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A Bit Off The Beaten Path - Maintrack 1/72 XF-88B Voodoo


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And now I deal with one I've been putting off for years, the Maintrack 1/72 vac u-form XF-88B Voodoo. I have several variants of Voodoo's in the collection, but this most bizarre one has heretofore eluded me. I have built the Anigrand 1/82 XF-88/XFF-88A  resin kit, and it's very nice. However the prop/jet combo aircraft have a certain siren song of their own.  But, enough chit-chat.

 

For those who do not know what an XF-88B  is, glance at the bottom aircraft nose on this copy of the Maintrack sheet:

 

2v2JRt7FyxfzdhW.jpg

 

It's basically an XF-88 with this nose, a few more scoops, afterburners and a few other mods thrown in. As far as I know, this kit is the only game in town for this aircraft in this scale. I used to live in the approach pattern to one of the Langley AFB runways when this aircraft was being tested there. I wish I could say that I remembered seeing it fly, or setting at an open house, but I can't. Maybe it was too secret, or maybe I was just in school while it was flying. Oh well...

 

As for the kit itself, it consists, as you would imagine, of vac u-formed sheets, decal, vac u form, canopy, nicely molded metal parts. The most important part, the four-bladed turbo-propeller is always broken in these kits, and mine was no exception. However, a little drill work, a tiny piece of wire and some CA, and the single broken blade was soon reunited with it's siblings. And, as you would imagine, the vac u-formed parts are all treated like on any other vac kit, traced around on the sheet, scribed around, then separated from the sheet and sanded to depth/fit. As this has been covered elsewhere by far more qualified modelers than I,  the process will not be repeated here in any detail.

 

2v2JRt7d5xfzdhW.jpg2v2JRt7yNxfzdhW.jpg

 

2v2JRt75rxfzdhW.jpg2v2JRt7NGxfzdhW.jpg

 

While I normally do a lot of things and assemblies simultaneously when building a vac u-form model, I'll try to present this sing-a-long with a more logical sequence! Let's just say I began with the part above on the right...

 

After sawing in half a perfectly good pair of XF-88 fuselage halves, for the purpose of  joining the correct nose later on, I had to first change out the engine outlets, to the afterburner version of the "A" and "B" models. Section "A" above was removed from the right fuselage half, and the necessary "cut" line was marked then sawn on the vac u formed modified part provided. 

 

In the pic below, line "A - B" represents the fuse center line, which lines up fairly well with the right side of the aircraft, while the cut for the left portion has yet to be made:

 

2v2JRt78FxfzdhW.jpg

 

Next, reinforcing strips and a bulkhead have been added to one fuse half, while the "afterburner" cutout has been done on the left side of the fuse:

 

2v2JRt7MdxfzdhW.jpg

 

After assembling the rear fuse halves, it became apparent that my first cut for the new afterburner mods was not correct, so some shims were added from appropriately-size plastic card. The good thing to remember about vac models is that you can usually always add or remove more plastic to get things to fit. Obviously not true if you destroy the only canopy or other hard to replace part!

 

2v2JRt7zyxfzdhW.jpg

 

At the end of all that, some major gaps were left in the area of the tailpipe fairings, which I filled with pieces of plastic straw:

 

2v2JRtRo5xfzdhW.jpg

 

2v2JRtR3rxfzdhW.jpg

 

They were cut oversized, glued in with liquid cement, then trimmed to size with a razor knife, after drying.

 

Next, a little Bondo spot putty helps smooth things over:

 

2v2JRtRUnxfzdhW.jpg

 

2v2JRtR9qxfzdhW.jpg

 

Well, that's it for this installment. Follow along if you have the stomach for it -- it's not likely to be pretty!

 

Ed

 

 

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Thanks everyone, and welcome aboard!

 

For today's offering I'll lay aside the aft end, and work on the front end, which in this case, consists of  two different front fuse halves, unique to the XF-88B.  As is usual, you normally have to populate the inside, before you can glue the halves together.

.

I began by working on the landing gear bay/cockpit. At least, that's the way it's set up on a Hasegawa F-101C, from which I had several binned parst. I've used other parts from this kit in a variety of places on other models. The old gear bay had a cockpit floor and two consoles above the wheel well. I decided to use a resin copy of the front half of an F-101B cockpit for the floor and side consoles on this model, so I began by sawing off the consoles from the old Hasegawa part:

 

2v2JRtRuFxfzdhW.jpg

 

When I tried too test-fit this into the fuselage halves, I suddenly (duh!) noticed for the first time, that the XF-88B had the wheel bay offset to the right, to allow the turboprop to be fitted. So, I had to saw off the cockpit floor from the wheel bay, so as to be able to shift the wheel bay right to fit the fuse:

 

2v2JRtRJdxfzdhW.jpg

 

It was at about this point that I started to think that it would have been about as easy to scratch-build the cockpit, but, "in for the penny"...

