Omega Flight: YF-23 Black Widows

[Quaralane]

Okay, time to start up a new build.
With the Helicarrier done in time for the contest, and waiting for some things to develop for my next 'big' project, I decided to work on something I alluded to at the end of the Finale video for the Helicarrier build.

What I will be building is part of "Omega Flight."
These planes were built, and fly exclusively for Omega Seven.

They are "XF-23 Black Widows." But, since there's not one of those in our world, I'll be using the YX-23 Black Widow prototype instead.

For the planes, I'll be using three of these:


the 1/144 YF-23 from Trumpeter.
I'm doing these in 1/144 to put them in scale withe the Changewind One build from a bit ago

We'll start with some sprue shots:
Parts are well detailed for the scale, and have engraved panel lines.
Only really have two complaints with the parts at this point.
Canopy isn't styled correctly
No pilot




Construction started with the installation of the nosegear well and the cockpit tub with seat and control panel.
I've also installed a fishing weight in the nose of all three aircraft to allow them to sit properly on the landing gear



All right.
After cclosing up the two piece hulls and dealing with a little bit of seamage, I installed the landing gear doors as well as the landing gear.
I would like to point out that, along the wings, Trumpeter put most of the seams along the flaps


I printed up a minimal set of markings for these three


Okay, with the landing gear secure, I set the birds on their wheels to test balance.
Looks pretty good.


I haven't installed the tailplanes yet, because I want to paint them separately and add them later.

Youtube link:
Omega Flight YF 23 Part 01

 

[JMac]

Super cool! I had no idea that a kit of the YF-23 even existed.

 

[Quaralane]

This makes one of three I know of.
And it's also the only one I know of that's readily available through anything other than Ebay

 

[RedDragon62]

I picked up two of these little kits a few weeks ago myself.
I'm interested in seeing how yours come out.

 

[Quaralane]

Thanks, RedDragon62.
Just be careful with that weight in the nose. One of mine was sitting higher than the others, and it made clamping the hull together more difficult

 

[RedDragon62]

Thanks, RedDragon62.
Just be careful with that weight in the nose. One of mine was sitting higher than the others, and it made clamping the hull together more difficult

Thanks for the heads up brother!

 

[Chris S]

Never heard of this one myself ! ...Looks interesting tho ...Nice Start Q ,looking forward to seeing it come together .

Chris.

 

[danimal518]

Those are huge for such a tiny scale! Can't wait to see them all finished.

 

[Quaralane]

Thanks, guys.

Chris,
The YF-23 Black Widow was the fighter that lost the ATF contract to the YF-22 Lightning II, later F-22 Raptor.

For my 'story,' the YF-23 found a use after all

 

[pitstop25]

Never seen one of these before. Cant wait to see how it comes out.

 

[Quaralane]

With rather extensive apologies for the delay between updates on this, here we go.

Painted up the tiny little pilots from some N-scale seated figures with basic red flights suits and dark helmets.


In the cockpits, I had to fix an earlier mistake.
The kit control panel had what I considered too long a 'leg' reaching out from the cockpit tub.
I was wrong, that 'leg' would have made it reach to the underside of the upper fuselage.
To fix the mistake, I removed the kit panels, and filled the gap with Aves Apoxie Sculpt.
With that in place, I gave the cockpit a coat of primer grey, followed by a black wash.



After masking off the canopies, I gave all three birds, and their separate tailplanes, a coat of grey primer that I'd decanted for use in the airbrush.



The bottoms of the aircraft were then painted with Badger light camouflage grey.


The upper sides, as well as the tailplanes were painted with a coat of Testors Graphite Dust


After painting in the wheels with a really dark grey, I gave the struts, thrusters, and gear bays a black wash.
That done, I gave the planes a coat of Future and set to decaling.
For some reason, this batch of custom decals fought me hard. NONE of the US Insignia wanted to lay down right until I flipped them 'sticky-side up' on the model.
I had only slightly better luck with the 'Omega 7' emblems.
Pics of the lead bird:

All three birds on a base plate I made using a sheet of plastic covered by a sheet of HO scale Tamiya brick texture:

All three birds, along with Changewind One:

Youtube link:
Omega Flight YF 23 Part Two-Finale

 

[RedDragon62]

Jeez are those pilots tiny! Oh joy! I have some of these lil monster to paint also! LOL

 

[CallSignOWL]

itty bitty airplane committee!

 

[Quaralane]

--smiles--
Thanks, guys.

RedDragon62, those pilots are N-scale figures I added. The kit doesn't come with a pilot

 

[RedDragon62]

Whew! Had me worried there for a minute. ;D

 

[Quaralane]

No worries.
I just wanted/needed pilots for mine, so I made them

 

[JMac]

Finally got a chance to get over here... ;D

Cool build Q. I like the little Black Widow II's, and the back story. Did you paint them in the "graphite dust" colour?

 

[Quaralane]

Thanks, JMac.

And yes, they were done with Graphite Dust

 

[RedDragon62]

No worries.
I just wanted/needed pilots for mine, so I made them

Whew! LOL....Jk. I think they give the ships an added dimension.

 

[JMac]

yes, they were done with Graphite Dust

That's a few times you've used that paint. Kyrlon right? Looks sharp, I'll have to make a note and try it in the future.

What's next on the horizon model-wise?