YF-23 model kits

Bwadwey · by **Bwadwey** » 10 May 2005, 04:00

Does anyone know what companies make scale models of the YF-23, I recently just noticed how cool the plane looked and was wondering if model companies still make them or are they discountinued?

thanx in advance

ViperEnforcer · by **ViperEnforcer** » 10 May 2005, 08:54

Yes, DML (Dragon) and Testors (Italeri) made YF-23 72nd scale kits that are still availible, mostly on EBAY, but pretty reasonable. If you have $200+ to burn, Collactaire produced a resin kit in 48th, but I can tell you it's not really worth no $200!

Mike V

Bwadwey · by **Bwadwey** » 10 May 2005, 21:32

well are the model kits still in production or are they discountinued, and do you think i can find them in a model shop?

WOLF · by **WOLF** » 10 May 2005, 22:52

The Dragon Kit (1/72) is discontinued, may be you can find some one at ebay, btw i have this kit semi finished, a beatiful plane....

Regards

Bwadwey · by **Bwadwey** » 11 May 2005, 00:13

Darn it, o well i'll try and search for it then. thanx

Bwadwey · by **Bwadwey** » 11 May 2005, 03:32

Is the Tamiya YF-23 discountinued as well?

ViperEnforcer · by **ViperEnforcer** » 12 May 2005, 02:59

The Tamiya kit is noting more than the Italeri kit reboxed for import to Japan. You can most likely find it cheaper on EBAY w/shipping.

Mike V

f-bomb · by **f-bomb** » 15 May 2005, 18:39

Collect-Aire makes a resin kit in 1/48. It looks impressive, but the price is a shocker. I'm tempted to purchase one myself, being a Northrop fan.

http://www.collectaire.com/modelpages/yf23/yf23.html

Bwadwey · by **Bwadwey** » 16 May 2005, 03:21

Wow

the prices are insane. Are they even worth the money, what makes them cost so much.

ViperEnforcer · by **ViperEnforcer** » 16 May 2005, 17:33

The price is real steep for a mediocre kit, so yes quite insane. One of the guys in my club picked it up a few months ago. He brought it in, and I was not impressed! The level of detail was ok, but the quality of the casting was poor and the vac canopy really sucked. It might be worth half the asking price, but not no 200+ bones!

Mike V

Nighthawk · by **Nighthawk** » 11 Nov 2005, 20:45

I have the Collect Aire kit and am really disappointed with it!! Collect Aire seem to have had a major problem with the scale! Its far too big overall size wise to be 1/48, although the cockpit is far to small and way out of scale, its somewhere between 1/48 and 1/72!! The resin casting is poor, and the fit of the two major components can best be described as an absolute nightmare, combine that with the vacform canopy that sucks and markings which also appear to be in a scale somewhere between 1/72 and 1/48 and you've got a very expensive waste of money!!

I have yet to see this resin nightmare actually built, its a pity one of the major producers such as Tamiya, Hasegawa or Revell havn't brought out a nice model, the 1/72 Dragon kit is very nice, I bought and built it, only to find that the markings wre so poor that they were unusable, I thought it might be a one off, but everyone I know has had the same problem.

Habu · by **Habu** » 12 Nov 2005, 00:22

Just about every CollectAire kit I've looked at is rough, and would take a lot of work to look decent. Nope, not worth the money. Plus, CA used to do subjects that no one else did, but that slack is slowly being taken up by companies like Trumpeter. CA shocked the world when they said they were releasing a 1/32 F-105, but Trumpeter came out with theirs. Much better looking kit for the price.

Nighthawk · by **Nighthawk** » 13 Nov 2005, 17:34

The biggest problem with the Collect Aire YF23, is the inaccuracy in scale, a major fault that simply cannot be corrected, if it was just the appalling fit, I would have worked on it, and built it, but the tiny cockpit(especially the seat!) looks ridiculous, the same problem exists with the A12 AVENGER kit, someone at Collect Aire needs to make the effort to get the scale right, that would be progress!!

habu2 · by **habu2** » 18 Nov 2005, 16:15

I saw one of the YF-23s at the USAF Museum in Dayton a couple of months back, it was in really bad shape. Wings and tails off, engines out, all sitting on old bed mattresses, canopy cracked... I'm sure it will look nice some day, but years of outside storage have definitely taken their toll...

ViperEnforcer · by **ViperEnforcer** » 23 Nov 2005, 02:00

Nighthawk wrote:The biggest problem with the Collect Aire YF23, is the inaccuracy in scale, a major fault that simply cannot be corrected, if it was just the appalling fit, I would have worked on it, and built it, but the tiny cockpit(especially the seat!) looks ridiculous, the same problem exists with the A12 AVENGER kit, someone at Collect Aire needs to make the effort to get the scale right, that would be progress!!

Right you are. We looked at both the Collectaire kit, the resin deak top model I have, and some drawings an egineer brought in, and the Colectaire kit is way off. The ccokpit looks out of scale, perhaps since the model itself is out of scale.

The resin quality is mediocre as mentioned before, but also seamed on the bare side. Wheel wells are wrong too.

Mike V