F22a in flight

The kit has more flash then I expected. 

The pilot is not from this kit and I dont know where I got it. Its not a f22 pilot but i dont mind in this scale.
The arms are sanded and cut to make sure they fit the side mounted control stick. The gaps are filled and sanded. 

The inside of the engines are brush painted black and drybrushed with aluminium paint. 

Doesn't look to bad.  

I sealed the decals with a layer of Matt acrylic and drybrushed the cockpit parts with light gray oil paint. 

Interior decals performed great. These 5 generation jets have very dark cockpits 

Also added a green clear paint to the screens. Not really Realistic but i like to add some extra intrest in de cockpit. 

The pilot fit is very good even if its not from this kit. 

Some detail added to de weapon bays. 

The cockpit finished. The fit is good. I also added a little clear green to the hud. 

Painted the detail I added in the weapon bay.  

Dark blue grey wash added to the weapons bay. the fit of the weapon bays is great. I cant say that about the air intakes though. 

The missles are almost ready for decals. I detail painted the fins by brush with burned iron piant. 

The intakes going to need some work. 

The fitting of the fuselage halfs wasn't to bad. 

Filler added to the interside of the air intakes. The exhaust also needs some filler along the seem lines. 

Finished Sidewinders. The decals for the missles preformed Great. I never had much luck with missle decals. 

Black primer for all parts. 

Added layer of aluminium as aan base layer. 

Some darker panels with a layer of dark aluminium. 

Decals worked great. I always use the vertical stabilizers to test my paint ideas. 

Flat varnish added to finish the stabilizers. In reasonably happy with the effect on the Paint. It really hard to do these 5 generation schemes. 

Blue tag used for the camo scheme. I used burned metal for the dark parts of the scheme. 

All missle decals are applied now. Took some time to do but they look good. 

Several hours of masking later.....
Ready for the anti radar paint. 

The masking session paid off in the end. 

All decals added. The decals perform very good but some are hard to apply and the are a little bit translusant. But it doesn't look to bad. 

Canopy is painted black first and some paint masks are added for the black details on the canopy frame. Final result in the canopy frame. 

Some light gray added over the air frame to unify the paint finish 

Ammo dark night wash added to the panel lines. 

I drilled rocket exhaust on the AMRAAMS for extra detail. 

Started work on the last engine parts. Not completely happy with the result but it's acceptable.
The same wash is added to the launching rails and systems of the weapons bay. Most parts are finished now. 

After I long time away I can finaly work on the f-22 again. VMS Matte varnish layer to lower the shine and as a base layer for oil paint weathering. 

Canopy tint is too yellow and little for my liking so i'm going to try a trick I saw on youtube. I saw a trick to tint you canopy glass for MM Scale Models on Youtube. You only need a cheap fine liner. Here is the link to the vid: Youtube Video . I'm really happy with the result. 

Painted the final detail around the jet exhaust with a brush. 

I used oil paints for the weathering. Mostly lamp black and burned umber.I mixed those two for some other effects. 

Dry brush around the jet exhaust with revell alluminium paint before the Exhaust is added. 

I'm not happy with the fit of the vertical sabilizers. I should have done a better dry fit before painting to make sure they looked good. I don't want to risk the paint finish now so I will leave them as they are.  

sidewinder bay are easy to contruct. 

The central bay doors on the other hand is a pain to construct and line up. I'm happy its over and it doesn't look too bad. 

canopy mask removed and the pilot is fitted to the ejection seat. the fit is decent. 

Almost at the finish line only some detail painting left and the 3d printed stand. 

Final tiny parts added. 

Landing lights are painted.  

The 3d printed stand didn't come unfortunately .So I made one form sprue and styrine. I also use the model box. I tried to replicate wood and it doesn't look to bad. 

I'm very happy with the flying pose I got in the end. 

I can finally end this project and I learned many new things. 

I had this place empty for a long time. Nice to finally place it here.