It's big (surprisingly so), it's black, it''s Tamiya's 1/48 scale Nighthawk. Drablab goes into Stealth Mode (Ouch! Sorry...) for a Full-Build Review.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Having just bought this kit for £10 even with a broken pitot on the front seems a good bargain to me (I do wonder how it was broken with the protection Tamiya built in). Any way this review may be 4 years old but I would still like to thank Drabslab for taking the time to write it and giving me an insight as to what I can expect.

One of the simplest kit's I've built. Fit is excellant, but the main detail modelers miss is actually one that's fine for jsut about every other jet model; panel lines.

Of all but 1 of the 3 Tamiya F-117s I've built, I filled in most of the panel lines. The real jet's main fusealge panels are all faired in, except for common access and engine bay doors. It was the longest task in building the last 2 F-117 models I did.

I'd also suggest getting the Black Box cockpit. It was the best fitting, more complete, and most accurate F-117 cockpit to date. I especially liked the inner canopy framing provided, which is a major detail missed in the kit.

Mike V

I am making it into a habit to produce a review from time to time to thank the Aeroscale gang for all the information that i find on the site.

I'm glad that this "old" review is still bringing some value. In fact now I noticed that it is one of the most read reviews on the site

I wonder why exactly this one draws so much attention while most of my other reviews get an average reading (at least judging by the page views). Well, I do accept that some of my articles are a bit "unusual".

Happy building

A very interesting articel on the BBC website on the single F-117 ever being shiot down by anti aircraft defences.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20209770

Take note that the pilot says he was very worried about having to fly without prowler jamming escort and F-16 protection. Could this mean that the stealth was not that stealth after all and that conventional jamming and anti radar missiles were at least equally important?