After nine weeks the 1/48 Hobby Boss YF-23 ATF is complete. I spent the final week finishing painting, applying decals, adding some more details to the fuselage. I then detailed and scratch built the canopy so I can have it in the open position. This took a lot of work as the kit provides no option for an open canopy.
This build was an interesting build. The kit itself has some detail issues like the antennas, no option to make the canopy open, and no open bomb bay. The fuselage shape is off as well. The Caracal decals do provide accurate decals however the decal film is a little thick. Once the aircraft was top coated the clear areas of the decal film seemed to darkened a bit. The kit instructions are laid out very well and in the end I am happy with the end result. Thank you for following this build and happy modeling!
You can see all the photos and details from the start to finish in the build log at: 1/48 YF-23 ATF – Black Widow II
NEXT UP – The next few builds are commission builds. The first is a 1/72 P-3C Orion of VP-8 for a Veteran that served with the squadron in Brunswick, Maine. The second one is an A-10 and I will finish up with a Mirage 2000C. For the P-3C Orion I will need to make most of the squadron decals myself and as usual adding some fine details to match the exact aircraft.
Stay tuned for these interesting builds.