 

The next pic shows the wheel bay installed into the right half of the fuse nose, and the painted resin tub awaiting installation:

 

2v2JRtREyxfzdhW.jpg

 

One thing I failed to mention: the XF-88B features two long scoops under the nose, one set about a foot ahead of the other. The kit drawings show all this clearly. The point is, they have to be installed on the fuse halves beforehand, so that various things can be properly located. For example, the rearward part of the right hand scoop stays with the gear door when it is open, so that it is easier to install before sawing the gear bay door apart from the fuselage.

 

Before being separated from their backing sheet, they look like this:

 

2v2JRtRH5xfzdhW.jpg

 

Also, the scoop on the left side needs a big turbo exhaust oval hole, placed just so:

 

2v2JRtRaNxfzdhW.jpg

 

For the record, let me state that every time I go out to a fast food or other restaurant that has plastic straws, I always bring them home:

 

2v2JRtRerxfzdhW.jpg

 

I have many sizes, and of course, a lot of duplicates. They are useful for all sorts of stuff. To a true modeler, EVERYTHING is potential " grist for the mill"!

 

In the following pic, a milk shake type larger straw conforms nicely to the oval hole I drilled and sanded to shape/size:

 

2v2JRtRZjxfzdhW.jpg

 

Next a picture showing the front end of one of the scoops (will do a little more thinning of the intake later), as well as me holding the metal front landing gear into place, to measure the depth needed to assure the correct "sit" of the model, compared to the drawings:

 

2v2JRtRQ8xfzdhW.jpg2v2JRtRbqxfzdhW.jpg

 

In my case, all that was need was a 3mm block of plastic installed flush with the top of the wheel bay (seen from above in the photo on the  right)  (above).

 

By dint of MUCH thinning of the resin cockpit floor, as well as heavy sanding in the outsides of the consoles, the resin cockpit tun is installed into the fuse half:

 

2v2JRtRKFxfzdhW.jpg

 

An old resin control stick from the spares box has been installed, and now needs painting.

 

Well, that's all for today. Much more to come!

 

Ed

 

 

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Hi, back again.

 

Having recently mentioned scratch-building cockpits, I thought I'd toss out one of the best references I've ever seen on scratch-building cockpits, particularly seats from the 50's era. Following are parts of the instruction sheets for the Airmodel's F-89 Scorpion, drawn by Ian Huntley:

 

2v2JsLkKGxfzdhW.jpg

 

2v2JsLkcFxfzdhW.jpg

 

Ah, back to the modeling days of yore, when real modelers carved logs into models, etc. etc.. Actually, I really don't miss those days, but I must confess, modeling old-school certainly sharpened your skills, whether you liked it or not!

 

But, in my case, I didn't have to go quite THAT far back, but -- do those skills still serve today?  I began by finding an old seat in the spares box:

 

2v2JRtR1dxfzdhW.jpg2v2JRtRpyxfzdhW.jpg2v2JRtRfrxfzdhW.jpg

 

First, I sawed off the headrest, before shaping and adding a bit behind, and the re-gluing it to the seat, at an angle.  I added some side panels and armrests, and a few bits of rod here and there, and ended up with something at least vaguely close to what I was trying to depict:

 

2v2JRtRc5xfzdhW.jpg2v2JRtRAjxfzdhW.jpg

 

Next, I took a piece of 10 thou card and punched some holes, in about the same relationship as on the original instrument panel. I laid this atop yet another piece of card, and marked the centers of the holes. I then cut out 1/72 scale Mike Grant decals to center over the marks. This way, I could simply cut out and apply the decals as little trimmed squares, side by side, rather than trying to punch them out of the decal sheet individually -- a process that for me at least, frequently resulted in slipped, and cut in half, decals.

 

Then, the original piece was painted black, and glued with white glue over the instruments faces, lining aligning them with the holes as well as possible:

 

2v2JRtRB8xfzdhW.jpg

 

Next, I mounted the instrument panel into the cockpit. Also shown are the painted seat, some plastic discs to fill the front of the fuse, and the previously-mentioned repaired metal prop assembly:

 

2v2JsLkMFxfzdhW.jpg

 

Next the front fuse halves were glued together, aided by a half-dozen of my closest friends:

 

2v2JsLioyxfzdhW.jpg

 

While all this drys, I'll contemplate my next move...

