I have sprayed several layers of gloss clear on top of the model in an attempt to salvage these horrible decals. As my luck would have it, the decals have now wrinkled and lifted even more and are too far gone to save. Now I will have to locate a set of Desert Storm decals in order to save this build... The model itself looks fine, it's just a matter of replacing the decals, and then it will be done.

Here are a few pictures to show how bad they really look. In some places the decals have almost lifted completely off the surface.

On these next two pictures I tried to show the same decal from a slightly different angle to show how horrible these look.


As always, comments are encouraged.

Louis, what a bugger. Happy hunting for the replacements.

Decals ,sometimes the weakest link, One of my biggest nemesis considering all the old kits that I do. never saw a live B-1, must be a terrific site. I did see a B-2 come into NAS Willow Grove some years ago.
@lgardner.

Hi Louis @lgardner!

It would be nice to build the B-1s together!

As well as the Uhus!

Regarding the B-1 kit, I 've read that the kit exhausts resemble the "early style" ones. Since the kit provided decals allow you to build an early style (fantastic looking) three color scheme bird, building mine OOB with the early scheme and the "early" exhausts might be OK!

I've read that there are some other omissions and oversimplifications, but I'll deal with them along with the build.

Regarding the rubber tyres, what I do is to coat well the rim with a Future AFTER painting and weathering it. I had the idea that since future seals everything, it might seal the plastic, so the rubber will not eat it. I also coat the inner rubber mating surface with Future. I have applied this technique at my 1/32 Revell F-15 and F-18, 15 years ago, and the wheels are intact!

I wonder what it is about the B-1 and F-15 that they keep the outer covers of the nozzles removed where on the F-14D and F-16 they're always present? Is there something about the proximity of the two engines right next to each other? I posted my B-1 about one year ago. The rubber tires are fine. Also I still have the landing gear from the B-1 I built back in 1990. Also no reaction to the plastic. (Although even though both planes are the same boxing, bought 20 years apart, the nose gear tire was too big on my original build. I was worried about it on the one I just did but IT fit just fine!) Go through my build thread on it and you will see it is possible to build it with zero filler! (I show exactly where the fit issues are and how to fix them. Be aware some 150 grit was utilized for shaping! If anything's unclear, you have my number!) Also I'd like to add my F7F wheels are also just fine and it's been built for six or seven years now although on my unbuilt kit one tire left an impression from laying on a wing panel. (Fortunately on the inside surface.)

ALSO! Your F-117 post is very timely as TWO just flew into Miramar yesterday! If a few are out flying around I wish one could make a final airshow tour next year. I'd really like to see one in the air one more time! I am starting Tamiya's version of The Toxic Avenger soon. (Also, my favorite Nighthawk as I am a fan of Lloyd Kaufman's Troma films!)

If you have been following this build, by now you have realized there was a major problem with how the kit supplied decals worked out. These have to be the absolute worst set of decals I have ever used in all of the models I have built, during my entire life !

Luckily, a good friend, Chuck Villanueva @uscusn

has sent me some replacements. They arrived in the mail yesterday.

Chuck was kind enough to send me the partial decal set from his 1/48 Tamiya F-117, so I can still build mine up as the Toxic Avenger, since this is one of the options provided by Tamiya right from the box.

He also sent me some very nice leftover decals from a Caracal set for the F-117. These will be put to good use for sure.

So now without a doubt, I will be able to finish up the Night Hawk...

So I started stripping off the old ones. At first I used tape, but since these were glued down effectively using Future floor acrylic, they left some nasty marks behind in the paint. The Future had taken the shape of the wrinkled decals, and dried in this manner. I had no choice but to carefully sand off this remaining clear acrylic residue. You can see the "flat" spots in this next picture where the model has been sanded down to where the surface is now smooth.

The V tail fins needed a lot of sanding... and since they were mounted, I decided to carefully remove them. After a little work, I had both of them off the main airframe, where I could sand them more evenly while they laid flat on a regular surface. I had to do this in order to keep from breaking something. It seems counter intuitive to break something in order not to break if worse accidentally... I also removed the nose wheel door, for the same reasons.

Here are the fins after they were sanded smooth and polished some.

The painted area around the canopy on the Starboard side broke through into the white base coat I had used for the inside color on the canopy. So tonight I touched it up, using Gloss Black enamel.

I will allow this fresh paint to dry overnight, and then I'll start applying the new decals tomorrow. Then it should go together quickly, and should be done soon afterwards.

I want to send a big shout out, saying "Thank You", to our good friend Chuck Villanueva. He is one of the many good people we are fortunate enough to have registered here on Imodeler. We seem to help each other out when we can. In the past I have sent parts and various decal sets out to others, and now it's being repaid in kind. This is not the first time someone has helped me out along the way... You know who you are and again I thank you.

And I will continue to help others when I can too. Pay it forward if you will.

Without his kindness, this plane would most likely still be sitting still. He provided the push I needed to get it done.

As always, comments are encouraged.

Kudos to our good friend Chuck @uscusn! He is a wonderful guy, as many others here!

Nice save on the decal situation, Louis @lgardner! You remedial actions seem to work perfectly!

Eagerly waiting to see this imposing (black) bird converging to its amazing posture!

Regarding the B-1 (and F-15) turkey feathers removal, I have read (and I agree) that they removed them to save weight and money (they were expensive); the aerodynamic penalty was not that notorious.

I don't know why the did not the same at other planes with the same or similar engines.

B-1Bs have GEs and F-15s have PWs, so turkey feather removal was done not only at one type of engine...

About the kit: I have the 2006 release, providing decals for the early tricolor scheme, which is a scheme I love.

"Early" B-1Bs seem to have the turkey feathers installed, so the kit provided nozzles, which are the B-1A nozzles, can be shortened by about 1/4 inch and provide a fair (not entirely correct) early B-1B representation. So, it all works to my "El Cheapo" style benefit 🙂 ...

I went on Josh's @jpatt1000 B-1 article and I will definitely use it as a reference! And, Josh, I hope you won't mind if I may PM you to ask a question or two, should they arise!

All the best, my friends, and I am waiting for the starting bell for the B-1 build, Louis!

Hit it and off we go, Sir! And it will be really exciting!

The B-1 uses the F101 , the F110 was derived from it and is very similar one of the main differences being that it has three fans on the bypass section while the 101 only has two. I did have to look it up as I was also assuming from the turkey feathers that the Air Force said "Hey, we have this great engine, let's use it in everything!".