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KittyHawk 1/48 F-101A Voodoo (Minus Seat)


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Being a big fan of the USAF 'Century Series' jets of the 50's I was delighted when KittyHawk models announced their new 1/48th scale McDonnell F-101A/C Voodoo and 15th July 2014 my kit arrived thanks to the always reliable MJW Models. I started it immediately with lots of enthusiasm but it turned out to be a hard slog for various reasons so now six months later I can report it almost finished. Two have already been featured on BM thanks to Jurek Greinart and Sebastien so I am not the first. As always I am not a 'premier division' scale modeller, I tend to work in fits and starts based on enthusiasm levels for the half dozen models I have on the bench at any one time and I have a low attention span. So, how did she turn out?

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This kit was a challenge to say the least (more later) but the end result is a large and impressive aircraft dating back to 1960. I chose to build my Voodoo as an F-101A Voodoo serial 54-1446 operated by the 91st TFS / 81st TFW out of Bentwaters in Suffolk, East Anglia. The KittyHawk kit gives the modeller four decals options and initially I was going to go for the showy F-101C serial 56-0007 with very 'hi-vis' yellow markings however I had a painting disaster so I went for the more subdued blue markings. Now pleased that I did.

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I do have to say that I am proud to have completed this kit, when the first reviews came out I remember that one well known reviewer commented that this Voodoo was 'unbuildable' and, yes, she was a challenge for various reasons but I have built her! The sun came out for a short while this afternoon so I decided to take these photos to show off the Humbrol 27001 Metalcote 'Matt Aluminium' which has gone on well and shows off the Voodoo's unique lines.

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This build is not quite completed because I have lost the ejection seat! Not sure how I managed that, it must be in a box somewhere, I did consider taking a seat out of a previously built old Monogram F-101B but little point in breaking up that model for one seat. A few visible faults, the nose cone has a very poor demarcation between the black and aluminium, the nose gear is tilted slightly backwards and you can see where the entire nose section forward of the cockpit broke off at late stage in construction!

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The view from the rear is perhaps a little bit better, one of the strong points of this kit for me are the distinctive afterburner cans which make her look exactly like the earlier F-101A/C models. Several commentators have compared the KittyHawk kit unfavourably with the earlier Revellogram F-101B however the cans in that kit are quite primitive compared to these.

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One very weak area was the airbrakes, these have to be filled in with large amounts of filler then sanded down and if you are like me and detest filling/sanding this is a serious down for this kit. Please to say that I seemed to have overcome this hurdle fairly well and the airbrakes don't seem to attract too much attention. I understand that AM replacements are available if needed.

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So, knowing now what I know, would I buy this kit again? Oh yes! Without hesitation. Perverse it might seem but I really had a sense of satisfaction when I put this together - faults and all - and if you look at

the build and say 'That's wrong' or 'What were you thinking' I humbly agree, the faults are all mine, but I really got a kick out of tackling this beast. Looking forward to the RF-101C 'Long Bird' later this year, the ultimate Voodoo. I would seriously look at purchasing replacement airbrakes as well as a cockpit detailing set to replace the decals supplied with the kit

So my last photo...

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Now where could I have put that ejection seat? ;-)

Michael

Edited by Ghostbase
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  • 3 years later...

Hello @Ghostbase! Unfortunately, the Photobucket stole the photos from this thread, but I saw these via their site.

 

Your Voodoo looks great - a stunning work - congratulations! 👏 The blue tail painting looks amazing with an overall NMF, very good choice. It was about the three years ago, but an RF-101C released just some weeks ago... Do you have a plan to build another Voodoo?! 😎

 

Cheers!

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