Convair F-102A (Case XX) - 1:72 Meng Models

[Julien]

Convair F-102A (Case XX)

1:72 Meng Models

Roughly a year ago Meng surprised us with a new tool F-102 in 1:72, something a lot of us had been waiting for. The original Kit was the Case X wing. This was reviewed at the time by Paul, and his review can be seen here. Looking at the tooling it was apparent Meng had designed this for the Case XX wing to be made as well. Our wait is now over and the Case XX wing kit is here.

As is common with a lot of military aircraft the F-102 was subjected to being constantly upgraded throughout its service life. One of these upgrades was to what we know as the case XX wing. This was an improved design to the leading edge wing camber. The case XX wing had a conical camber along the length of leading edge of the wing which improved trim drag, increased the aircraft's service ceiling; and also gave the added benefits of improved low speed handling and stability.

The only differences from the original kit are the new parts for the wing camber on sprue F.

Meng have been pretty generous with the decal options in this kit. The decal sheet by Cartograf provides a choice of three aircraft:

• F-102 061436 - 509th FIS RTAB Udorn, Thailand 1969 SEA Camo.
• F-102 061363 - 196th FIS, California, USA 1968 ADC Grey.
• F-102 061448 - 179th FIS, Minnesota, USA 1960's ADC Grey with red wing tips/fin.

Each option is illustrated with a four-view full-colour profile as well as a detailed illustrations of the AIM-4 missiles, the drop tanks and their pylons. The decals look nicely printed. They appear to be reasonably thin with colours are nice and bold. The carrier film is so minimal in places that it struggles to be seen. They have quite a matt finish, so Id recommend applying them over a gloss surface and using a decal setting solution, particularly on the larger decals for the vertical tail. One shame is that the USAF and U.S.AIR FORCE titles are in black where they should be insignia blue.

For those wanting to build a different aircraft (or more to the point those of us buying more than one!) I am sure Draw decal and Fundekals will be along with more schemes.

Conclusion

While not as much as a surprise as the original Case X wing the wait for the XX Wing has been worth it. If youve been waiting all these years for a state of the art, accurate kit of the F-102XX, then your patience has finally been rewarded. Overall, Meng have produced a nicely detailed kit which doesn't compromise on build ability.

Highly recommended.

Review sample courtesy of

[hacker]

This is the version l been waiting for with the 196th FIS, California marking l want. Now all we need Meng to do a decent F-106 to round off the USAF delta interceptor duo

[bentwaters81tfw]

Julien's a happy bunny....been banging on about this for weeks now!