TrumpeterF-117 Night Hawk Kit

I've really come to appreciate Trumpeter for the quality of their excellent 1/144 scale aircraft models. I love the tiny scale, the assembly of which unfortunately has become a bit more difficult for me as I've aged, due to not enough trips to the optometrist. ;-) Hey, there's always magnification handy, thank goodness, in either eyeglass, strap on lens or desktop gizmo form, so it hasn't stopped me yet. :-) The fit of the parts in the contemporary Trumpeter kits (like this one) is pretty much always just spot-on, so the use of fillers is either minimal or more often, unnecessary and even sanding seems never to be a big deal. Actually, with some 12 kits or so added to my collection thus far, I haven't had one lemon in the bunch). For me, these kits are a GREAT value, so far giving me the kind of bang for my buck I can really get behind in this small scale (typically under or right around ten bucks and almost never as much as twenty, unless it's a large, multi-engine bomber, cargo plane or the like). In the 1/144 scale, my favorite, I have come to prefer this brand of aircraft models overwhelmingly, although Revell, Hasegawa, Academy and a few others also usually can be counted on to provide excellent models).This particular kit was a super-quick, very easy build, with not many parts at all, although I didn't like the included combination molding of the pilot with the seat (all pilot, primarily), so I opted for an ejection seat borrowed from another kit and didn't use the piece provided. In this scale, there's almost no effort by manufacturers to provide an accurate representation of the correct ejection seat anyhow, so just about anything will suffice. I should note, even modeled with the canopy frame open (my choice), the cockpit just isn't highly visible anyway, so it's six of one and a half-dozen of the other, basically; I like it better with just the seat, so that's what I chose. When it came to finishing, being the F-117 Nighthawk, this task ended up being pretty easy too, with an overall very dark gray/black paint job basically all that's required, with very few exceptions (cockpit interior, landing gear and weapon bays, etc.). Also, even though it's usually not going to be seen, the weapons bay is represented quite nicely, so I kept finishing the area simple and neat and opted to go with third-party weaponry from one of the Platz modern aircraft weapons kits to add a bit of pizzazz. This gave me options for not only more bomb types and higher quality and accuracy in representation, but very tiny and extremely fiddly in application decals as well (patience definitely called for), which dresses up the weapons enough to really make the weapons bay a stand out area of interest on the model, on the very rare occasion it's picked up and turned upside down... Oh well, I know they're there and lookin' good! :-)Overall? I really enjoyed the build and finishing of my 1/144 scale Trumpeter F-117 Stealth 'Fighter' (so named, even though the Nighthawk is an attack aircraft with no air to air capability) and the price was ridiculously low, after a little shopping around, so this kit was a real winner in my book. As with every other Trumpeter kit with which I've so far become acquainted, this one too is highly recommended.

There isn't much construction to this kit, just a few simple pieces. But the pieces are well made and come together into a handsome display model. My twelve-year-old friend put extra time into the finishing and painting and produced a beauty. If you want a complex building experience, this isn't it. If you want a nice F-117 that you can view with pride, go for it.

Enjoyable easy project.It's got a heavy aft weight distribution .

Item arrived rapidly and as expected.

A beautiful model, it was just what I was looking for to add to my 1/144th scale collection of aircraft !

Great item

Really like this model. Wish there were more aircraft in this scale! Thunderbirds, Blue Angels, etc. And older Blue Angel aircraft for example…