Has ANYONE gotten their hands on a RoG 1:72 F-22 kit yet? I have one on order, though I’m told its not in stock. Squadron also shows out of stock. I am guessing this means they have not shipped yet?
Having missed my chance at the awesome RoG 1:72 F-16, I don’t want to miss this one.
I got my Rev F-22 about 2 months ago through Roll Models. It’s listed there still for 17$ I haven’t built it yet (it’s pretty far down on my stack), but sprues generally look awesome, and it’s gotten pretty good reviews. The only real pain is the radome outline isn’t complete. It is on the top half of the fuselage, but not the bottom. You’ll have to do some research to get the shape correct when masking. I’d try Roll Models (rollmodels.com)
Frank
Okie dokie, I finally got this model. I have it at retail for $22. I paid less, but I wear a HobbyTown USA shirt. Perks.
First Impressions: It looks like a Revell of Germany model. Blue box, nice artwork, typical layout, and utterly irrelevant to the review. It has a couple of large bags of parts and a small sprue of yellow tinted clear to represent the amber tinted canopy of the real plane. The clear parts will get a bath in Future.
Its molded in light gray and all the parts look clean. I don’t seen any flash, nor would I expect any on a new tool. The panel lines are all cleanly engraved, but a bit softer than the new kits from Academy. There is nice subtle panel height variation throughout. The parts breakdown looks logical.
Options are provided for open or closed wheels, canopy, and weapons bays.
The ejector seat is better than most other kits in this scale, though it will benefit from some spare PE seatbelts and ejector pull. The instruments are by decals, though the throttle and flight stick are separate pieces.
The instructions look clear enough and there are good painting and decal diagrams. Again, typical Revell of Germany stuff.
I’ll have much more to say when its done!
Note: the sales copy and box copy describe a “filigree” ejector seat. I suppose they mean finely detailed. As I said, its better than so many others in this scale, but could have used more. I do understand the limitations of steel mold plastic, particularly avoiding any undercuts that would prevent the plastic popping out of the tool. The problem could be solved by molding the seat bottom and seat back separately, but that may complicate proper fit and alignment when assembling. When you need detail, order aftermarket!
I waited and waited myself. Finally got one in stock, and it came home with me. The kit is as nice as has been said. I haven’t started it yet, because after so much waiting it kind of lost its luster for me. It will be started soon though I tell ya. I just gotta get off this warbird kick I’m having right now. I’m usually a jet builder. Sentai just got in a batch of them, and they say it flies off the shelf, so get it while you can. I’m still cheesed at RoG for not releasing it here concurrent with the European release. And they were doing so well after they split forom R/M USA.
As I said before, the cockpit is good, better than most other kits in this scale. It still needed some work. I added PE seatbelts and a pull ring from an Eduard set for the F-16. Both planes use the ACES-II seat. I also added a couple of decals to the seat. These were leftovers from the Academy F-16CG-CJ kit. The F-22 is a “glass” cockpit with hands-on-stick management. There are very few controls otherwise. The decals provided for the side panels are actually very good, having clear markings and distinct colors. The stick and throttle are very well shaped for such incredibly tiny parts.
Assembly is going very well. The intake trunks are actually quite clever, given their complexity. However, there are some very nasty sink-holes right on the bottom outside. This looks like careless molding, its a glaring error for such a reputable company.
So far, that is my only major complaint. Its easily fixed with some putty, but its a fix that QC should have prevented before these ever got shipped. In other words: This is not a detail error, its a quality failure.
More updates to come!
bump
Filled in the little divots in the intake undersides. Along the way, I messed up the canopy. I had dipped in Future, let it dry, and glued in the canopy ram support. I used the wrong glue and got CA fogging! I pulled the piece off the clear and have cleaned up, repolished, and redipped the canopy in Future. Since I plan to have the canopy permanent closed, I glued the ram attachment to the cockpit instead (behind those two gray box-like things).
More fun on the way, and once the canopy is installed, its off to the paint booth.
What’s your plan for the paint? Are you going the metallic route, or the actual, regular gray route. I’ve seen some awesome paint ups so far, in the metallic scheme. However spectacular those look, it’s important to note that the metallic sheen is seen only at oblique angles. The rest of the time, Raptors look just as flat gray as any other modern fighter. Or have you developed, or hope to develop a new way to paint it up to have polychromatic properties?
I’m going with flat grays. Editorial choice. I may hit it with a very light mist of a pearlescent acrylic, but I’m not keen on the metallic look for a military jet.
It does bring up an interesting challenge: I have a 1:48 F-15 (Tamiya) that, on the box, shows the Streak Eagle. That particular plane was left unpainted, revealing the different materials of the plane’s skin.
I’m down with that. It’s a good choice, since that’s what it looks like 90% of the time. Looking forward to the progress.
Here you see those ugly sinks filled and sanded. The gear bay is BARE!!! I have not seen details of this area, so anything I add is conjectural. Still, they need something. Anyone mind if I just make some stuff up? Otherwise, I’ll happily look at any good reference photos of the gear bays.
Next is the cleaned up canopy, Future-dipped, attached in a permanent down. The canopy is so large that every detail shows through. Not having a good set of PE belts is a real shame… glad I happened to have some!
Eh, it’s not so busy in there. I don’t think making up some plumbing will look bad.
Raptor fans, out there, might be interested in this thread over at The Unofficial Airfix Modellers Forum.
Wow! Well, that’s going to be a show winner. All that brass looks great. I like your handle, by the way.
Well, that’s nickel or steel, not brass, but it does look good!
Hi, I’m still working on this. I had finished the camo paint all pretty, but I put the tape on before the base color had cured. The result was gooey tape stuff left behind. I had to clean it up and start the paint over. Here’s my night’s work:
Good save! Did you freehand it, or use masks?
Freehand.
White gear and weapons bays.
What’re you putting in there?