Hasegawa 1/72 Stealth Fighter

Work on what would become the F-117 commenced in the 1970s as a means of countering increasingly sophisticated Soviet surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). During 1976, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) issued Lockheed with a contract to produce the Have Blue technology demonstrator, the test data from which validated the concept. On 1 November 1978, it was decided to proceed with the F-117 development program. A total of five prototypes would be produced; the first of which performed its maiden flight in 1981 at Groom Lake, Nevada. The first production F-117 was delivered in 1982, and its initial operating capability was achieved in October 1983. All aircraft were initially based at Tonopah Test Range Airport, Nevada.

The aircraft's faceted shape (made from two-dimensional flat surfaces) heavily contributes to its relatively low radar cross-section of about 0.001 m2 (0.0108 sq ft). To minimize its infrared signature, it has a non-circular tail pipe that mixes hot exhaust with cool ambient air and lacks afterburners; it is also restricted to subsonic speeds as breaking the sound barrier would produce an obvious sonic boom that would increase both its acoustic and infrared footprints. While its performance in air combat maneuvering was less than that of most contemporary fighters, it was strictly an attack aircraft despite being commonly referred to as the "Stealth Fighter". For this reason, it is equipped with integrated sophisticated digital navigation and attack systems, targeting being achieved via a thermal imaging infrared system and a laser rangefinder/laser designator. It is aerodynamically unstable in all three aircraft principal axes and thus requires constant flight corrections via a fly-by-wire system to maintain controlled flight.

Even in the years following its entry to service, the F-117 was a black project, its existence being denied by USAF officials. On 10 November 1988, the F-117 was publicly acknowledged for the first time. Its first combat mission was flown during the United States invasion of Panama in 1989. The last of 59 production F-117s were delivered on 3 July 1990. The F-117 was widely publicized for its role in the Gulf War of 1991, having flown approximately 1,300 sorties and scored direct hits on what the US military described as 1,600 high-value targets in Iraq. F-117s also participated in the conflict in Yugoslavia, during which one was shot down by a surface-to-air missile (SAM) in 1999. It was also active during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. The type was retired in 2008, primarily due to the fielding of the F-22 Raptor. Despite the type's official retirement, a portion of the fleet has been kept in airworthy condition, and F-117s have been observed flying since being retired from combat.

This is Hasegawa’s initial attempt to produce a 1/72 “Stealth Fighter”. By that time, the F-117 (initially called as “F-19” in late 80s news articles) was a secret project, with only a grainy photo appearing on 10 November 1988 during a press conference of Assistant Secretary of Defense J. Daniel Howard. Needless to say, by that time, many scale modeling companies wanted to present their Stealth Fighter as early as possible. With only scarce information being available, it was very interesting to see a number of new toolings that bore little resemblance to the real thing. One of them was this 1989 Hasegawa initial tooling, which is not to be confused with the company’s 1999 follow-up very accurate mold.

The specific kit was bought brand new in 2024 from an Athens shop at a good price and comes in a relatively small sized, high quality, top opening box, with the boxart featuring a photo of a finished model. The kit is very simplistic, can be built only in wheels-up configuration and for a more in-depth look at its contents, you may read its preview found in the ever growing MM archives.

I first attached the tinted canopy on the interior side of the top fuselage half, then joined the fuselage halves. I left the empty interior unpainted, as the black styrene and the tinted canopy ensured nothing would ever be visible. The intakes were then built-up and attached in position, where, as I did not like at all their crude looks, I decided to blank them with some mesh pieces of suitable looks, which were attached using liquefied styrene and later blended-in with some sanding. The wings and the ruddervators were last attached, all one-piece affairs.

This concluded the complete assembly (apart from a couple of antennas that I would attach after painting), which must have been one of the simplest, if not the simplest I had ever done, with overall fit being generally good. After some filing and sanding, I masked the canopy with liquid mask and took the fictitious bird to the paint shop!

The ease of the kit’s construction was followed up with an equally easy painting session, as the complete model was painted Hu85 Black, which took a couple of days to cure. A coat of Future prepared the bird for decaling.

I used the kit's generic decals, which, despite their age, behaved flawlessly, with a coat of Future sealing them in.

Not too much here either, apart from attaching the aforementioned small antennas on top and painting the exhaust innards white, which were later weathered with black and brown dry pastels, to simulate the ceramic coating looks. A satin coat gave the bird its final hue.

Though there was a nice base provided, I did not use it, as I had to drill a hole to the model for doing so, something my young sons did not want. So, I merely placed it on a sort of generic stand, in order to call it done!

Clearly, this model cannot stand as an accurate representation of the F-117 and the fact that Hasegawa came in 1999 with a very nice and accurate tooling says it all. The specific kit can only be viewed as a sort of a walk down memory lane, where kit manufacturers felt that they should urge to go for a subject they had little information about.

That said, there’s really nothing wrong in building such a kit, with its simplicity of construction deeming it suitable even for a toddler’s first attempt. In fact, my young sons helped me quite a bit during this pleasant and quick construction.

Apparently, this kit is gradually becoming a collector’s item, with its availability declining and its prices rising, but if you happen to get your hands on one, resist the temptation to keep it as a collector’s item and hand it to a toddler to put it together. You will be rewarded by his big smile.

Happy Modeling!

Spiros Pendedekas

16 December 2024

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