New Mexican Bandits

Historical Background

In 1964, Soviet mathematician Pyotr Ufimtsev published a seminal paper in which he showed that the strength of a radar return of an object is relative to its edge configuration rather than the actual size. He demonstrated that he can calculate the radar cross-section across a wing's surface and along the edges. Therefore even a large aircraft can be made invisible (so to speak) to radars. However applying the theory would mean an aerodynamically unstable aircraft, and the computing technology of the 1960s were simply incapable to make an aircraft 'invisible' and flying at the same time.

By the 1970s, computing power had sufficiently advanced that Lockheed Corporation decided to look into Ufimtsev's research again. In 1975 they initiated a 'black' project with a model named Hopeless Diamond (a play on the (in)famous Hope Diamond because of its appearance) The following year the Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA) awarded a contract for two low-observable (stealth) demonstration aircraft codenamed Have Blue. In 1977, following the success of the program, the US Government increased its funds for operational stealth aircraft, under the codename Senior Trend and in 1978 Lockheed was awarded the contract to build them.

The Senior Trend aircraft (now designated F-117) remained secret until 1988 when a single grainy photograph was released to the public. The announcement confirmed the existence of the Stealth Fighter and also put to rest the earlier speculative 'F-19' designation and its 'Blackbird'(Lockheed SR-71)-like appearance. The F-117 were first used operationally during Operation Just Cause, the US invasion of Panama when two of them bombed the Rio Hato Airfield. The type's 'finest hour' came during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Its stealth characteristics enabled it to fly to Baghdad and bomb strategic targets with virtually total impunity. In fact Iraqi AAA fire only started AFTER the bombs hit their targets. Even then, television coverage showed that the shots were undirected as the radars were unable to find the elusive aircraft. The Nighthawk served in further conflicts and were finally retired in 2008. One was shot down by a Yugoslav SA-3 'Goa' SAM during Operation Allied Force in 1999. A total of 59 airframes were built.

The Kit

This is Academy's rendition of the Stealth Fighter in 1/72. The parts were moulded in black plastic and the clear parts were moulded in smoke-coloured plastic. Parts count is low, not surprising in 1/72 scale. The fuselage were moulded in upper and lower halves in its entirety. The ruddervators were in one piece whilst the wings are also in one piece with separate control surfaces. The parts for the weapons bay were simplified. Armament options consist of a pair of AIM-9 Sidewinder, a pair of Mk84 2,000lb GP bombs and a pair of  GBU-10 Paveway II LGBs. I was disappointed that Academy did not include the more normally used GBU-27 Paveway III LGB as in their 1/48 Nighthawk. Decals were provided for two aircraft : a machine from the 415th Tactical Fighter Squadron 'Nightstalkers', 37th TFW and 416th TFS 'Ghost Riders', 37th TFW. The latter option is adorned with 'bomb-door' art and mission markings underneath the cockpit coaming.

Construction

Out of the box, the cockpit is rather sparse. The control panels were represented by decals, which I shuld say, quite nice for the main panel but looked very decal-ish for the sides. The HUD however is a solid block of plastic. There is the clear plastic to represent the combiner glass. However since it was moulded in that smoke-coloured plastic, I decided to leave it off. I cemented the clear parts for the FLIR and DLIR apertures (in real-life, they are actually fine wire mesh rather than clear transparencies), the bomb bays and the wheel wells before closing up the fuselage. I have to put the landing gear in place (less the wheels) as it would be quite impossible to put them after the fuselage has been closed up - so I have to be extra careful during the painting and decaling stage. The simplified bomb trapeze were however left off until later. The elevons were butt-jointed onto the wing. However fit was not perfect so I have to put them at a slight downward angle.. Off to painting stage then....

Painting and decaling

Apart from a few of very early Senior Trend aircraft and on certain airframes later in its career, the F-117 were only seen in one colour : black.  I used Gunze H77 Tyre Black. The interiors and landing gear were painted XF-2 Flat White. And ironically the tyres were painted Tamiya XF-63 German Grey! I originally used the kit decals and I chose Col. Al Whitley's 'The Toxic Avenger'. As I have mentioned elsewhere, Academy's decals were hit-or-miss affairs; in this case a miss. They were rather thick and did not respond well to setting solutions. Thankfully an alternative was available at Hobby HQ : TwoBobs' 25th Anniversary Bandits sheet. So I stripped off the kit decals and substituted them with the aftermarket decals. I chose the markings for airframe 85-819, a machine assigned to the 8th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Wing based at Holloman AFB, New Mexico. Printed by Microscale, the decals were beautifully thin and responded well to Mr Mark Softer.

Finishing

I attached the bomb trapezes, wheels and doors to their respective places. As I have said before, the kit did not include GBU-27 Paveway III LGBs. I have the option of bashing Hasegawa's GBU-24 Paveway III in my spares box into a -27 by cutting off the tail and grafted a new tail from spare GBU-10s and shortening the cuff between the bomb body and the seeker head plus shortening the canards. However I felt that this was too much for me and decided to simply replace the kit GBU-10s with Hasegawa's GBU-10 Paveway II.

Conclusion

A simple kit for one of the most significant combat aircraft in history. Fit is good although I have reservations towards its decals (then again maybe it's just me). OOB its good enough and is a good alternative to the more expensive Hasegawa kit. My biggest gripe were concerned with the lack of GBU-27 bombs and the solid air intakes.

Note

1. Prior to 1988, the Nighthawk was speculatively known as the F-19. The reason was that it filled the gap between the F-18 Hornet and the (ultimately defunct) F-20 Tigershark. Artist impression showed to be a blended-body type aircraft  la the SR-71. The F-117 designation, although out of sequence of the contemporary US aircraft designation, actually helps in its then secretive nature as the Soviet aircraft evaluated by the USAF were given designations in the 'Century Series' range (the MiG-17 and -23 were known as F-113, for example). So the F-117 can then be simply dismissed as another Soviet aircraft.