The sixth week of the YF-23 was spent getting ready to assemble the fuselage halves. The exhaust ports were detailed using some photo etch pieces and some styrene rods. The photo etch was used to detail the flap for the exhaust. On the reference photos there looks to be heat tiles on the bottom of the exhaust port. To replicate these I used some styrene rods glued together then I sanded the assembly to decrease its thickness and give the bottom a flat surface.

Next I assembled the intake ducts after painting them white. It is nice that the seams of the halves are at the edges of the duct which makes it easy to fill, sand, and paint. I then installed the main gear bays.

With all the vents opened up I started adding the screens. To get the screen mesh trimmed I used a sheet of paper to trace the edges then used that as a template for the screen mesh. The tricky one was the one right behind the canopy due to the zigzag pattern and size. Once installed, that completed all the upper screens. I am working on the lower screens now and then installing the cockpit tub. I am hoping to have the fuselage halves together this next week even though we have some plans over the 4th of July weekend.

You can see all the photos and detail of this start in the build log at: https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log/1-48-yf-23-atf-black-widow-ii/

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