Stealth GB

I don't know of one ..... but if you find something let me know please? Thanks!!

Yeah I didn't think so. SOL makes a set of resin AIM-9Xs and AIM-120s. Flightpath and Cutting Edge Modelworks also makes resin AMRAAMs. You would just need to cut off the tips of the fins to make the C models that the F-22 uses.

_ROOSTA_ requested a Stealth GB badge for you guys so I threw one together.

Here's the full size.


And here's the 80 x 80 badge to be used in signiatures.


Hope You like it!

That is awsome mate looks fantasitic.

Holy cow... that's AWESOME.

Hey Will, Just checking to see if you got my email on the PE parts and all?

Brian~

In Case anyone's interested, there are several auctions up on ebay right now that might interest those working on a Nighthawk kit:

Superscale Decales in 1:48
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2587&item=5915705019&rd=1

Tamiya kit in 1:48 for $20.00 (a heck of a good price for this kit):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50302&item=5915182434&rd=1

Same kit starting at $3.00, but has been opened and has a reserve:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1189&item=5916152132&rd=1

Just some options for folks interested in this GB and stuff..... :)

Brian~

I'll ask again now that this is stickied, how are you defining stealth? Would pre-"stealth" night fighters or bombers be considered stealth? I'm thinking about aircraft like P61 Black Widow, PBY Black cat, He219 Uhu, Mosquito etc.

I think I'll join in with a 1/48 Academy F-117... I happend to pick it up at Hobby Lobby during their half off models sale a few weeks ago. Kind of conveniant that this GB poped up about the same time.

May I join this build with a 1/72 F-117?

I am supprised no one's really mentioned doing a U2 (just saw the post over on the main A/C board)...that would surely count towards stealth wouldn't it??

It's black, but not exaxtly stealth... but we might be able to let that one slide.

Wasn't the U2 designed for stealthy/high altitude penetration of hostile airspace? I was under the impression that it was painted in the same black 'iron ball' paint as the SR-71 etc. Maybe I'd heard wrong...

Well, true it was designed to penatrate enemy airspace and it was (still is) painted black. But black paint doesn't make a plane "Stealth". Stealth (in the aircraft world) usually refers to an aircraft's ability to go undetected by radar, or at least have a significantly reduced radar cross section.

Technically, the U-2 was far from stealth. After all, several got shot down by enemy missiles during the 60s. In fact, the SR-71 is only boarder-line stealthy. It had a lower cross-section than probably any aircraft when it was built, but it doesn't compare to the RCS of the F-117 or later aircraft.

But I'm not putting this GB together, so I'm certainly not going to dictate the technicalities of this project.

Good info Caine, though again, I was under the impression that the U2 was painted in the "Iron Ball" black paint, not just your off the shelf Krylon ya know? It was the paint as much as the aircraft's shape etc. that helped it with stealth. And even an F-117A has been shot down now so I'm not sure that's as great a defining characteristic as it used to be. :)

Still curious to learn from all who know more than I do - like everyone else! :)

Best!

Brian~

Hi all,
I would like to join to GB as well. Put me down for the 1/144 Revell B-2 and the 1/48th Monogram F-117.

OK I'm in but I'm not sure with what yet...

Lets say that the definition of stealth then is 1. painted in "stealthy radar evading" paint and/or 2. has a "stealthy radar evading" airframe.

Just another point of consideration on the U2: It was designed to fly at very high altitudes right? Something like 60-70,000 feet plus? Wasn't this design parameter directly linked to it's ability to hide from enemy eyes and SAMs etc.? Again, I know it didn't work all the time, but it seemed to get the job done for the most part didn't it?

The U2 was designed to fly over Russia's SAMs, but it couldn't fly high enough to evade their radar. RCS, or Radar Cross Section, wasn't a factor in it's design. In fact, the Iron Ball paint came on later U2s and TR-1s. The SR-71, however, was the first aircraft to have RCS considerations in it's design parameters. Eisenhower didn't only want an aircraft that the Russian's couldn't shoot down, he wanted a plane that they couldn't even detect.

Hey all, been a while since I've looked at this thread. Sorry.. :-X

But it's day two of the GB! SWEET! I wonder if anybody has started yet. Personally, I have not - there's a huge hurricane that is sort of keeping people busy around here, and I'm waiting for a PE detail kit to come in the mail, but I don't expect it to come anytime soon because the hurricane has paused the postal service. Has anybody indeed begun their project already? Keep us updated, it's half the fun of a GB!

In regard to the whole 'definition of stealth' issue ... it really depends on what era you're talking about as to whether or not your target plane would be considered stealthy.

aaronw - Radar wasn't developed until later in the war ... so things like the P-61 Black Widow, the Mosquito, and those other night fighters would all be legitimate projects for this group build. They were made to be less detectable than other planes, which is in essence stealth, so yeah they're acceptable to me. Gotta ask my coboss (_ROOSTA_)! lol. I'm unfamiliar with the Hw219 Uhu and the PBY Black Cat, so I don't know how to make those calls.....

