Revell 1/72 Lockheed F-22A Raptor

REVELL 1:72 LOCKHEED F-22A RAPTOR
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Myself (rec.models.scale)

Kit Details: Revell No.04386 1/72 Lockheed F-22A Raptor

Aircraft History: The Raptor was developed from the Lockheed YF-22 which originated from tenders sought by the USAF to replace the F-15 Eagle. The YF-22 was the winning contender design for the 1981 Advance Tactical Fighter (ATF) requirement intended to provide the USAF with a replacement for the F-15 Eagle.

The YF-22 competed against the larger and arguably more attractive McDonnell Douglas/Northrop YF-23 design and once it was determined that the F-15 and F-16 could fulfil low-level tactical roles for many years to come the conventional YF-22 was given the nod as the ATF in the air-superiority role. The YF-22 incorporated stealth technology involving the use of radar absorbent materials (particular leading and trailing edge wing sensors) and faceted surfaces for the external airframe. The ATF also required a sustainable speed of at least Mach 1.5 without the use of afterburners which the YF-22 was reputed to fulfil 'easily' even though much of its performance specifications were kept from the public. Two YF-22A demonstration aircraft were built incorporating the latest technology in avionics systems and this eventually lead to the development of the production aircraft, F-22 Raptor.

The first production F-22A's were delivered to the USAF in 1997 and depending on your reference source around 250 are reputed to have been ordered and mostly built (original USAF order for 468 has reduced a few times over time and then fluctuated a little upwards due to changing priorities [and minds it is said] of the US Congress).

The Raptor is powered by two large Pratt & Whitney F-119 turbofans with almost double the thrust in one engine compared to both engines of the powerful F-15E Strike Eagle enabling the Raptor to "super cruise" at speeds over Mach 1 (ie: lower fuel consumption and no need to use afterburners). The exact speed and other performance details are still highly classified but reference sources tend to agree that it can cruise up to 1,000 mph and has a top speed of around Mach 2.2. While it doesn't have quite the stealth capability as the F-117, it still returns a small signature and is difficult to track on most conventional radar systems due to the radar absorbent material of the plane and also the angles in which panels and other external features have been built. One famous performance ability of the Raptor is to effectively stand on its tail during high speed dogfights which ensures its pursuers flies right past it and enables the Raptor to "Cobra" like nose down and chase its prey.

Initially - as with the F-4 Phantom - the Raptor was intended to be developed as a missile platform only but experience thankfully justified the need for a 20mm cannon in the wing while a range of bombs or missiles can be carried in an internal underfuselage and side intake bays with phenomenal accuracy rates for targets up to 25 km away.

Being classed as the first USAF 5th generation fighter and being almost completely run by computers the Raptor has been susceptible to a few teething problems associated with the "pioneer" of a new design and system. One notable change in the cockpit is that most of the switches, small screens, warning lights etc have been replaced by three LCD displays giving the pilot more information but in less complex ways. But as the software is newish, it also means an interesting challenge for Lockheed to ensure the aircraft is upgradeable as new technology comes in over time. This was highlighted with the delivery of the first production aircraft being almost immediately sent back for conversion to new avionics systems. However, the Raptor has already shown in mock and real conflicts that it is a pretty awesome aerial weapon for future conflicts.

Preamble of the Kit: A few other manufacturers have also released the F-22A, but most of these are converted from the manufacturer's YF-22 molds, whereas Revell has produced a straight up F22A from scratch. This probably already gives you a clue about which kit you should consider buying since the others will have inaccuracies due to a number of changes made between prototypes and production models. It is the first Revell new tooling kit I have purchased for almost the length of this decade (I have found them both hard and overpriced in my little part of the world) and the look and feel of the kit makes me want more!

Kit Parts: There are just under 100 light grey injection molded parts provided over four large sprues, all of which are in one large plastic bag with two being in a separate plastic bag within. The parts are thus well protected as the four clear parts are also in their own plastic bag. The kit is reputedly tooled in 2007 according to date stamps on the sprues and instructions so the tooling is current day technology. This generally makes the overall detail of the parts excellent, with really crisp plastic and no flash at all. It has the feel of that new age type of plastic but overall the detail is excellent even though it is marred a little by a stack of circular ejector pin marks, some of which need very minor filing down to prevent them from impacting on the fit of the model kit.

