F-23A for the 87th FS

[anthonyp]

F-23A Phantom III USAF 87th fighter squadron, K.I. Sawyer AFB

Beginning in April, 2008, the 87th Fighter Squadron began to replace their aging F-15C's with the F-23A Phantom III.  The Phantom III was the winning design in the ATF competition from the early 90's.  The below example is the first one sent to the base for ground crew familiarization and training in 2006.


This is an Italeri 1/72 YF-23A pretty much built OOB, except for the decals, which I modified from the F-15C decals I did a while back.  I expect that after the F-23 was chosen as the ATF, development would have proceeded apace, and the first ones entered service in 2000.  I figure 2008 would be a good year to replace Sawyer's Eagles.

Click here for more pics.

[anthonyp]

Here's a few pics of the old and the new 87th planes.

Click here for more pics

[Ollie]

Wicked!!

Absolutly wicked!  Love the F-23 buddy!

   

[John Howling Mouse]

How'd I miss this back in June?  Oh yeah, work, work, work.

These are really good.  You are quite the painter, A-P!!!      

[BlackOps]

Well apparently I missed this one too, looks perfect in those markings Anthony.


Jeff G.

[Gary]

Kewel man, really kewel!  

[anthonyp]

Thanks, guys!  It was easy to miss, considering it was towards the end of the Airfix GB that I put a lot of models up here, and this was one of them.

JHM, those are mostly decals.  The decals were a little thin and let a lot of color bleed through, but they provided a good guide to go over them with Testor's Model Master British Crimson and white.

I just like the F-23 better than the F-22, and the 87th FS provided me a viable WiF path.

[ysi_maniac]

5 stars

Perfect execution