YF-23 Black Widow II - Model and Display Stand

Background

The YF-23, designed by then-Northrop/McDonnell Douglas, was created during the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) competition that ended in 1991 to compete with and successfully counter enemy fighter jets such as the Su-27 and the MiG-29 that were currently under delopment at that time. This plane was intended to replace the F-14 Tomcat as the primary strategic fighter, but ultimately the YF-23 lost to the YF-22 (now the F-22 Raptor), submitted by Lockheed/Boeing/General Dynamics, at the conclusion of the ATF competion.

Only 2 YF-23 prototypes were created and flown. And both models currently exist in museums: The Western Museum of Flight in Torrance, CA; and The United States Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH.

While the F-22 has become a formidible fighter jet and iconic to military aviation fanatics, many still believe the YF-23 was the stronger plane out of the two. The YF-23 boasted higher speeds and better stealth than the F-22, but it lacked in manuverability and agility.

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Making this plane printable was a tough challenge at first, but it turned out to be really fun! I included the original 3D model I modified, but I don't remember where I got it from. I designed the stand 100% myself though! I tried to have it follow the profile of the plane a bit and I think it turned out great!

I manually sliced the plane into 3 blocks to make printing a little easier while also trying to preserve the details and minimize the seams. The biggest challenge was slicing the model horizontally, raising it 0.4mm, and meshinging the halves together manually since I am using FreeCAD and I couldn't find an easier way to do it.

There are a few YF-23 models on here that look pretty good, but none of them were the quality I was seeking and they did not include a display stand. I also wanted to add the Northrop Grumman logo (even though the plane was developed by Northrop/McDonnell Douglass [Boeing] but I digress) and then the name of the craft as well. Not many people are familiar with this plane, so I wanted to make it available.

Finally, I also have 2 versions of the plane. The scale I had originally intended, and then the 1.25x scale version. Both turned out really good. I had some extrusion issues during my print, but that is specific to my printer. Everything else came out very smooth and the pieces fit really well together.

Print Settings

I printed these on my Creality Ender 3 V2 using the Cura Slicer.

Plane:

• I would recommend no more than 3 walls or 3 top/bottom layers.
• 8-15% infill should suffice, gyroid pattern is what I used.
• For safe measure, I would recommend setting the Minimum Wall Line Width to around 0.25mm to preserve some thinner details in the wings. But it's up to you. Might not be need for the 1.25x scale version.
• Supports especially needed for the Wings. Use your personal preferences for this.

Connectors:

• I would suggest 50% or more infill and/or using 4+ walls. But it's entirely up to you.

Base/Stand:

• 12-30% Infill for both the base and arm.
• No more than 3 walls for base, no less than 3 walls for the arm.
• Everything else can be personal preference. You might want to use supports for raised edge on base, but supports for arm shouldn't be necessary.

There might be some mesh issues with the model, but they can be mostly ignored. I might try and repair those mesh issues in the near future, and I will provide an update if that happens!

I am open to suggestions and recommendations. If there is enough requests for it, I will also share a full plane model in this post.

Hope someone enjoys this model!

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