billn53 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 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 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 Still nothing from the postman for the F-16 half of this double-build, so I'm continuing on with the Delta Dagger. I must say I'm mightily impressed with the Meng kit. Everything is going together like a glove... my only fit problems have been with getting the Wolfpack afterburner installed. This afternoon's progress report begins with adding PE detail to the weapon bay: Curiously, the hole locations in the PE for the weapon trapezes do not match those of the kit piece. I elected to follow the Eduard design, hopefully that will not cause problems down the line. I next assembled the wings. Perhaps against my better judgement, I cut away the elevons so that I can reposition them to a drooped condition, as seen in this photo: The fit of the wing parts is very good, the only gap is a small one where the leading edge meets the outer wing fence: The wing assembly fits perfectly into the fuselage. There is a very, very slight gap along the wing root, which a little putty (or spacer added to the fuselage) will fix easily. Fit of the weapons bay and main landing gear bays is also perfect: Considering that I started this kit just a couple of days ago, I'm amazed at how far along I am. Almost ready for paint, it seems! I wish I could say my other ongoing build (Zoukei-Mura's F-4J Phantom) was moving along so swiftly.... 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallBlondJohn Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 6 hours ago, billn53 said: their F-102s were replaced with Cessna Skymasters in 1974 Lol - I bet they enjoyed the change of pace - not! 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 22 minutes ago, TallBlondJohn said: Lol - I bet they enjoyed the change of pace - not! Reportedly, Wisconsin senator William Proxmire (famous for awarding the “Golden Fleece” to wasteful Pentagon projects) killed the Guard’s F-102s in favor of the more economical Skymasters. - Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 *pulling up a chair* I'm impressed so far. Makes me want to add a 32nd FIS F-102 to the queue of projects... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Oh........ So THAT'S what an F102 should actually look like...... 💡🤔💡 I'd have been well pleased with the Meng kit parts, never mind the after-Market bling!! Looks brilliant, and it IS surprising how quick an airframe like this goes together 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 A video for your enjoyment! - Bill 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRunner Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 What a great build thread, Bill. And great subjects! Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Nice, WIANG! If you pass through Chicago on your way to Madison, first off, my condolences, and second, say hi! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 6, 2020 Author Share Posted January 6, 2020 A bit more progress on the Delta Dagger this weekend: After cutting away the elevon, I noticed that the hinge line isn't straight. Apparently, the Case X wingtips are a bit too long (?) I added a thin strip of plasticard to straighten out the hinge line: I also used styrene strip to fill the leading edge gap along the outer wing fence: and applied "sprue gloop" along the fuselage join The aftermarket parts I ordered for the F-16 half of this project should arrive tomorrow! Yea!!! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson Duvalier Posted January 6, 2020 Share Posted January 6, 2020 Thanks for sharing the video, Bill. Didn't know Wisconsin had a delta-wing demo team, I'd have like to have seen that. Did anyone else notice the F-102s with fresh ADC Gray panels on the intakes where parts of the national markings should have been? I stopped building this one when I got to about where you are now, got hung up over the detail on the exterior of the exhaust shroud (or whatever it's actual name is). Mold limitations don't allow the fastener detail to circle all the way round, I felt it needed addressing, momentum was lost. Meng's Deuce is a pretty impressive kit even with the heavy panel detail. The F-106 looks even better, at least in the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey-1980 Posted January 6, 2020 Share Posted January 6, 2020 Really loving this build so far @billn53 Have to admit, I don't know much about the F-102 but I really like the lines and the cockpit is superb! On board if you don't mind? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 6, 2020 Author Share Posted January 6, 2020 4 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said: Mold limitations don't allow the fastener detail to circle all the way round, I felt it needed addressing, momentum was lost. Meng's Deuce is a pretty impressive kit even with the heavy panel detail. Yes, I noticed the missing fasteners and will probably need to do something about it. And you’re right about the relatively heavy engraving - definitely no panel line wash for this build! - Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 7, 2020 Author Share Posted January 7, 2020 Look what the postman brought me yesterday! Resin cockpit and landing gear bays for my F-16. Also some Eduard photoetch. There's more stuff on the way, but now I have enough to get started on the Wisconsin ANG's current hotrod 😁 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 9, 2020 Author Share Posted January 9, 2020 No more excuses for me to procrastinate, so I started work on the Hasegawa F-16C kit today. I began with the resin aftermarket for the cockpit and landing gear bays. This is the kit's version of the pilot's office. Not much detail, and what is there can hardly be described as "crisp": This is why I favor the Aires cockpits, especially for aircraft like the F-16 where the office will be highly visible: Unfortunately, they usually require surgery to make them fit. In this case, the fuselage needed to be cut fore and aft of the stock opening: The fuselage also had to be thinned down, to the point that I could see light through it: Here, I've highlighted in red the areas that I had to cut, grind, file, and sand away in order to make the resin cockpit fit properly: It took about 45-minutes of effort, but in the end I wrestled this baby into submission! Before moving on to the landing gear wells, an observation about the Aires ejection seat. Aires provides photoetch for the seat harnesses, something I dislike in this scale as I can rarely make the PE belts look natural. I happen to have a QuickBoost seat for the F-16 (whose harnesses are molded in), and decided to do a comparison. I prefer the QuickBoost seat, but what caught my eye is that (except for the seat cushions and harnesses), the two seats are suspiciously identical -- down to the last rivet! I ain't saying nuthin', but could it be that someone used someone else's seat as their model? Decide for yourself! Now, the landing gear bays. First, comparison of the kit and Aires bays: The kit's main gear bay is easily removed with two longitudinal cuts: Again, I had to do some grinding & sanding to make things fit: This was a much easier task than was the cockpit; it only took about 10-minutes to accomplish: Voila! The nose gear bay should be a simple drop-in replacement for the kit part: But, notice that part of the nose landing gear is molded in with the bay. This design requires that the kit nose gear first be cut in half, and then the lower plastic piece is glued to the resin upper section. Am I wrong, but isn't there a potential problem here? Stay tuned! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson Duvalier Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 4 hours ago, billn53 said: I prefer the QuickBoost seat, but what caught my eye is that (except for the seat cushions and harnesses), the two seats are suspiciously identical -- down to the last rivet! I ain't saying nuthin', but could it be that someone used someone else's seat as their model? If I remember correctly, Aires and Quickboost have a relationship not unlike Trumpeter and Hobby Boss. They aren't explicitly joined at the corporate hip, but.... Quickboost bits tend more user friendly from what I can tell; engineered for a drop-in fit (or close to it). I've never seen a build with Aires resin that didn't involve the terms "more grinding" and "paper thin." I've used a bunch of Quickboost resin, but haven't yet worked up the stones to use the Aires sets I've acquired. My hat is off to you for your results and your nerve. I'm surprised this thread has gone this long with no mention of beer. Or cheese. Or football. Or beer. 🤨 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said: If I remember correctly, Aires and Quickboost have a relationship not unlike Trumpeter and Hobby Boss. They aren't explicitly joined at the corporate hip, but.... Quickboost seems basically a subsidiary, and marketed as such (Quickboost by Aires). Edited January 9, 2020 by alt-92 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 9, 2020 Author Share Posted January 9, 2020 5 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said: I'm surprised this thread has gone this long with no mention of beer. Or cheese. Or football. Or beer. 🤨 Now that you mention it, the F-102 wing form does look somewhat like a wedge of cheese. And, do we really know what’s being carried in those wing tanks? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 10, 2020 Author Share Posted January 10, 2020 I've finished painting the F-16's cockpit & landing gear bays, and am nearly ready to close up the fuselage. Painting the bays went pretty quick, nearly everything is white. I used gray and black washes to bring out the details in the Aires resin: Painting and detailing the cockpit took a lot more time and effort. I used a few bits of PE from the Eduard set, but 95-percent of what you see here is old-school hand painting: Oops!!! Looks like I still have some grinding and sanding to do, before I can close the fuselage (I forgot to remove the resin casting block from the bottom of the cockpit) 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 11, 2020 Author Share Posted January 11, 2020 Following up on my previous post, I removed the cockpit casting block and the resulting fit between top and bottom fuselage was a-ok. After that scare, I took another look at the resin piece for the forward landing gear bay. Remember how I said it was a "drop fit". Boy, was I wrong! The part goes between the lower fuselage and the air intake trunk. There's not a lot of space there, especially at the front of the bay: Not only did I need to remove the casting block and grind down part of the intake trunk, but some serious thinning of the resin nosegear bay was required before it would fit. So thin, in fact, that I had clear daylight showing in a couple of places! But, in the end I got it to fit and that's what counts. Speaking of the air intake, the kit intake assembly consists of three major parts. No locating pins are provided, and there are a couple of butt joins where the plastic is very thin. I reinforced those with plastic strip: Here's the completed intake assembly: The kit intake trunk is very shallow -- just over 1/2 inch deep. I preshaded the interior of the trunk in black and followed that with white, focusing on the front end to create an appearance of deep shadows inside the trunk: Preshade (left) and final result (right) Finally, I was ready to close up the Falcon's fuselage. Although the instructions don't call for it, and it probably isn't