The feeling i felt when first seeing my Italiari F-22 kit’s cockpit was one of utter disgust. ive only been modeling since august and even i could tell the detail was horible in completely wrong. I have decided it is time for my attempt at scratchbuilding (or maybe the term would be kitbashing?) Im going to use the kit’s tub and seat as a start but from my research i see the plane has wires, compartments etc behind the seat. I think i have i good idea of wut im doing but if anyone has any pointers they’d be greatly welcomed.
Research may be a little tough on this bird, but get what pics you can & start trying to duplicate what you see. Sheet styrene & stretched sprue are going to become your best friends [:)].
Regards, Rick
ive got an old air & space issue with plenty of cockpit shots…
and the lockheed martin website has some stuff too, sometimes. give both a try, if ya really want, i might be able to scan in some images from the air and space. i think i still have it…
and use guitar strings for wires/ o2 tubes. they can be great, decide what gauge and wound/ straight depending on nature of wire. looks cool when its done.
o…almost forgot. images.google.com has a lil bit of everything
Why not scratch build it? Before he died, an old friend of mine was never happy with the kit interiors. As a result, he would toss thew kit item and create a whole new “front office”. He became such an artist in plastic that in photos, you could’nt tell if it was plastic or the real thing.
let me just say this. you wont know what you can do until you try it. i recently ran into a problem when i looked at the revell p-40b cockpit. i decided to try to scratchbuild one myself. i believe it was the best thing i could have done. the pit looks good and i am very pleased with the results. pleased enough i am going to give this to the nephew of the pilot. please give it a try. you will be suprised what happens.
joe
I found a great site with a lot of pictures which is suprising. I typed F/A-22 walkaround on google.com and the result was fantastic. Also id love to scratch build it but i have have no idea where to begin. i also have limeted resources and dont have access to a lot of materials but if u tell me some basic tips ill give it a whirl!
One of the main supplies needed is sheet plastic in a couple of differring thicknesses.
I watched my grandfather scratchbuild a full interior for the 1/32 scale Beaufighter from Revell and the results were amazing. You couldn’t tell the that it was a Revell kit by the cockpit. He has also done interiors for 1/32 Spitfire,Monogram 1/48 B-25J(the original pilot of the aircraft was impressed). He uses a lot sheet plastic of various thicknesses, striaght and coiled guitar string(also differing thicknesses), plastic dowl(?),balsa wood, plastic I-beams, and whatever his imagination and ingenuity can devise. He passes this info off if he knows I didn’t watch do it.
I saw an Airpower magazine with an article and pictures of the F-22, but haven’t seen much else( my primary building subject are w.w.2 German military).
Good luck on your project!
For the panel, there seems to be 2 general methods.
Method 1. Punch & Die method: Based on your sources, you punch out holes in your cockpit panel - either the kits original panel with its details sanded away if you think the shape is correct or cut out the shape on a styrene sheet. You then cut out an identical panel, lay the first one over the 2nd one and mark where the holes are. Either paint or use instrutment decals on those locations. Some people like to then sandwich a clear acetate middle layer as they glue to 2 halves together. Some people prefer to glue the 2 halves and then add drops of future.
Method 2. Sand down the original panel, mark where the dials are, add the decals or paint the dial faces black. Then use photoetched bezels (Waldron, Eduard makes them) over the dails.
As for the rest of the cockpit, I’ve used different size electrical wiring to create hoses, conduits, etc… Drops of glue over stretched sprue can make knobs. And if you buy generic or specific photoetched kits, you can create add panels, switches, MFDs, etc… Keeping the orignal tub makes life a lot easier as you can just mount all those extras onto it.
The sidewalls will benefit form styrene to form bulkheads, though thats less of an issue for the F22. And again, wiring for various pipings, and styrene cut into boxes for panels. You can glue 2 styrene panels together to get a thicker box.
I’ve seen some people combine the 2 methods also. Here’s some before/after shots of my attempt using method 2 with some misc. photoetch stuff, home made belts, & other details.
I’ve a more specific writeup on it with a few more pictures on this page…
http://waihobbies.wkhc.net/f7eb.html
Hope this helps. This was my first attempt also at such a full scratchbuilt, so good luck to your effort and post some pictures!
Thanks guys i really appreciate your help. ill post pics asap
I’m almost finished with an Italeri M113 APC. When I started it, I too was very disappointed with the lack of detail and very poor fit. But after many hours of filling, filing, sanding, scratchbuilding, and applying aftermarket PE and resin parts, it’s looking pretty good. Right now it’s on the paint table. it’ll be my last Italeri kit.
As I’m sure others before me have already advised, research these aftermarket PE and resin update sets, etc. These with a little scratchbuilding can really make a project look good.
Hey Waikong, wut did u do to those side panels? also i read your review on the link and i think that tinfoil for the seats is a pretty cool idea and im gonna give it a try.