the Hasegawa kit goes I thought I might like to get another F-22 to build gear up and clean and hang it up from the ceiling. And I’ve been finding the Hase kits for much cheaper than the Academy kits online. You guys are right about it, though. The surface detail is way too exaggerated on the Hase kit. It looks like the surface of the Millennium Falcon.
I would love to see the pics on this discussion but photobucket is blocking them. You might want to check it out. I have checked with Finescale Modeling and there is nothing they can do to correct it.
