Lockheed-Martin F-22A Raptor - Revell+Eduard 1:72

Its taken me the best part of three months, but finally I have the F-22 Raptor finished.
I added a lot of etched details from Eduard including weapons bays and pre-painted cockpit sets. The exterior set was almost next to useless as the panels that were to be fitted to the airframe looked way over scale and stood to proud of the airframe surface and, if you look at the real aircraft, its very smooth overall - not too many raised panels lines at all! I used what was reasonably sensible from all the sets I had at my disposal.
The etched crew ladder is a masterpiece and just needed VERY careful assembly/bending to achieve a delicate structure.
If I hadn't added the etched stuff, it would have been a really speedy build as the fit is absolutely perfect all round with only one exception, the lower air intake joints needed a spot of filler to eliminate a slight step.
The tricky part was replicating the slight metallic sheen that can be seen on the real thing. Its very subtle and only perceptable in certain lights and especially in bright sunlight.
I used Hmbrol enamels 125 US Dark Grey, 126 US Medium Grey and 127 US Ghost Grey all mixed approx.70% paint to 30% Humbrol Polished Aluminium thinned with cellulose(lacquer) thinner which sprayed very nicely and achieved an effect that surpassed what I thought it would. Its probably far from accurate, but no references seem to really know what colours the Raptor is painted.

And here is the finished result, the last three pictures I took in direct sunlight as it (sort of) shows the metallic sheen to effect.

All comments and/or criticisms welcomed, as usual.

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Sunlight photos showing (I hope!) the metallic sheen...

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