Hasegawa 1/72 Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk

HASEGAWA 1:72 LOCKHEED F-117A NIGHTHAWK
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Paul Wherran (rec.models.scale)

Kit: Hasegawa F-117A Nighthawk - 1/72

Aircraft: The F-117A was the first true stealth fighter that the western world has produced (and many people would argue that "stealth fighter-bomber" is more a accurate term). It first flew in 1981 and entered service sometime in 1983 and remained secret for many years before being unveiled to the public in its infamous "touched-up" photographic form. It was first put into a combat situation in Panama, 1989 but was not successful in its bombing attempts. However, in the invasion of Iraq two years later the type was extensively used to bomb targets with laser guided bombs and other smart weapons and more than redeemed itself here. It struck highly-defended targets without suffering a single loss.

Parts: The now familiar Hasegawa type boxing and packaging greets the modeller so it seems little worth to go through the packaging since they are all the same! The kit comes bagged with lovely molded, crisp, detailed parts on five sprues. The panel lines are engraved in most parts, such as control surfaces, but other areas like vents etc are raised. The colour of the plastic is not surprisingly, black and there are only about 30 parts in total! There is no flash whatsoever, but there are some ejector pin marks on the kit in various inconspicuous places, except the undercarriage.

Instructions: The instruction sheet is standard Hasegawa with a fold out sheet providing assembly steps, three view diagrams, gunze sangyo paint call outs, brief history, sprue diagram etc. It is quite simple to follow and the assembly drawings are pretty spot on.

Versions & Decals: The provides for two examples for markings - both of course stock standard 117A's (as far as we know!). The first in an 1990 bird from the 37th TFW, flown by commander T.Tolin and the other is a 1995 bird from the 49th FW flown by Brig. Gen. B.Carlson - the names taken from the decal sheet on the canopy railing. Neither version was used in combat as far as I know, and probably explains the lack of bomb bay detail on this kit. The decal sheet is small and typical Hasegawa with clearly printed decals that look to be in register. They are thick and glossy but should conform to the model surface very well.

Accuracy: It's always hard to gauge accuracy of any kit when it is still on its sprues, however, the few flaws that I have heard of on other kits appear not to be reproduced here - main contention being wing profile and the exhaust cross section. It looks very convincing on the sprue and I get a good feeling about this kit - I have heard a few other modellers suggesting it is the best F-117A in this scale, and from what I can see I tend to support this.

Options: The canopy can be displayed in the open position with actuating rods supplied.

Impressions: Breakdown of the parts matches most other F-117A kits in this scale with the main fuselage halves - split horizontally - taking up a sprue each. The top fuselage half already has the nose "pitot tube" array molded onto it and the lower half has a big hole for the bomb bay. There is no real detail for the bomb bay with a one-piece molded door provided on another sprue to cover the hole. When building this kit I would add the bomb bay door before the fuselage halves are affixed together to ensure that you don't push it in to the interior of the aircraft!

The cockpit is fitted to the top fuselage half and features a three-piece seat, instrument panel, stick and decals for main instrumentation console - which is nothing new considering their renowned lack of detail. A clear HUD part is placed on top of the dashboard but thankfully you won't see a great deal with a closed cockpit and thus not spot the sink marks on this piece. Actuating rods as already mentioned provide you with the option to have the canopy open. A plastic part is also provided to act as weight to go into the nose area - novel idea... if it works.

The wings and tail fins are well molded and look correctly profiled on the sprue. I pulled one off of each and test fitted the parts and assess they will provide no trouble in fitting onto the fuselage. The intakes are blanked off by a screen which is simply a plastic part with grids on it that you cannot see through. The exhausts are well done and again should provide no problems for the modeller, although there are a few nasty ejector pin marks on the fuselage halves that will require removal. Once the fuselage halves, cockpit and these other parts mentioned above are added you have effectively completed the main assembly of the F-117A.

Clear parts are provided for the HUD, canopy and the infra red turrets and look good. One can really spruce the kit up on these parts, and I particularly like the infra red turrets being molded this way to provide a more realistic "reflection" look of these parts once they are installed.

The landing gear is well done but there are ejector pin marks along the tyres and on the inside of the gear doors. Removal of the latter will undoubtedly result also in the removal of some of the fine structural detail Hasegawa has provided. The nose gear door is the worst and this is probably the only real let down of this kit.

Conclusion: For wheels-up modellers (like the SMAKR editor!) this kit will provide one with a very quick and lovely build of the F-117A. Wheels-down modellers will spend some additional time cleaning the ejector pin marks from the undercarriage errors. However, this kit looks every bit a winner on the sprue and in my opinion probably the most accurate depiction of this aircraft in this scale going around. There should not be any fit problems and aside from perhaps the price tag this model should be on every F-117A wish list as the primary choice.

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Italeri 1/72 F-117A Nighthawk

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