The ProModeler (Monogram) F-117 Stealth is one of those kits that makes a person ask "Would the real Monogram please stand up?" It
is amazing the range of quality of kits this company produces: from truly fantastic to truly abysmal. This kit, unfortunately, tends
toward the latter category. The first impression upon opening the box is that this thing is big! Not only is the completed model
(and thus the actual airplane ) big but the kit is composed of a small number of quite large parts. But, bigger isn't always better,
and this kit certainly proves that out. Detail is acceptable on many of the small parts such as the landing gear and in the weapons
and wheel bays, but is not up to par in the cockpit. There are two ejection seats provided, one being a one piece unit while the
upgraded "ProModeler" seat is a three piece assembly. But, the fit of the three piece seat is so bad that the best alternative is to
use the one piece.
Being made of composite material, there is no surface detail on the kit, which is good as it would all be destroyed during filling
and sanding activities. And, there is a lot of filling and sanding required on this model! Especially poor is the wing to fuselage
fit on the bottom, where scrap plastic had to be glued into the crevices just to give the putty something to hold on to. The rear
fuselage by the exhaust nozzles are also poor, and tough to sand due to the shape of the aircraft. The fit of the large one piece
fuselage top to the fuselage bottom and wing assembly is surprisingly good considering the size of the parts but here putty is also
required. Photo etched parts were provided for all of the various grilles and intakes on the plane, and they fit very well. The
areas under them, especially the jet intakes, are quite shallow and it's obvious from looking at the completed model that there is
not even a fair representation of an actual intake. Having said that, though, the actual photo-etched parts were well done and they
all fit nicely in their allotted spaces. On a kit like this with no surface texture and a monochromatic paint job every bit of
detail is required and the metal grilles are definitely a "must-have".
The decals actually proved usable, which really surprised me. They were in register, for the most part, and went on and snuggled
down with some Micro Set and Micro Sol. They looked a bit cloudy when they were first slid off the paper onto the model but when
they were dry they were alright.
This is a good kit to have if you must have an F-117 in your collection, but don't go out of your way to buy one. Get one on sale
someday like I did and it'll be worth it. Otherwise, don't bother. I don't know how the new Tamiya kit measures up: It's bound to be
better but look at the price!
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