Instructions: An A4 12-page booklet is provided as the instructions and as is often the case with Revell kits, it is very comprehensive and broken down into lots of different components, which is underlined by the fact there are effectively 60 construction steps!! It kicks off with the usual overview of the aircraft in German and English followed by a couple of pages of modelling info and symbol explanation in several other languages. Even though it only uses about half a page, the next page is taken up by alphabetic labels (from A to O) for painting information taken from the Revell range and communicated in several languages. I don't to dwell on the fact that some of the colours (only four in this case) require the mixing of paints. I know many modellers get furious about the mixing of paints but to me the problem is moreso that Revell don't provide you with an FS number or even a name to enable you to determine the right colour from your own paint collection (Revell I can't get your paints where I live!!). But there is one minor victory - when you go to the aircraft external painting scheme later in the instructions, you are provided with FS numbers. On Page 5 you have a sprue map and then the very busy and comprehensive series of construction steps which take up almost all of the rest of the pages. A single four view diagram is given for painting and the "common" decals to a number of F-22A aircraft and scrap views are provided for the painting of weapons. The final page is then devoted to scrap views of tail fins, intakes, gear doors etc for decaling the different examples the kit provides for.

Colour Options: There is only one single colour option as such for the kit, the standard patchy two tone low viz grey of FS36251/36176 with FS36375 trimming all around the aircraft designating sensor areas. In terms of different examples you can produce from the kit, from a quick look at the instructions and decal sheet there appears to be 7 different commander aircraft you have the option of doing. All appear to be from the 2006 - 2007 era with a few from Langley, and one or two each from Alaska or Tyndall postings.

Decals: The decal sheet is long and contains enough decals to keep you occupied for a few days - although many will be unique to one of the aircraft noted above. Register of the printing is excellent and they look thin with a matt appearance and are sharp to the eye, carrying very little carrier film. They are printed by an Italian firm, whose decals I have never used before so I can't comment on possible application ease - but on paper they look similar to the likes of Cartograf and Zanchetti which are renowned decal producers from Italy in the past.

On the Sprue Impressions: The parts look really crisp and well engineered on the sprue and your first thoughts are of a high quality product that should go together very nicely indeed (especially given Revell's new tooling reputation of the past). As with most modern day fighter kits, the fuselage is split horizontally and incorporates wings and nose section already molded. Also already integrally molded into the airframe are the sawtooth jagged openings. Apart from the canopy, stores, wheel bay interior, undercarriage and cockpit (which are all traditional construction components), you get the first impression you only need to add the tail fins and intake sections and you are done!

I have already mentioned he need for possible removal of some ejector pin marks but thankfully almost all of them are in places which are not going to matter (ie: hidden away). The wheel and missile bays, along with the interior side of their doors, all have a bit of generic detail that should keep most model detailers happy. You even have the choice of different engine nozzle openings to depict the aircraft on ground or in flight.

The cockpit includes a four part fairly generic yet realistic looking ejector seat which goes into a cockpit tub. Throttles and levers are provided along with an instrument panel that has raised console detail (which is simply the three LCD screens) or you can apply the decal supplied.

There are lots of parts which make up the walls and sides for the different bays/wells along with launch rails which indicates some "fiddliness" might be apparent in the construction process. In terms of building the aircraft, there are sixteen construction steps before you put the fuselage halves together because the internal wheel bays, blanking plates, exhaust construction and so forth are worked on inside one of the fuselage halves. If you are a beginner and don't want the challenge of the internal bomb bay wall construction, you could close them up and this will make construction a little easier. For the first time in any instruction sheet I also note the suggestion of using a clothes peg as a clamp! Revell must be reading SMAKR reviews!!

There are a variety of stores options for the kit including a pair of AAM-9M Sidewinders, a pair of AAM-9X Sidewinders, four Mk.84 bombs and six AMRAAM AIM-120's. Also included are a pair of large 2270 litre drop tanks integrally molded to attach to a pair of hardpoints under the wings (whose holes need to be drilled out first).

Accuracy: There are probably reviews out there of this aircraft already having been built by other modellers and unfortunately I don't have the ability to provide a definitive answer on what I see and can be measured on the sprue. However the first clue is that this kit was engineered from scratch to be an F-22A whereas (as mentioned above) a couple of other manufacturers used their existing YF-22 molds to upgrade to a production aircraft which means a few shape problems are likely compared to this Revell aircraft. From reading a few modelling forums and discussion with modellers I have on reliable information that while not absolutely perfect this kit is about as accurate and as good as is likely to ever be produced in this scale.

Conclusion: Revell already have a high quality reputation for their new tooling products from an engineering aesthetic point of view as well as ease of construction point of view. Add in a high amount of detail (particularly for the real life bland exterior on the stealthy fighters due to minimisation of radar signature), crisp molding and what apparently is a rather accurate replica then it is pretty easy to highly recommend this product to all modellers.

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