F-22 Raptor 144th Scale Micro-Maxx PMC

Some time Ago, Like May of 2012 I Purchased a very Nice 1/144th Scale Trumpeter item No. 01317 Plastic Model Kit.
I fully intended to immediately add it to my Micro PMC 144th fleet. Apon Opening the kit I was pleasently surprised to fine the model was molded with the Upper Half and clear cockpit canopy pre-assembled. The Lower section containing the Weapons bays and wheel wells proved to be completely in the way. It was my original intent to do this great looking Aircarft with wheels down and all bays open to show as much detail as possible. Well after a lot of thought I was unable to craft a way to do this so the model was set aside while I pondered how to get the dual MMX motor tubes and some sort of recovery system into the very confined spaces.

Almost Three years have passed! March 2015. Darn it I really want to fly this great looking model!
I'll have to reverse my approach to building this one. She will have to be Wheels Up and ALL external door will have to be closed.

To get minimum diameter T2+ Body/motor tubes into place a good bit of Dremel mill-end and 1/4" Drum sander interior alterations will be needed. With the limited space available for Motor block, Shock-line anchor, Shock-line and Streamer(s) for recovery seems like dual intake ejected streams will be the best recovery alternative. Will also have to alter the aft jet exhaust ports from closed slots to round openings with two MMX-II motors extending an additional 1/8".

I'll do a cardboard cut-out this morning and try to determine and LCP and proposed CG for this model...could be interesting.
I'm not really sure what if any external stores and drop tanks I'll use as we're just getting started with this build.

Sorry but have not taken any photos other then the Box Art and instructions at this point. I was more interested in fitting the motor tubes then taking before and after photos so you'll only see the After pics where the Nose Wheel Well, Weapons Bay and Aft Exhaust ports have been altered. The cockpit tub also had to be junked instead inserting a dark Styrene false botton inside the clear canopy and a nose section seperator to contain the expected #9 Lead Shot Nose weight I HOPE can be crammed into this limited space.

This on will likely take a while to work out as we go along.

As a point of reference, the F-22 uses no external stores for combat operations. All weapons are inside, and deploy through doors at launch. This is to minimize RADAR cross section.

enderw88 said:

As a point of reference, the F-22 uses no external stores for combat operations. All weapons are inside, and deploy through doors at launch. This is to minimize RADAR cross section.

Click to expand...

10-4 Yes: Quite true and I'm fully aware the F-22 doesn't "Normally" use external stores but I may use the supplied Drop tanks and possibly a couple wing mounted pylons with sidewinders or Amraam's just to add a bit of interest to this very sleak streamlined model.

As mentioned in the opening Post, due to restricted space for flying internals All bottom and side doors had to be used in the Closed position.

This is a Fun Flying model you understand. I have a 1/65th F-100-c that is loaded with so many external bombs, Missiles and rockets that it wouldn't be able to get off the ground in real life but adds enough extra detail points to Win 1st place in NAR PMC local contests

As it turns out I did use the inboard Drop tanks and outboard pylons with two external Amraam missiles as well.

Really did a major screw-up in my haste building this one. Had all the parts taped up for the weigh-in and cardboard cut-out LCP location. our little F-22A needs a minimum of 12g of Nose weight...WOW! That makes the unpainted LOWt. 28.6g with two MMX-II motors and two 1/2" x 12" Green Teflon PTFE tape Intake ejectable streamer/wadding and Mounts installed.

My mistake was after epoxing in the motor/ejection tubes and cockpit section seals in place, I forgot to put that 12g of #9shot epoxy set in the nose section before sealing on the body bottom on...DOH! No sooner had I mated the two pieces with MC did I realize my error! HO CRAP!
This Little Screw Up means I had to drill a hole in the side of the forward nose section and add all 240 #9 lead shot pellets one at a time then using a fine capillary tube add medium CA try to seal them in place. Problem is a fair amount of the shot were above the drilled Hole DEEE...Rats.
Today I'll drill another much smaller (just big enough to pass the Capillary tube) hole in the mid-Air refueling port and attempt to get enough CA in to set the remaining loose nose weight in the nose Section. With any kind of luck that should solve the problem. I'll then seal the holes with CA and sand with 320grit after which these holes should not be visible when the model is painted. The Plan is to use Dk Ghost Grey, Grey, and Lt Grey camo pattern with hand painted details later.

