Academy 1/48 F-22A Raptor
By Mike Whye
If you want a chunk o’ plastic for your money, Academy’s 1/48 scale F-22A Raptor (Kit # 12212) is going to give it to you. That’s already evident when you see the 13-½ x 20 - inch box and if you think this is one of those over-sized boxes with many small sprues rattling around in it, nope. You’re wrong. Most of the sprues in here need this big of a box to contain them.
Before going on about the kit, a bit of background.
A Short F-22 History
Designed to be a follow-on to the United States Air Force’s F-15 air superiority fighter, the F-22 Raptor integrates the most modern technology into the role of a fighter. Designed by the consortium of Lockheed, Boeing and General Dynamics, the F-22 went through an extensive evaluation with the F-23 which was developed by Northrup and McDonnell Douglas. In 1991, the USAF chose the F-22 as its fighter of the future and the first production Raptor was delivered 12 years later. In 2005, the F-22 entered operational status with the Air Force.
With two Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 turbofan engines, the F-22 has easily reached Mach 1.7 without the use of afterburners and is said to have a top speed in excess of Mach 2.4. With vectoring thrust nozzles that can redirect the exhaust other than straight behind, as with most previous jet aircraft, the F-22 is judged to be the most maneuverable aircraft to date.
Using stealth technology, the F-22’s designers have made the Raptor difficult to track optically and by radar and infra-red (heat-seeking) systems. Beside using its electronics to detect other aircraft and confuse whoever may be trying to track it, the F-22 can relay its information to other allied aircraft, acting as a mini-airborne warning and control aircraft.
Armed with an internal 20mm rotary cannon, the F-22 can carry a variety of weapons in its three armament bays. The largest of the bays, in the bottom center of the fuselage, can reportedly hold up to six missiles or four bombs. Flanking that bay are two smaller ones, each capable of holding one missile each. In its air defense role, the F-22 carries AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles and AIM-9 Sidewinders. Although the F-22 is designed to carry its weapons internally to maintain its stealth qualities, four pylons can be attached to its wings to hold more weapons or drop tanks.
An inch longer than 62 feet, the F-22 has a wingspan of 44 feet and 6 inches, weighs a maximum of 83,500 pounds when fueled and armed and has a combat radius of 410 nautical miles.
The Kit
When I lifted the box top, the first thing I saw was the upper half of the F-22’s fuselage--all one piece still on its own sprue--attached to a cardboard holder.
At 14-½ inches long, that piece gave me the immediate impression that this is one big fighter, far from the WWII birds I usually work with in 1/48 scale.
I also saw the finely scribed panel lines, rivets and screens--all marks of some very fine craftsmanship.
Lifting the cardboard holder, the next thing I saw was the lower half of the fighter, also on its own sprue and in its own sealed plastic bag, as are all the other sprues and decal sheet. Below the lower fuselage are four more sprues of medium gray styrene plastic; two sprues of clear parts, an 8-panel instruction booklet; a 4-panel booklet showing the F-22 paint scheme (there’s only one, folks) plus placement of the decals; and a 7-½ x 13 - inch decal sheet.
Of the four sprues containing items other than the fuselage halves, two are identical, holding wheels, missiles, pylons (two total), drop tanks, weapons racks in extended and closed positions for use in the weapons bays, exhaust nozzles and horizontal stabilizers.
A third sprue has the vertical stabilizers, weapons bay doors, flaps, the cockpit, the pilot figure and other smaller items.
The fourth sprue has the weapons bays, wheel wells, fan blades, ejection seat, exhaust tubes and more.
The two clear sprues are duplicates of each other. One is actually clear, the other is smoky clear and they both hold the single-piece canopy, wing lights and landing lights. All of the pieces are beautifully clear and the canopies will allow ample viewing of the cockpit details even when closed.
The decal sheet is impressive and basically monochromatic--gray upon gray with a few traces of yellow and red. So what’s impressive about a decal sheet that’s mostly a couple shades of gray? How about its ability to depict 18 F-22’s?
Since all F-22’s are painted alike, the only differences are the tail codes and markings along with unit badges and the names of the pilots and ground crew chiefs. With these decals, I can make one of six Raptors based at Langley AFB, Virginia; two at Nellis AFB, Nevada; one at Edwards AFB, California; five at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska; two at Holloman AFB, Nevada and two at Tyndall AFB, Florida.
Some decals are destined for the missiles, bombs and drop tanks. Of course, the decal sheet has what looks like an endless amount of data stencils that should make any decal-happy modeler very very happy.
To paint the exterior of the model, Academy suggests Light Ghost Gray (FS 36375), Light Gray (FS 36251) and Dark Gray (FS 36176) but F-22 enthusiasts have noted that the paints on the real aircraft have a sheen to them that’s hard to duplicate…and sorry, I don’t have any suggestions.
Construction of the model, from what I see on the instructions, looks pretty straight forward. Naturally, modelers are concerned with what’s going on in the cockpit and Academy provides a seven-part ejection seat and that’s about half of the pieces in the cockpit. Also, there are the control stick, throttle, instrument panels and another couple small pieces. The side consoles, which have basic detail, are to be painted black and decals are to be used on the instrument panel.
The main weapons bay is pretty busy with molded details and pieces to be glued in there, mostly the racks holding the weapons. The side bays have four-piece missile rails. If you don’t want to fuss with the weapons bays, you can just glue the bay doors closed.
Similarly, the landing gear can be displayed down or closed as pieces are made to depict the closed doors and of course that means the canopy can be displayed up or down too.
One part of the instructions that caught my eye is where decals must be inserted into engine intakes when they’re assembled….well, that’s what Academy suggests. So when it comes time to make this kit, some keen thinking will be needed to plan just how it will actually be built, painted and decaled.
This kit will surely build into an impressive model and I bet modelers will come up with all sorts of schemes to depict the real aircraft’s camouflage.
Academy’s 1/48 F-22A Raptor has a MSRP of $69 and it’s a kit that will keep a modeler busy for a long time and happy to see it displayed on a shelf.