YF23 Fighter Aircraft

Could be higher with better decals. The model itself looks ok for this scale - right shape and 20 parts. But the decals are wrong. One reviewer already noted that there are not enough markings for both stabilators. So I thought I would buy 2 and use decals from both to make up the difference. But the national insignias and the US AIR FORCE markings are also the wrong color. They should be gray but mine are the color of brown mustard. Would only recommend if you can get better decals.

For the price, this is a very good kit. I typically don't build 1/144 scale OR modern aircraft, but I wanted a small weekend project to break up the monotony of one of my other projects Ive been working on for some time. This worked very well for that. The fit, overall, was quite good, with some of the seam lines cleverly hid along existing panels- notably, on the nose and underside of the leading edges of the wings. A nice touch on an aircraft in this scale- a multi-part ejection seat, and instrument panel I had no real problems as far as construction goes. Painting/Finishing was a bit different matter, however. The kit does not provide a paint code for the overall scheme- I think they want you to just assume its black, but if you look at photos, its a very dark grey. I added a couple of drops of black to an airbrush cup of NATO Black, and that fit fairly well. The worst part of this kit, and what would be the dealbreaker for me if it cost any more than 3, were the decals. Oh sure, they apply fine- they go on well, if not a bit thick. The problem? There arent enough of them. And this isnt something trivial like stencils- they only include decals for the rear stabilizer for two surfaces, when in reality, the aircraft had all four sides painted. This is infuriating if you are at all interested in making this plane realistic. Once I discovered that fact, I stopped focusing so much on the realistic details- Just to make it look better, I sprayed the exhaust silver, when they should have been a gunmetal/brownish grey color. I decided that the decals looked the least strange on the outside part, so thats where I left them. Finally, I had problems balancing this kit. This was my own fault- all the weight I had were too large to fit in the nose. As I finished it, it does sit nose down- but it is a VERY precarious balance. I decided to throw together this base so I had something to glue it down to permanently. You should totally buy this kit. Maybe wait until you order something else and get it then, to combine shipping, but its worth it. Just keep in mind the decal shortcomings, and be prepared with either small weights/tungsten putty or a base to glue to.

This small, very easy to build model really looks nice if properly painted and decals carefully applied. For the young modeler, the unpainted version wouldn't look bad. The model is tail heavy so, if you build the landing gear down, the nose tilts up as in a takeoff roll. A small, six-sided dice under the rear fuselage takes care of this issue and isn't visible to the casual viewer.