I got this kit on a whim. I was right in the middle of building my Revell 1/32 F-14A and thought I could build something easy and quick. The F-117 seemed to fit the bill. It’s all one color (black) and there’s not that much detailing required. Boy, was I in for a surprise on this one……… 

I had several different F-117 kits to choose from at the LHS; Revell, AMT, Italeri and Academy. The Academy was the most expensive but looked to me to be the best. After I bought the kit and did some research on the web I can to find the Academy kit has been slammed pretty good. Oh well. I liked it. I was impressed with the way it was packed and the tint of the canopy assembly. I realize this causes other models heartburn but I was happy with it. The moldings are nice and crisp and all the panel lines are recessed. I had always intended to do this kit up as a display model, so it’s a shame the landing gear and detailed bomb bay with the trapeze release assembly won’t be seen. I was contemplating not installing the cockpit and just painting the clear portions of the canopy blue. I ended up painting and installing the cockpit. I didn’t go wild detailing it since it’s hard to see with the canopy closed.

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The kit went together very well with minimal filler required. The vertical tails are molded in one piece, which is nice. Prior to assembling the upper and lower fuselage halves I CA’d a hardwood block just aft of the bomb bay box on the lower fuse half. This would allow the pins from the display stand to be inserted. The upper fuse is one piece, wings and all while the lower fuse requires you to attach the lower wing halves prior to joining. The wheel wells and bomb bay are already molded as part of the lower fuse half. The gear doors and bomb bay doors need some filing to get them in the closed position but overall their fit is good. Most kits if you try to build it with the gear up the doors fit horribly. Some more filler and wet sanding and it was time to install the canopy. The entire canopy is clear and requires you to mask the window portions prior to painting. I installed the canopy then used some filler to fair it into the rest of the fuse. All was going well until I saw sanding dust on the inside. Now that it was all sealed up I had no idea how I was going to get it out of there. Then I tried filling it up with water when I was wet sanding. That did the trick. I was able to fill it up and when the water drained out no dust.

I masked off the cockpit windows with clear magic tape and prepped the model for paint. Since it was only one color I decided to use some enamel spray paint I had in the paint locker. Big mistake! The paint would never really cure and remained tacky for several days. I was quite frustrated. The only option left was to strip the paint off and re-do it. I used Easy-Off oven cleaner but it was less than hoped for with the results. I wound up stripping the paint off with mineral spirits and paper towels. What a mess! The black plastic lost all it’s shine and had white bleached areas on the corners of the moldings. It looked pretty cool. Like it was weathered. Unfortunately during the stripping process I destroyed the four pitot probes. I had no idea how I was going to recreate them. Like everything else on the black jet the pitot probes are square. I drilled where the probes entered the fuse fir .025” wire. I then CA’d four pieces of .025” music wire into the holes I drilled. To the top side of the wires I glued small sections of Plastistruct 90 degree angle pieces. The probes were then faired into the fuse with Squadron white putty and filed to shape. The results turned out better than I thought and the new probes are much stronger.

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 I re-sprayed the model with Krylon gloss black and this time it turned out better. I applied the decals of Col. Al Whitley’s F-117A of the 37^th TFW used in the Gulf War. His ship was known as the ‘Toxic Avenger’ and the kit’s decal sheet had the graphic to be placed on the inside of the left-hand weapons bay. But since the bays were closed up I couldn’t use it. After the decals were applied I gave the entire model a coat of Testor’s Dullcote lacquer to knock off the shine of the gloss black. I made the base like I do all my other ones using basswood for the vertical portion and ½” particleboard for the base. The edges of the base are bull-nosed using my shaper table and a half round bit. Once the display stand is put together I sand and seal the wood then paint it with black acrylic paint. The final step is to apply a gloss clear coat of lacquer. 

What I had thought would be a quick, easy build turned out to be a lot more. Fortunately the end result is worth it. Like they say; nothing is ever easy!

Jeff