 

Until then,

 

Ed

 

 

 

 

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Hello again, everyone...

 

Let me begin by saying that the sawing apart of the fuse front halves and the back halves took place several years ago. It must have been during a trying time, because I sure didn't do it very well! Or so I thought. Then, I discovered that the panel lines were different from side-to-side, and did not line up! (Note to self -- the next time I add a different nose to a vacuform model, measure from a known point for the cut, rather than depending upon the kit's panel lines!)

 

So far, I've done this on a vac u form kit a total of 1 (one) time, counting this time.  I have however, done it a number of times on regular plastic kits, so I have learned to use 4 or 5 narrow width pieces around 1" long to support the butt join, which fact saved my bacon here. Therefore, when I glued this nose onto the fuse, I concentrated upon simply getting a straight line along the top and bottom join lines -- no side-to-side bananas here. That is, I held the model halves where the line was straight, then glued at the re-forcing strips wherever they happened to land:

 

2v2JsLivrxfzdhW.jpg

 

This resulted in a pretty good gap on the left side of the fuse, while the gap on the right was fair. However, when everything was dry, I noticed that the thickness of the fuse at the join was not correct, ans the intake platforms on either side protruded a different distance from the fuselage, per the two arrows below:

 

2v2JsLiuMxfzdhW.jpg

 

With the lower protrusion being correct.  Meanwhile, in the head-on view, we find that the vertical stabilizer has a definite lean toward the right side of the aircraft (left side in this head-on shot):

 

2v2JsLiHyxfzdhW.jpg

 

As I've mentioned before, the beauty of plastic is that you can add some, and you can take it away. So, that's what I did to fix these problems.

 

First the seam along the bottom of the nose has been sawn open, and a piece of appropriate thickness plastic card has been added. Along the side gaps, smaller pieces have been shoved in and glued here and there with liquid glue (Weldon #3).

 

2v2JsLiQjxfzdhW.jpg

 

No attempt was made to get "just so" plastic pieces to fit, just chucked in whatever scraps I had laying about. When dry, they were trimmed close with sprue nippers.

 

A little filling sanding and priming, and we're starting to get there:

 

2v2JsLicyxfzdhW.jpg

 

 

2v2JsLiArxfzdhW.jpg

 

Notice that the thickness of the fuse issue has been resolved by the shimming process:

 

2v2JsLi68xfzdhW.jpg

 

Next, to correct the tail-leaning problem, a quick cut through half of the vertical stabilizer starts the job. There are two choices: (A) remove material from one side or (B) add material to the other side. Since option (A) means less sanding, that's the route I chose. Since the cut is at the very base of the tail, it doesn't take much to move the tip of the tail over in a fairly large arc. First the cut:

 

2v2JsLi7oxfzdhW.jpg

 

which isn't much:

 

2v2JsLiPgxfzdhW.jpg

 

Next, the tail was held over to close the gap, and then liquid glue was applied. After a minute or two, masking tape was used to hold the tail until the glue had dried. The next picture shows the corrected lean to the tail, as well as one horizontal stabilizer glued onto the tail. I have found that with other than very large vac u form models, a well-sanded butt joint, and liquid glue will suffice to hold things in place. This is NOT true on larger kits and most resin models.

 

Lastly a couple of circles of plastic card have been added to the nose, to shim it  down to the right size to meet the propeller, and a hole has been drilled in the center of those pieces, to accept the protrusion on the propeller, where it mounts to the aircraft:

 

2v2JsLiiGxfzdhW.jpg

 

By the way, don't be fooled by the picture. That really is a 90-degree join where the horizontal and vertical stabs meet...

 

Oh well, more sanding and filling to do. Next time, we'll see how all the body work turns out.

 

Ed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Good grief!  Looks like you're having a real fight getting a straight aeroplane out of something that looks as wonky as Ced's Hind (helicopter that is).

 

Andrew

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Yes, the different panel lines on either side kind of caught me off guard. But this gives a useful example to modelers afraid of trying a vac u form model, that you don't have to be a perfect modeler to get them to turn out well AND you can recover from a lot more mistakes than some might think!

 

As always, "endeavoring to persevere"...

 

Ed

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Hi, just a quick update on the fuse body work.

