After many years of building armor, I decided to get into aircraft also.
The kit is the 1/48th scale Tamiya F-117. Aftermarket items that I am using are the Eduard color PE set. I had purchased the Verlinden F-117 update set but it was a total disaster. The only part that is being used out of the Verlinden set is the joystick.
I haven’t completed to much so far. I installed a couple of exhaust parts along the rear of the wing edge. I also have installed part of the rear vertical stabilizers.
In this next pair of pictures, I have added PE detail to the rear bulkhead of the bomb bay. Also, there are 8 PE door hinges for the bomb bay. These 8 hinges are visible in the pictures as well:
In this photo I have begun assembly of the cockpit. I have installed the Verlinden resin control stick mentioned previously. I have cut off the kit part foot pedals and replaced them PE pedals from the Eduard set. Visible in this photo is a replacement cockpit bulkhead from the Eduard set. I have also cut off the molded ejection grap handles that are on the seat frame. These will be replaced by colored parts after the ejection set has been painted.
UPDATE 31 JAN 09
I worked on the cockpit some today. I added several PE parts from the Eduard PE set.
The ejector pin marks in the bottom of the cockpit tub are covered by the ejection seat assembly.
The white piece visible on the right side of the cockpit will get painted yellow. It is an emergency cockpit opening device used if the hydraulics fail. The top consoles and side consoles consists of 5 pieces plus the styrene rod for the manual handle.
The front console consisted of 14 parts. The messed up area at the bottom of the console support fits behind the base for the control stick and isn’t visible when placed into the cockpit.
I worked on the ejection seat tonight. This is the first ejection seat that I’ve done. I used the kit instructions and a Squadron/Signal book as reference. I could not see the dark spots in the lumbar region of the back cushion with my plain eyes. But boy, my digital camera sure makes it jump out. I’ll have to go back and fix that. The seat belts and ejection handles are from Eduard F-117 PE set mentioned earlier
Thanks for looking.
