YF-23 US Jet Fighter 1:48 Scale Hobby Boss Model Kit #81722 Review

Right On Replicas, LLC SnapShot Review 20150303*
YF-23 US Jet Fighter 1:48 Scale Hobby Boss Model Kit #81722 Review

Review and Photos by Gordon Nielson

The YF-23 was a single seat, twin-jet stealth fighter designed by Northrop/McDonnell Douglas Corporations.  It was a design contest to counter the latest Russian SU-27 and  MiG 27 fighter designs.  As  a result of the USAF’s (ATF) competition, two prototypes were built; the Gray Ghost and the Black Widow II and the first test flight occurred in August of 1990. The aircraft were unconventional designs and featured trapezoidal wings that formed a diamond pattern when viewed from above.  Through competition with the Lockheed YF-22 design the YF-23 proved to be faster but less maneuverable and the project was cancelled. They now reside at museums YF-23A “Black Widow II” PAV-1 (S/N 87-800) is currently at the USAF Test Center Museum at Edwards Air Force Base, California and PAV-2 (S/N 87-801) is currently located at the Western Museum of Flight in Torrance, CA.

For the Modeler: The Hobby Boss YF-23 (kit # 81722) is a big model with a length of 17 ½ inches and a wingspan of 11 ½ inches. Each part tree is wrapped in plastic with clear parts being wrapped in foam and plastic. I really like that the part numbers were in order and easy to locate on the sprues. Most of the parts in the kit go into the cockpit and landing gear assemblies, then the main fuselage halves and upper and lower wings. Assembly is pretty straight forward beginning with the cockpit and wheel well-landing gear, no real issues and parts went together well. The cockpit is well detailed and with the decal applied over the instrument panel the overall look is impressive. The ejection seat has the seatbelts molded onto the seat, I didn’t do it but I would recommend sanding them off and making and applying your own seatbelts for a more realistic look.

I wanted to pose the canopy open so that cockpit detail could be seen better but I could not find any photos showing the mechanisms for raising the canopy and how it would look so I went with the closed canopy. I added about ¾ ounces of weight behind the cockpit to hold the nose down, then after gluing the wheel wells in place and the intakes, I proceeded to cement the fuselage halves together. Care needs to be taken trimming the sprue off of the nose halves and sanding the excess away so that the nose fits together correctly.  There are also ejector pin marks on the top and bottom fuselage that will need to be carefully sanded away. After the fuselage was together I cemented the wing halves and V Tail together, the wing-to-fuselage fit is pretty good but still needed a little help and persuasion. The V Tail has pins molded in and fits into holes in the tail section so they are movable. I would have liked to cut the flaps and pose them in a downward position but upon closer review this would have taken a great deal of careful surgery to accomplish, so I chose not to.

I sanded all the seams, masked the canopy and then washed the model with warm soapy water to clean off any dust or residue. After allowing the model to dry I painted it with Model Master Dark Ghost Gray and then after that dried I masked off the pattern and airbrushed on Model Master Light Ghost Gray. I then painted the exhaust and weathered the cooling tiles with pastel chalk. I also painted a few panels on top and bottom. I enhanced the panel lines with some black and white photographic touch-up pens.

I researched and referenced as many photographs as I could and sometimes still couldn’t find what I was wanting but in the process I noticed that there were antennae and lights that didn’t come with the kit and weren’t molded  into it. So I scratch built the antennae and lights.  I also noticed that depending on the time period that the pictures were taken some markings were different. So, since the YF-23 lost out to the YF-22 we’ll never know what squadron markings may have been used, so in many ways this gives the builder of this model the freedom to portray what might have been if they choose to. The decals that come with the kit are good and bad, I didn’t use the Tactical Air Command decals because for some reason the letters are just gibberish and the No Step decals seemed to have the lettering too large and while viewing pictures I could not see No Step stenciling; so I didn’t use them. I did apply the TAC decals and forward fuselage decals from an F-15E decal sheet that I had. I applied Gloss coat first and then after the decals were applied using Solvaset I sprayed on Dullcoat to finish up.

Overall: I am pleased with this model as I have waited a long time for a good kit to come out in 1/48 scale, I like the look and shape of this jet and wish it had gone into service. I am glad to add this to my collection and you will be too.

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