Tonight I am starting a build journal on this kit. I have had it in my stash for years. It's often been called a Stealth fighter, but in actually drops bombs...

I also wanted something that was simple to build, with a low parts count, and a single color finish. This one checks all the boxes.

The inner wheel well surfaces and the landing gear struts were prepped and then painted white.

Once the paint had dried enough, I removed the masking to reveal these parts. They have been placed in the box and will dry overnight.

I hope this model will go together fast, with very little troubles, as I am planning on building it right from the box with no extra details added.

This is an attempt to get something done and avoid burnout. I plan on building this one up as the plane that was called the Toxic Avenger. These planes had nose art and names often present on the inside of the bomb bay doors. On this kit, the doors are molded closed. I'm sure that a person with more ambition and time than what I have could open them up and make it look very realistic. Mine will have these doors closed.

I built, painted and installed the cockpit. It fit very well into the upper fuselage half section. The FLIR was also mounted along with the landing gear wells.

Monogram has their trademark date and logo embossed on one of the ailevons. This will be carefully removed with a new razor and sanded down smooth.

The wings were glued together and now form the main flight surfaces.

The wings were glued in place on the lower fuselage section.

This will be allowed to dry overnight, and I will try to pick up where I left off on tomorrow. This kit is just flying right along... I'm beginning to wonder what's coming at me right around the corner... This has been too easy so far. Now I most likely have just jinxed myself...

As always, comments are encouraged.

Haha, yes Erik, @airbum
you have found my weakness for ice cream !

Today was another busy day at the Iron Werkes.

These boxes contain models I am working on for the "informal" Desert Storm group build. There are also a pair of M-1A1 Abrams tanks underway as well.

Starting with the mostly completed fuselage assembly,

I glued it in place to the completed lower section. Clamps were used to hold things together while the glue dried.

I took a new single edged razor blade and sliced away the writing on one of the ailerons. Then I sanded away all traces of the Monogram logo and copyright information.

After a short drying time, this is how it looked.

I built the elevator / rudders and fin assemblies. These were given a quick sanding along the edges and glued in place.


The canopy was masked off, using Tamiya tape and it too was glued in place. I decided to close the canopy. So the extension cylinders on the canopy lifts were cut off. This allowed me to easily close the canopy.

Now it is quickly starting to look more like a Stealth F-117 !


I'm amazed at how quickly the box has emptied on this build...

You will notice the landing gear and wheels have also been painted and are ready to install. Maybe tomorrow I can get this one standing on it's own wheels.

Calling it a day... as always, comments are encouraged.

I can see you were in "the zone", Lewis @lgardner!
This is looking amazing!

I've always wanted to build a Wobbly Goblin - yours is coming along nicely (and quickly!).

I just realized that I had left off a very important thing. If you don’t add weight to the nose, this will be a tail sitter. I didn’t realize that until after I was mocking up the landing gear and “PLOP”... the tail section hit the deck.

Since I have already glued it all together, I had to figure out how I was going to approach the problem.

Here’s how I did it. I took the nose cone, which is shown as part #30, in step 24, and carefully sliced it along the almost vertical joint lines where it contacts the sides of the fuselage.

I used a brand new razor blade and carefully sliced it down the sides. I left the lower section glued in place against the lower section of the nose. This works to our benefit.

Then I held the nose open, and one by one I added bird shot lead BB’s into the void until I couldn’t pack any more weight into the opening.

Then i simply pressed the “Bird mouth” joint closed again, and then applied some Tamiya Extra Tin glue into the seams where I had previously sliced it open. This is what it looks like after the impromptu surgery.

The patient survived and no longer is dragging its backside.

By the way, this is a very big plane. I took a picture of my 1/48 Tamiya F4U sitting next to the Stealth.

These are both the same 1/48 scale. This gives you an idea of just how big these jets actually are.
We now return to our regularly scheduled program.

Hi Lewis @lgardner!

You have made some great progress! Looks like jets suit your speed building!

The PEs are really magnificent, they make a whole world of difference and, since they are included in the kit , I rank this kit as #1 OOB.

The wheels are great, too!

Glad you fixed the weight problem in a "harmless" way: back to normality now!

It IS a big plane, isn't it? You only realize it as you put it together as, for some reason, it is thought not to be big.

I think the finish line is not that far away, my friend...

Thank you my friends !
James, @jamesb
Spiros, @fiveten
Erik, @airbum

Even though this build literally flew together, (no pun intended), the process was sped along by the low parts count. The fit was decent on my sample, and no filler was needed, which also sped things along considerably.

Yes I am more than pleased with the quality of the PE parts. They do greatly enhance the appearance tremendously, and I was very happy that Monogram included these parts in the kit. It was a lucky chance the nose weights were just enough to keep this one from being a tail sitter. If you press down on the tail, it will tip over and remain seated ! The trick here is to keep the nose down. Once it is in the display case permanently, this will not be a problem.

A few nights ago I added the decals. In a single descriptive word, I would call them "mediocre" at best. They probably should be replaced as they have silvered horribly. I tried Solvaset and even sliced them to allow it to seep underneath. But they are still horribly thick and I don't know how it will look once it is flattened down again. I have even thought about lightly wet sanding the clear over the top of the decals, to try and reduce the effects of this. This procedure is an old school automotive trick, that works when you are trying to blend in a tape line where two colors are adjoined.

No joy ! Here's what it looked like at this point.

In a final act of desperation, I used some Future clear acrylic at full strength, and managed to float the decals on top of the Future. You can see the rings around the decals where the future has dried. Better but still no cookie...

So I tried something that will help take care of this. This involves spraying the entire airframe with a glossy coat. So here's how it looks after a single coat of Gloss Coat from a rattle can.


Once it dries, I'll possibly give it another Gloss coat, which will eventually be toned down using my home brew mix of Tamiya flattening agent and some clear Future floor acrylic. If these decals don't work out, I might have to order a set from Scott (RebelAlpha) on EBay... If that happens, I might just as well get a set for the BIG 1/48 scale Monogram B-1 bomber... which might also end up being built as part of the Desert Storm group build. Time will indeed tell. That big B-ONE kit has been languishing in the stash for way too long. The thing that may keep me from building it as part of the group, is it will need a set of replacement burner cans for it to be "authentic" for service in 1990-91. That in itself is a major expense. One I can not truthfully afford at the moment.
As usual,
comments are encouraged.

Keeping up a good fight louis (@lgardner).

Many years ago, I was sitting in my tower at a small airport in Denmark, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed some unannounced traffic. not one, but two B-ONEs crossing just east of "my" runway without checking in! I immediately called the areacontroller and asked him to tell them they had crossed my airspace, and to make it up, they ought to come back and make a low-pass. . . sadly they did not.
Sorry to be straying off - I really like the 117 as it progresses, and fingers crossed for the decals to behave in the end.