The Hasegawa 1/48 F-22 Raptor #07245 is currently still the most accurate 1/48 F-22 Raptor model kit on the market. Since its release in 2009, I Love Kit (i.e. Hobbyboss) has also made a 1/48 F-22 Raptor model kit, however, I think it is overpriced. Prior to 2009 Italeri and Academy had 1/48 F-22 kits available, however according to kit reviews, the Hasegawa F-22 kit surpassed those kits in accuracy and engineering. The Hasegawa 1/48 F-22 Raptor kit comes with a pilot figure with two helmet options. This kit also includes a smoke tinted canopy and a clear canopy to select from. These canopies do not have seam lines that require polishing out. The canopy on the model can be posed either closed or open. The rear horizontal tail planes are movable as they plug into polystyrene caps. The decals provide the builder with up to four different aircraft marking choices. I opted to build the Hat in the Ring 1st FW Commander aircraft 94th FS 1st FW USAF, 2009. The stencil decals are comprehensive and also include stencil markings for two AIM9X and six AIM120 missiles. During application of the low visibility stencil markings, I discovered that they are almost too low visible as they blended into the camouflage colors to the extent that they could barely be seen. Micro Sol and Micro Set are highly recommended for decal application for the decals provided in this kit as I found them to be on the thick side. Unlike lesser kits of the 1/48 F-22 Raptor, the Hasegawa kit includes full intake trunks with no internal ejector pin marks, however, the halves that make up these intake trunks have fit issues so care must be taken in their assembly. Installation of these intake trunks into the lower fuselage half is also problematic so care must be taken during this part of the assembly. Assembly of the nose gear and main wheel gears is somewhat fiddley and will require careful study of the instructions to figure out how these components go together. Another tedious assembly process involved installation of the weapons bay doors. I used the Hasegawa 1/48 photo etch detail set for the 1/48 F-22 as the weapons bay doors in this set were thinner and truer to scale than the stock molded kit parts. If using the Hasegawa photoetch set for this kit, beware that additional filing and sanding down of the exhaust nozzle side edges will be required as the photo etch panels on either side of the nozzles will reduce the size of the opening for these parts. During the painting process, I used Mission Model Dark Ghost Gray and Light Ghost Gray. For wing edges, I used Vallejo Sky Grey. Masking off the wing edges and nose of the aircraft was time consuming and tedious. I used a Montex canopy mask designed for the Hasegawa 1/48 F-22 Raptor kit which yielded excellent results. I mixed Ceramcoat Metallic Silver 02603 with the Dark Ghost Gray and Light Ghost Gray to simulate the F-22 Raptor Sheen observed on the actual aircraft. To simulate the bronze-colored tint seen on the canopy of this aircraft, I airbrushed Vallejo acrylic clear yellow on the interior of the clear canopy provided in the kit. I then followed this up with another airbrushed application of Johnson's Floor Wax (i.e. Future) to clear up some of the cloudiness left by the clear yellow paint. For my build of this model, I used an Iwata HPC airbrush with a 0.3mm needle at 20 psi. The Dark Ghost Gray camouflage pattern was applied freehand. Due to the lengthy build, painting and decaling processes required for successful completion of this model, it is recommended for intermediate to advanced fine scale modelers with airbrushing skills.