 

A few round of filler, sanding primer, etc. and things are looking up:

 

2v2JsLi4qxfzdhW.jpg

 

2v2JsLiSyxfzdhW.jpg

 

2v2JsLihgxfzdhW.jpg

 

And soon, she's almost ready for prime time:

 

2v2JPsKQjxfzdhW.jpg

 

2v2JPsKb8xfzdhW.jpg

 

2v2JPsKKMxfzdhW.jpg

 

Here, on the bottom, you can see where the panel lines on the two sides don't line up. I will probably just sand out the panel lines on the bottom, as a real cure would involve filling and re-scribimg the whole kit. There is so much filler on this one that that's a non-starter for me. Another "dive" to take would be scribing the panel lines diagonally so that they meet up -- not too good! 

 

But as explained on some of my  other builds,  my models go into a case and don't get handled, so the bottom treatment will be our little secret...

 

Later,

 

Ed

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Hi all,

 

While pondering the panel line dilemma, I decided to move on to the wing assemblies, which of course, had been sanded to their lines on the backing and were ready for assembly.  First, I installed some rudimentary landing gear well sides, primarily to help strengthen the wings. There's not much area to detail, and I am going to fill some of that in a moment!

 

I sort of cheated, and glued 10 thou card pieces to the edges of the gear cut0out, as well as the upper wing, which becomes the "bottom" of the wheel well:

 

2v2Jku13nxfzdhW.jpg

 

Odd pieces of plastic or wood are used to hold the new wheel well walls while the liquid glue dries. Popsicle sticks are great for this, as you can trim them to the exact widths needed.

 

Next, long pieces of the thinnest card stock I could find (5 or 10 thou) were glued into the intakes, to form a duct:

 

2v2Jku19dxfzdhW.jpg

 

Next, a not-very-good photo of the finished duct-work, trimmed to size after the glue had dried:

 

2v2Jku1HrxfzdhW.jpg

 

Next, I addressed the fit of the main landing gear, measuring the supplied metal gear legs against the drawings to see how "deep" into the wings they needed ti fit -- in this case, flush against the bottom of the top wing half. Also note that the main gear has a unique bend to it, requiring the mounting block for the gear to be sanded at an angle, to eventually allow the axle to be parallel to the bottom wing surface:

 

2v2Jku1ZqxfzdhW.jpg

 

I ended up gluing together a three layer sandwich of plastic card trips, into which I them drilled two holes of a size to accept the landing gear. This strip was then cut apart, leaving two blocks with holes in the middle -- one mounting block for each side. An angle was sanded (by trial and error), on the "top" of the mounting block,  to compensate for the "angle" of the main gear leg. A temporarily-installed gear looks like this:

 

2v2Jku1KyxfzdhW.jpg

 

In my case, the block was too high on one side, so it was also sanded flush.

 

Next the prepped wings were glued to the fuse. In the end, and because there were relatively few panel lines, I filled them with CA and re-scribed, just to make me feel better.

 

I promise you, when I'm working on a tough model, the Devil often whispers in my ear "take the dive... stay down...don't get up...", and it takes a lot to keep soldiering on. One of these days, he's gonna get me! (But he ain't got me yet!)

 

Next a view from the front, with the wings attached. Looks like one intake is larger than the other -- well, more work to do:

 

2v2Jku16dxfzdhW.jpg

 

As I ponder the vagaries of errant intakes, I'll sign off for now. May all your models be successful!

 

Ed

 

 

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No Thud4444, the prop comes as a very nicely cast metal item, albeit with one blade broken off. It is mentioned earlier, along with a pic, during the seat/cockpit building post. I'll admit, that's why I put it off for several years!

 

Thanks Roger. Not sure that it will be great in the end, but I'm starting to feel that it will at least, be acceptable!

 

Ed

 

 

 

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Hello @TheRealMrEd, it’s very interesting build here! The vac u-form models was very popular in Russia in mid 1990s, but I haven’t had an opportunity to build one because I was a small for it... I build an A/C version of Voodoo now and your thread is very informative 🤓

Nice work!

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Hi Ed,

               Watching this with interest as I built a Lindberg kit of the XF-88 back in the late '50s/early '60s. It was the early version with the needle nose. I remember it had a little door which lifted to reveal the engine - a pretty cool feature for a kid back then. I think it was about 1/48th.

Good luck with your project.

 

Dave

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Hi Fastcat!

 

I remember those days very well!  My favorites were the large Revell F-102 that deployed or retracted the landing gear when you opened or closed the canopy -- and -- the old "Atomic Bomber" kit. If I could have back all the kits that I tossed out the window into the bushes to see how they flew, I'd be a lot wealthier than I am now.

 

Ed

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