1/72 Italeri F/A-22 Raptor

by Ben Montgomery

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The "Spirit of America" Raptor 001 is in the traditional two tone gray test scheme that all the early F/A-22s were clad in.  After having seen the metallic silver and gray operational schemes of the in service Raptors from Tyndale and the like, I thought it would be fun to do Raptor 001 in the operational scheme.  I used the Italeri kit, and built it OOB except for the addition of two laser guided bombs from an old Tornado GR.4 Airfix kit.  Although the weapons bays of the F/A-22 are always white, I seem to like doing them in a lime green colour to add a bit of life to the model.  The Italeri kit is supplied with 6 AIM-120s and two AIM-9 missiles, as well as two bombs (don't know what type - I'm not a munitions expert but they could be JDAM).  If I am wrong please correct me.

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For the light grey bordering around the wings/tailplanes I mixed the Games Workshop colour Fortress gray with some white paint to make a very light grey.  Unfortunately, this colour seemed to peel very easy when masking tape was laid over the top of it.  I left the engines plain black, and the undercarriage was painted white.  I am pleased with the result of the model, considering I finished it in a few nights after school.

Although this is not the best model I have ever done (far from it) it was a fun distraction from GCSE revision and is a good kit.  The only problem I found was a bad fit between the cockpit and main fuselage section.

Ben

Photos and text © by Ben Montgomery