ericg Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 (edited) Well after stumbling on this beauty in the LHS yesterday, I had to start it! from the outset when I saw that it was due for release, I said I would drop everything to build it. I believe that it is not yet available in some parts, so I thought I would put up my days efforts so that you could see the qualities of the kit. All up, parts are fitting very well, detail is a bit on the skinny side, but it seems it has all of the essentials. Kit side consoles. Unfortunatley, Trumpeter haven't depicted the throttles!! As a pilot myself, there are a few things that are a MUST HAVE in my model cockpits.. I had a look at the squadron signal F-117 walkaround book and it seems that the some spare Academy F/A-18 throttles were the go. So much for an Out Of The Box build! Cockpit rear wall, seems to be pretty good, plenty of detail and you can see some small sink marks that were easy to fix. Instrument panel, this has lots of decals to apply to the instrument dials, more on that soon Out went the kit seat and in went a quickboost ACES II seat. The kit control column is a bit clunky and toy-like. I will be grafting the Academy F/A-18 stick onto the Trumpeter base. Bomb Bay, detail is a little bit basic, but it will give the GBU-10's a chance to shine. Wheel bays lack detail. The size of this Aircraft is impressive. I would never have guessed that it was going to be bigger than an F-4! Stay tuned. Eric. Edited August 31, 2012 by ericg Uilleann and Dany Boy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pfuf Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Great to see this build Eric very curious only the the detail on the wheel bays is very bad. Johan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 Hi Johan, Yes the wheel bays leave alot to be desired, whilst it is tempting to superdetail them and then produce them in resin, they are outside the scope of this build for me. I am going to just do a few tweaks, paint it and then chuck it in my display cabinet. A little more work on the cockpit, F/A 18 Joystick grafted onto the Trumpeter stick, and another of my must haves, the undercarriage lever. `gear down'! Uilleann 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daywalker Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Glad to see diving right into this kit! Does the kit have panel lines, recessed, raised, other? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 There are panel lines, some depict a raised surface as if they have been taped over, some are engraved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Colvin Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 very cool. I have always thought the jet was kind of neat in an ugly kind of way lol....I had the chance to see one fly and it looked like a flying steam iron....Folllowing closely. I would like to get my hands on one of these. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_K2 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Interesting looking kit. And I really like the overhead view of your Rhino. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neo Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Im baffled that a kit at that price ships with a stick like that !!! i mean the F-117 is a low detail AC on the outside for stealth purposes trum could have detailled the pit and wheel well a little better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viper Enforcer Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 The size of this Aircraft is impressive. I would never have guessed that it was going to be bigger than an F-4! Eric. What's up with the extra lap belts on the seat??? That's pretty bland detail alright. I see a lot of room for improvement. Did they at least include all the interior canopy framing and fairings? Like the SR-71, the interior framing/faring structure is quite prominent and should be included in this scale. Yeah, it's a large model and jet alright. I can recall how large it was when I was underneath it doing a Pre Flight; A lot of aircraft real-estate. Mike V Uilleann and Uncarina 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Hi Mike, I just chucked a quickboost F-15 ACES II ejection seat in there, is it wrong for the F-117? Eric. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Mike Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Eric, would you add a pic of the stock seat for comparison? I'm sort of glad the details are a little vague, is this still considered semi-secret, or is it out in the world along with everything else? Trump still surprises with their ability to fall down on some seemingly basic deatils. Easy fixes, but can ya see Hase doing the same? Or RoG? Big bird though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Here are the seat pictures as requested. The Trumpeter one is the fatter, uglier one, sorta like the one you would want your wingman to take home at the end of the night. It isn't that bad, however after a few beers it would probably look excellent! Uilleann 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scvrobeson Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Eric, would you add a pic of the stock seat for comparison? I'm sort of glad the details are a little vague, is this still considered semi-secret, or is it out in the world along with everything else? Trump still surprises with their ability to fall down on some seemingly basic deatils. Easy fixes, but can ya see Hase doing the same? Or RoG? Big bird though! Well, they are retiring the F-117, so it's probably not that secret anymore. Such a shame, but it's kind of lived it's fair share of usefulness, I guess. Tamiya did a pretty decent job on their cockpit, maybe Trumpeter could have hired their researchers? I could actually see Revell doing something like this, they've started giving us some pretty big, great priced models in Large Scale, but not many jets outside of the Typhoon, which is a shame. Could you imagine a 1/32 Gripen or Rafale from Revell? :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Could you imagine a 1/32 Gripen or Rafale from Revell? They already put out a 1/32 Gripen some years ago Matt, but it's pretty poorly regarded, and didn't sell well at all: http://www.largescaleplanes.com/Marketplace/lsp_kitlist/kit_details.php?kit=1387 While Revell has famously retooled a few of their early moulds, I don't think this one is old enough (or successful enough) to justify it. Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scvrobeson Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 They already put out a 1/32 Gripen some years ago Matt, but it's pretty poorly regarded, and didn't sell well at all: http://www.largescaleplanes.com/Marketplace/lsp_kitlist/kit_details.php?kit=1387 While Revell has famously retooled a few of their early moulds, I don't think this one is old enough (or successful enough) to justify it. Kev I know they did, I actually almost picked it up at a show, but some research put an end to that. I just wish someone would do a good Gripen kit, it's a pretty important modern aircraft, and deserves a good kit. But then again, pretty much all of Sweden's planes deserve the 1/32 treatment (I can dream of a 1/32 Saab B-18....) Maybe someone will give us a Draken, or Viggen, or Gripen. Please aircraft companies? Listen and put kits out in a reasonable price range? Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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