needed, I added weight to the nose for my peace-of-mind: The fuselage went together with no problems at all. The seam along the nose will need some filler and sanding: Test fitting of the air intake revealed a gap at the front of the triangular panel on the fuselage bottom. I used plasticard to fix that: Gaps along the bottom of the fuselage-wing chine were easily filled with acrylic putty: While at the rear of the fuselage, everything fit so well that no filler will be needed: I couldn't resist temporarily installing the flying surfaces, as encouragement to keep on plugging: Looking mighty fine! I haven't forgotten my Delta Dagger, either. Yesterday the postman brought another bit for that build: What's wrong with the kit nose, you might ask. I know I asked that question, and very nearly passed on buying the QuickBoost nose. Here's a comparison (QuickBoost nose on top): The aftermarket nose is slightly more ogival, while the kit nose is more conical in appearance. Not a great difference, I admit! But, since I had already made the investment, I went ahead and installed the QuickBoost nose: How about that? It fit perfectly, no grinding, sanding, or cutting needed! That's all for today's update. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 15, 2020 Author Share Posted January 15, 2020 Here is today's update on my Wisconsin ANG hotrods. The F-106's air intakes are now installed and I've drooped the elevons. For the intakes, I first pre-painted the interior surfaces with aluminum and gun metal: However, on gluing the inlets together I found nasty seams between the inner and outer parts: Filling and sanding these seams destroyed my paint job, so I repainted the interior with aluminum, then tediously applied masking for the intake lips, which I re-sprayed with gun metal: Before installing the intakes, I painted fuselage sides with air defense gray. I had to do this before adding the intakes, because once they are in place it will be nearly impossible to paint behind them. I then glued the intakes to the fuselage And used sprue gloop to fill in the gaps: For the drooped elevons, I added brass pins to the moving surfaces and drilled holes in the rear of the wing for the pins: Here's how the wings look with the elevons test fitted in place: I haven't forgotten my F-16, either. Before gluing the Falcon's "big mouth" intake in place, I ran a line of acrylic putty along the triangular mounting area. When I installed the inlet, the putty extruded out of the join, which was easy to clean smooth with a small piece wet tissue. As with the F-106, I used sprue gloop to fill in the resulting gap on the Falcon's belly: Both aircraft are now sitting in my warming box (along with my Zoukei-Mura F-4J build), which will shorten the length of time needed for the sprue gloop to harden. It sure is getting crowded in there! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 17, 2020 Author Share Posted January 17, 2020 More steady progress on the Deuce. I drilled a hole for the dorsal spine beacon, which I will make from acrylic rod and install after painting: I rescribed panel lines lost while sanding the seams on the fuselage. I used the pointy end of my scribing tool to make the fasteners on the metalwork around the nozzles more distinct, and I extended the fasteners to the topside of the fuselage (which were missing due to limitations of the molding process): In preparation for priming, I masked the cockpit, intakes, tailpipe, and various bays on the fuselage underside. I found that a nail "dotting" took was perfect for putting dots of masking fluid on the small position and navigation lights: I sprayed my Delta Dagger with Mr Surfacer 1500, thinned with Mr Color Leveling thinner (about 2:1 ratio). This will highlight any flaws or blemishes to be corrected before painting the final color coat. Various bits and bobs (elevons, doors, pylons, fuel tanks, etc.) also got the Mr Surfacer treatment: Hopefully, I'll get the gloss gray color coat on this weekend. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christer A Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 That Meng F-102 kit was impressive until I bought their F-106. Massive difference! But how could I have missed this lovely thread? Superb job getting all that resin to fit on the F-16, but the Deuce looks like a winner to me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billn53 Posted January 17, 2020 Author Share Posted January 17, 2020 2 minutes ago, Christer A said: That Meng F-102 kit was impressive until I bought their F-106. Massive difference! But how could I have missed this lovely thread? Superb job getting all that resin to fit on the F-16, but the Deuce looks like a winner to me. Thanks, Christer. Meng’s F-106 is in my stash and someday, when I get around to doing my planned Century series, I’ll build it. I’m not finished with resin on the F-16. I have a CMK engine nozzle coming to me (the Hasegawa molding isn’t very “crisp”), so I’ll be focusing on the Deuce until it arrives. Also,, I found this article on accurizing the Hasegawa Falcon. I’m not as ambitious as the author (I won’t be correcting the panel lines, for instance) but may steal borrow some other ideas: https://www.usaf-sig.org/index.php/references/reference/113-kit-corrections-detailing/596-accurizing-the-1-72-hasegawa-f-16c - Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 On 1/14/2020 at 10:00 PM, billn53 said: I haven't forgotten my F-16, either. Before gluing the Falcon's "big mouth" intake in place, I ran a line of acrylic putty along the triangular mounting area. When I installed the inlet, the putty extruded out of the join, which was easy to clean smooth with a small piece wet tissue. This is a great tip. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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