1/48 Hasegawa F-22A Raptor WIP

P mitch

Fly-n-hi

Only just seen this thread and like a few others I have this in the stash so glad to see someone building one. I must say the panel lines that you mentioned being out don't bother me at all, it looks like a F-22 so thats fine by me

Phil

Thanks, P mitch!

I've polished and masked the canopies.  I used the Novus polishing compounds to remove some small scuffs. I decided to mask them both so that I have the option of using either one since I'm still not sure which squadron markings I will be using.

I've also assembled and painted two of the AIM-120C AMRAAM missiles.  Obviously I'm not going to use them on this kit but I figured I'd make them anyway to see how they look.  I might use them on a future build:

Beautiful model so far!

Thanks Jim!

I'm getting more painting done.  I've painted all of the outer edges the lightest grey color.  I'm using the colors recommended in the instructions.  I mainly use Mr Color paints anyway so it works out well for me.

I added some black to that light grey color, sprayed it on randomly, then added some white to the color and sprayed it on randomly as well to give it a weathered appearance:

This light grey color doesn't really show up to well against the primer.

Here's the F-22 with all of the light grey areas masked off.  This was an easy process compared to some other models I've built.  All of the lines are straight and long except for the radome.

There are a few panels that I didn't mask like the thin panels that separate the rudder from the vertical stabs.  I'll mask these afterwards.  They're thin and  sort of jagged in some areas and I think it will be easier to paint them separately.  Same with the panel in between the exhausts.

Here's the F-22 with the first layer of paint.  Actually, its the first layer plus some post shading.  I'm trying to give the paint some tonal variation in preparation for the weathering.  

I just used the colors recommended in the instructions.  This seems to be the standard formula now for getting the "Raptor Sheen" in the paint.  Its just mixing in steel colored paint with grey paint at about 1:1.

I like the appearance of this paint.  Like I said earlier in the thread I'm going to give this one some weathering.  So I didn't want the fresh out of the paint shop look to the paint even though most F-22s are very clean.

I thought I took some pics of the paint before the post shading but I guess I didn't.  Oh well.

Hi Silver,

I myself was wondering how to achieve the Raptor's metallic sheen, and found your suggestion very interesting. Do you know of a source for SnJ metallic powders, or what similar/equivalent products there are?

Thanks in advance.

Silver

To get a realistic Metallic sheen on the gray surface just dry brush a micro amount of SN'J metallic powder.

If you use the paint mix recommended in the instructions you get just the right amount of "sheen."  The paint  they use to get the sheen is a new Super Metal paint line and it works very well.  Anything more metallic would have too much sheen in my opinion.

I'll try to post a pic of this F-22 in the sunlight.  The sheen will be very obvious, then.

This pic is maybe 4-5 years old.  I don't know if the current appearance is different.

I believe FineScale had an article in the last current issue on how to achieve the metallic sheen for the paintjob.  Has anyone else tried it?

The article uses a mixture of aluminum, graphite and grey.  It's basically the same idea as what the instructions call for.

Fly have a look at this if you're curious about painting. I saw this a while ago and think it might be useful. 

As far as I could ever see it's the closest I have seen to the paint on an F-22, I think he basically did what the instructions said as the guy doesn't say much about the painting but here's a link anyway, it might be useful to you.

He said something about using a thinned translucent grey over silver, perhaps that's the key instead of mixing?

maximodelizm.com.ua/viewtopic.php

I appreciate the suggestions but I've already got the amount of sheen I'm looking for.  Mine's going to be one of the dirtier line jets.  Those pics above look like a fresh paint job.  That's not really my thing.

I completed a pair of the AIM-120C AMRAAMs that came with the kit just to see how they'd turn out.  Not bad me thinks:

I'm not going to use them but I thought I'd share the pics anyway.

Alrighty, I've got the basic camo painted on.  I've noticed in my research that , it seems, no two F-22s have the exact same camo pattern.  There was alot of variation out there.  I just sort of made up a pattern using several images.  I've also applied some post shading to the camo:

After this I will give a general lightening/post shading to the camo spots, paint a few of the light grey areas that I skipped earlier, paint some of the detail panels and paint some of the dirty areas.  Then I will gloss coat and decal it.  Then the fun weathering begins

This looks great, Fly.   Right up there with your usual awesome builds.

Thanks, Dre!  I've faded out the dark camo spots a little and I've masked off the remaining light grey panels that I skipped during the first round of masking:

It will probably sit like this for a while since I can only paint now when my wife isn't home.  She's always home since she works from home so who knows how long it will be before I get to it again.

Am I the only one thinking why they used a camo scheme on a stealth plane?

Great build! I'll do one eventually.

ww2psycho

Am I the only one thinking why they used a camo scheme on a stealth plane?

Great build! I'll do one eventually.

Actually, the camo itself is a form of stealth.

Really looking good, the missiles were impressive although the decals were tedious but worth the effort.

Thanks Tojo!.  There were 33 decals per missile!  I only used 17 per missile, though.  I didn't bother with all of the little "NO HOLD" decals that went on all the fins.  I figured nobody would see them anyway.

Great job on the missiles!

I remember years ago watching a B-2 and an F-22 flying very low (not much more than 500 feet off the ground) over a friend's house one New Year's Day. They were on their way to a flyover of the Rose Bowl in nearby Pasadena as a part of the pre-game festivities before the kickoff.

Jim Barton

Great job on the missiles!

I remember years ago watching a B-2 and an F-22 flying very low (not much more than 500 feet off the ground) over a friend's house one New Year's Day. They were on their way to a flyover of the Rose Bowl in nearby Pasadena as a part of the pre-game festivities before the kickoff.

I've got most of the grey border panels unmasked.  It turned out almost flawless.  There are 2 very small areas that I need to sharpen up but otherwise  it was a successful masking job:

You may have noticed that the left aileron is painted light grey.  I saw a photo of an F-22 like this.  I think it was just a replacement part that hadn't received the metallic paint, yet.  I thought it looked cool so I did it on my F-22.  I also painted one of the smaller main gear doors like that based on a similar photo.

Something you mentioned above made me curious- You mention discoloring to denote replaced panels.  My background is Navy, but if you look at the fuselage sides of many Navy aircraft (particularly F/A-18s) you often see panels that are much lighter.  This is from internal repairs (electronics, hydraulics, engines, etc.) followed by repainting the panel after the aircraft has been closed back up.  This leaves the lighter/cleaner patch.  Does the USAF use the same practice on its aircraft, or do they just replace the panels?  Does anyone have any insight into how the Air Force handles post-maintenance cleanup/painting?  Thanks!

Groot

I've added some brake lines to the main gear and some electrical lines to the landing/taxi lights on the nose gear:

I may add another set of lines to the main gear.

It's coming along nicely. Can't wait to see it complete.