Sorry: there will be very few build photos on this one, I just got to caught up in the build to stop to take pictures. Will add a couple shortly to this post.
As they are here are the build photo's. Sorry I totally forgot to take any of the interior where all the major surgery was necessary.
I have to say this was one of the most challenging Micro conversions I've done so far. Due to very limited space and very wide planform this one took a lot more Nose weight then I thought which will make it a bit less of a performer even on a 2x MMX-II Cluster. but it is such a great designed aircraft I just had to have it in my Micro PMC fleet.

After paint and decals I'll add final photos in the next week or so.

Here are 5 more or less "after" build photos.

2 more build photos.
The first shows the dual 1/2" x 12" PTFE (Teflon) Thread sealing tape Streamer/Wadding attached to their .018" dia. 49strand Stainless Steel Beading wire Shock-line anchors. After talc baby powdering both sides of each Streamer they easily tweezer slide into the T2+ Intake motor mount/ejection tubes.

The second shows the Location of our installed .022" dia. Stainless Steel custom bent "Antenna" launch lugs. These make a smaller impact on the overall look of most PMC and scale models then our normal MMX Launch lugs.
These tiny wire lugs are bent around a micro Launch rod with a pair of needle nose pliers. After bending to the desired shape they are held with the same pliers while heating red hot in a flame and quickly embedded in the styrene plastic before the wire cools. Generally a tiny bit of sanding and a smoothing coat of Medium CA make the attachment site almost vanish.

Very cool. Hope she flies well!

Micromeister said:

10-4 Yes: Quite true and I'm fully aware the F-22 doesn't "Normally" use external stores but I may use the supplied Drop tanks and possibly a couple wing mounted pylons with sidewinders or Amraam's just to add a bit of interest to this very sleak streamlined model.

As mentioned in the opening Post, due to restricted space for flying internals All bottom and side doors had to be used in the Closed position.

This is a Fun Flying model you understand. I have a 1/65th F-100-c that is loaded with so many external bombs, Missiles and rockets that it wouldn't be able to get off the ground in real life but adds enough extra detail points to Win 1st place in NAR PMC local contests

Click to expand...

Very nice!!!

Thanks Guys:
Micro PMC is really a fun past-time. Micros are a little more involved then larger 13mm to 24mm motor PMC's but when these little guys are done they get lots of attention at launches. Because weight is such a problem some don't get a lot of altitude but still lots of cheers after their flights.
Many of the comments from others watching Micro PMC's fly are thinking these are some of Quest's original LPB's LOL! Quite surprised when informed what they really are.

I've started the paint process on the F-22A with a 3 color Grey camoflage. Lt ghost grey first. Will then mask some leading edges than grey followed by Dark Gull Grey patches, Decals and Matte Clear. I'll post more photos as I proceed.

This one took a lot of nose weight plus all the paint may still make this 2-motor Micro cluster PMC a little low altitude Piggy. Should be fun flying anyway

We've made a lot of progress on the F-22 Raptor:
Should be just about finished Painting on this one: Base coated Lt. Ghost Grey, after drying apply liquid masking film to the leading/trailing edges and nose per the paint scheme sheet. This stuff has to dry overnight. Second Color is Grey, when I spared it I couldn't see any difference between it and the 1st color. after drying hand painted the 3rd color Dk. Gull Grey in camo. patterns. Then the long chore of removing the rubber mask film with tweezer and knife point.
In the next day or so the decals will be applied, when completely dry the entire bird will get a coat of Krylon 1305 UV resistant matte clear.
Have to say; this one was a real challange in both converting and finishing.

Heres the Static Fleet Photos with the models stats:
This one should be a fine flying model. Prehaps a little low and slow but with Twin MMX-II's should be a very interesting flights. Will have to see if the twin Intake-deployed Streamer are enough to slow the models decent. May have to go with a wider or longer streamer lengths.