1/72 Airfix F-80 Shooting Star

[Troy Smith]

Thanks lads.

Byron I was going paint the jacket brown but after seeing the war film The Hunters set in the Korean War with Robert Wagner who was wearing a blue jacket in some of the flight scenes. I thought with the cockpit being black I will add a bit of colour.

Blue Nylon flight jackets were used in Korea

L – Korean War USAF 36th FBS pilots L-1A and K-1 flight suit, L-2A flight jacket, B-5 LPU and flight cap/garrison cap. R – USAF Korean war pilot with garrison cap and tan dress uniform.

see - https://heritageflightgeardisplays.wordpress.com/

[Albeback52]

Nice job. The Airfix F-80 is a very decent little kit and, along with the F-86D, F-84F & F4-D Skyray are probably my favourite Airfix kits of that time. A great pity that they (and the later F2H Banshee have not been re issued. Regarding the F-80, I would personally NOT replace the canopy! I HATE vac form canopies with a passion!!!

Allan

[sunray]

Thanks lads. On the Shooting Star I gave it a few coats of Humbrol Clear to seal the decals ready for black patch on the nose to be sprayed on and the pitot tube to be attached. Then on to the weathering.

To weather the Shooting Star I decided to use a home made oil wash for the panel lines. If you haven't done it before is easy to do. What you need is an empty clean container, cheap oil paints (burnt umber, raw umber, black, etc) and thinner.



I filled my container to about one third full of thinner and just add the oil paint to the required colour (dark coffee) mixing all the time. The consistency you are after is similar to that of weak coffee.



When ready with a fine brush load it with the wash and just touch the panel line and capillary action will take over. Don't worry if you miss the line because when you have finished and the lines, leave to dry for about ten minutes. Then using a cotton bud, dip the tip just in the thinner. You don't want much thinner on the bud. Now with a piece of kitchen roll remove the thinner from the cotton bud until it just feels just damp. Now wipe the bud across your model from front to rear, not sideways or back to front, front to rear to remove any excess wash off the wing and fuselage surfaces leaving it in the panel lines. I also use this wash method for oil and fuel stains which I used on my A-36 Apache Mustang http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234970668-148-italeri-a-36-apache/

With that done I painted the black patch on the nose, painted the jet nozzle and added the pitot tube. To finish off I gave it a light coat of matt varnish to seal in the wash and tone down the metal finish. Lastly I removed the canopy mask.



















The last thing to do is to make the stand. To be continued.................

[Sten Ekedahl]

Very good restrained weathering. So easy to overdo it, especially on a NMF aircraft.

Edited March 10, 2015 by Sten Ekedahl

[caszerino]

Such great work on a classic kit. I just got a pile of older mostly-Hasegawa (a few FROG and Matchbox) kits and decided to start on the Hasegawa F9F-2 Panther due in large part to your incredible work on this one!

[ivand]

The Humbrol gloss I have has a very awfull smell and looks very brownish in the cup. Always wondered if this is standard or if I got a bad series of it.

Mario, do you have the Humbrol gloss varnish which comes in a normal tinlet? If so, avoid using it at all cost - it is a recipe for instant yellowing. The Humbrol cotes which come in glass bottles are much superior.

[sunray]

Thanks chaps. This is how I make my stands. I use spare bits of oak flooring we had leftover from a sun room we had built. It having tongue and groove that had to come off which I did using a router.







The straight bit is used to get read of the tongue and groove and the shaped bit is used to cut the pattern.



That done I just cut off the pieces I wanted with a hand saw. One for the Shooting Star and one for a Chipmunk I am also making.



Then I routed the pattern on both.





All I did after that was rub them down with a sanding sponge and polished them with some bees wax. On the Shooting Star I am going to use acrylic rod.



I did it the Phil Flory way. To bend I placed it in a pyrex dish on tea towels and in the oven it went. The oven was set to approx 130 degrees C and I kept an eye on it. When it starts to sag out it comes and using another tea towel placed on the kitchen bench its bent to shape.



I drilled a 5mm hole in the base and in went the rod. It was a tight fit so no glue was required.



All was left to do was to add the Shooting Star and job done.

[Bordfunker]

What a great rendition of a golden oldie.

Like the stand too.

Karl

[Dynamo11]

Fantastic stand there, I like the acrylic rod idea

[caszerino]

Blimey! Talk about talent! Well done.

[John]

Fantastic job.

I remember going in to John Menzies in Falkirk to buy my Airfix Magazine and finding the box art for this kit in pride of place on the cover. The next stop was Woolworths to see if they had it in stock, which they did. That week's pocket money was duly accounted for! 30-odd pence back in the day?

John

[mixup_1]

Fantastic build from start to finish...and what a finish at that!! A golden oldie brought bang up to date! Great work with the Alclad!! Hats off Sir!! Thank you for sharing!

[Brandy]

As already said, a fantastic job on a classic kit. Lovely!

Ian

[hacker]

Hope while Airfix is doing new tools they redo this one as well. We need a new F-80 in 1/72 scale