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Showing results for tags 'Meng F-102 -- Done!!!'.
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Way back in the early-1970s I was at the University of Wisconsin in Madison doing my undergraduate studies. At that time, the Wisconsin Air National Guard (ANG) was flying F-102 Delta Daggers, and the sight of these jets flying overhead was joy to behold. Fast forward nearly 50-years later. I'm nearing retirement and seriously considering returning to Madison for my golden years. The Wisconsin ANG now flies the F-16C Block 30 (their F-102s were replaced with Cessna Skymasters in 1974, followed by A-10s) and I thought it appropriate to do a double build of their supersonic hotrods. Here are the kits: I'm waiting for the postman to deliver some key aftermarket items for the rather-basic Hasegawa kit, so I'll be starting this project with Meng's Delta Dagger. Here is an example of the F-102 that I will be modeling: For markings I'm using a nice set from Draw Decal: I also have an old MicroScale sheet as backup: Primary aftermarket items for my F-102 will be: Pavla bangseat, Wolfpack afterburner can & nozzle, Eduard PE, Quickboost anti-collision lights, and probably one or two others along the way: The DrawDecal sheet allows me to model this particular aircraft: Let's get started, as usual, with the cockpit. Here's a comparison of the Pavla ejection seat with the kit offering: The kit seat is actually pretty good, and with addition of Eduard PE it would build up nicely. Nonetheless, I'll use the Pavla seat as it will take less work. One thing to correct, however, is the headrest, which is too wide and flat on top. This is the actual seat, and the Pavla seat after a bit of sanding: I primed the cockpit parts (and a few other items, since I had paint in the pot) with Tamiya Nato Black: Then painted the cockpit using dark gull gray. After that, I detail-painted the bang seat and added the Eduard PE to the cockpit. This is the Eduard instrument panel: and the assembled cockpit: With the cockpit done, I began work on the Wolfpack afterburner can and nozzle, which consists of four resin parts: I elected to go with the Wolfpack kit for two reasons: first, it is slightly more detailed than what is in the kit. More importantly (to me), the afterburner can is a single, seamless piece, compared to the two-part can from the kit: Having already primed the parts with Nato black, I had to decide how to paint the ribbed interior of the afterburner. After viewing photos of the real item on-line, I decided to use powdered pigments: Abteilung 502's Alcaline dust for the color between the ribs, and AK Interactive burnt jet engine for the ribs and flame holder: I painted the nozzle parts with Humbrol polished steel (27003): And finished off with a dusting of rust pigment, to replicate the heat-weathering seen in photos of the real engine: My next challenge was to figure out how to mount the resin afterburner in the fuselage. Through test fitting I discovered some surgery was needed to the fuselage interior -- areas marked in black had to be removed or thinned down: Also, I cut a hole in the kit's forward mount to accommodate the Wolfpack engine: So far, so good. But later, when I went to assemble the fuselage, I discovered more surgery was needed -- specifically, I had to grind down the interior of this corner: With that done, I was able to successfully mount the aftermarket afterburner into the kit fuselage: Last item before closing the fuselage halves was to add the various anti-collision and position lights. The Quickboost light set is nice, but gives no guidance on which light goes where. After consulting my reference material I believe I have the lighting situation sorted out. Here's what I found: Two lights (red over white) on either side of the rear fuselage (locations marked on the kit): Two white lights on the fuselage top (locations also marked on the kit) Port (red) and starboard (blue) position lights on the wing tips, which run straight through the wing from top to bottom: Early F-102s like the one I'm modeling had a fixed beacon on the underside, just aft of the main landing gear (in later aircraft, the underside beacon was retractable). There is an engraved circle on the kit that might be intended to represent the retractable beacon. In any case, it is in the wrong location for the earlier fixed beacon, based on my photo research: The outer rear weapon bay doors each had a white light (marked on the kit). At this point, the carpet monster had claimed all of my remaining Quickboost lights, so I had to build my own using UV-activated acrylic gel: Lastly, I plan to replace the red beacon on the aircraft's spine with a piece of acrylic rod, painted transparent red: Having completed the cockpit, afterburner can, and lights I was able to close up the fuselage. The fit was tight, especially around the cockpit, but with some judicious clamping I am able to claim victory! That's it for the Delta Dagger after two days' work. Hopefully, parts for my F-16 build should be arriving soon, so I can get started on the Wisconsin ANG's other supersonic hotrod! - Bill