Maybe we should try to compile a list of aircraft that would be acceptable projects? That would be difficult, and we'd end up questioning new ones anyway on whether or not they're stealthy ... I'm willing to go for it though.

caine, ddayomaha, balta1 - I will be adding you to the beginning post of this thread on the list of participants after I finish typing this. Good luck with your build, and have fun!

uilleann - The U2. The U2. The U2. Personally, I'd give it the thumbs-up on stealthiness and project legitimacy. But ask _ROOSTA_ for confirmation on that, he's coboss.... I have no idea exactly how they were painted, but I do know that the paint does effect a plane's RCS. But I'm pretty sure that in its glory days, during the Cold War, they were close to undetectable when they were that ridiculously high up in the atmosphere.

I have a book on the U2, I should look that up .. also a book on the F-117, I should look up its paint for comparison as well.

Hope everybody's projects are going well, or that you're at least finishing up whatever is on your workbench so that you can at last tackle your kit for the GB! I'll be doing my best to keep things updated and what not, but theres a huge storm right overhead and I'll be needing to keep the phone lines open.

Happy building!

Over n out
Will

You stay safe and dry down there Will

Thanks for letting me into the build

Did anyone start their projects yet?
I think I'll look inside the box today. I haven't built an AC in years, so this will be interesting.
By the way, what is an appropriate colour to use for the 'black' radar-absorbing paint? Flat black seems a little too dark for me.

My family and my house is fine for those concerned but this isn't a personal forum so I'll try to stay to the point while giving an update as well. The storm knocked out power for virtually all of central Florida about two seconds after I posted my last blurb on this thread. We've maintained running water the whole time and are still without electricity, but we just got phone service back tonight, so I come to you thanks to my gargantuan extra-car-battery-to-power-converter-to-laptop-computer-to-phone-line rig. People not even a mile away have been restored to full power so we should be up and running by tomorrow, but for now, we're getting creative. Go crudeness!

I opened my box today and checked out the pieces and the instructions some more ... been a while since I've looked at it. The instructions are so simple for this kit (Academy 1/48 F-117A), quite possibly too simple.

See Spot.
See Spot run.
Run, Spot, run.

Instructions are so ridiculously crude compared to the rest of the aircraft I've done, which have all been Revell-Monogram up until this one. I find that I'll have to do some picture-questing to learn how I should do the interior of the cockpit and such. I've got a whole book on this plane but they don't give any well-detailed pictures or illustrations of the cockpit or the weapons bays; it's basically just a history of how it came to be.

Does anybody have any scanned (detailed) illustrations of F-117 interior? Or know of a website that in any way depicts the instrument panel details in one of these suckers? I'm gonna check the library tomorrow - maybe it's open and I can return my book that was due the day the hurricane hit and everything went dark - and scavenge for anything I can find on the F-117. In the meantime could somebody help me out? I'm so bored without any power! I need something to do!!

DAMN! And I had a TON of reference photos of the cockpit etc too. All except for the fact that my blasted hard drive decided to go belly up and I LOST IT ALL!!!!! AAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!

In lighter news - how's the mail service? Did you get your PE kit yet? It should be close if not there already...

Brian~

I'll all for having as many people in this GB as possible and I'm happy to say that any night fighter can be classified as stealth for this GB taking into consideration the timeline of radar and when it actually was advanced enough to consistantly pick up everything that tried to get through. But if anyone knows, Could a single BF110 nightfigther get picked up on radar back in the 40's?

I think I'm gonna end up putting the plane together this weekend. i don't want to start painting until I get some feedback, as I'm not really certain how to paing and weather an apparently all-black aircraft.

I got the PE kit in the mail yesterday. Yesterday was the first day that the postal service regained functionability around here, because of the hurricane - I got like four packages in the mail yesterday. Was happy to see that one in the pile. It probably arrived a while ago and was simply not delivered until then.

I begun last night with my Academy 1/48 kit, but the power went out again so I went to bed having only cemented the bombs together and the engine slats into place. Today, with power back and my airbrush once more available, I will be painting!

Brian - Do you remember any of where/how you attained those pics of the cockpit interior? I'd certainly like to look them up and check them out!

Just had an idea on how to maybe paint the exterior of the F-117:

Apply a dark metallizer (Model Masters Gunmetal is the one I'm thinking of), seal it, apply a one or two light coats of flat black over the lacquer, then seal that.

That would allow for it to be black and would also give it the strange metallic character that it has. Or at least theoretically, it would ...

Feedback?

For anyone building the Academy 1/48 F-117, the ejection seat doesn't seem to sit properly. It bumps up against the control stick base in the cockpit tub and only touches the cockpit in the back. Has anyone else noticed this? Is that right... I don't think I have ever build an aircraft where the ejection seat doesn't sit flat in the tub.