Convair F-102A Delta Dagger ***FINISHED***

[PeterB]

This is just a place holder but as they say - here's one I built earlier.

I decided to replace both this and the F-106 I built at the same time. More in a day or so.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[Col.]

Nice subject choice Peter. Welcome to the GB  

[PeterB]

Here is my "new" kit.

I987 rebox of original 1969 moulding. I won't be using the kit decs as they are for a plane with the later "Case XX"wings of which more later.

 

Pete

[theplasticsurgeon]

It's a great kit Peter, enjoy.

[Aardvark]

On 11/4/2020 at 2:39 AM, PeterB said:

 

 

This from old Hasegawa with Red Devils? 

 

B.R.

Serge

[PeterB]

Hi Serge, 

 

It is I think the 1970 reboxing which I picked up in around 1976 and contains the markings for the 68FIS which I believe I used and the 32FIS which I still have in my decal spares. The old mat was bought years ago to put under our various cats' food bowls, and has been cleaned so many times that the illustrations have almost worn out.

 

Pete

[CliffB]

You've chosen a classic era for all your chosen interceptors Pete 

[PeterB]

Right, having been distracted for a while with the Heller GB, I though I would make a start on this kit. It is pretty basic and as I recall from my 1970's build goes together fairly well except for the missile bay - which I built open as I was displaying it on a stand with the wheels up. This time it will be wheels down with the bay closed, which by all accounts is a real mess if you use the kit doors (all 6 of them), but as luck would have it I managed to pick up a set of closed doors for both this and the F-106 when John was clearing out his old Aeroclub stock a few years back.

 

 For the cockpit, all you get is a combined tub/ nose well, seat, IP and pilot which I will not be using. There are decs for the side consoles and IP.

You don't get a stick, which is a pity as the one used was an unusual "Y" shape - you flew the plane using the right hand arm of the "Y" which was fixed, and used the moving left hand arm to control the radar apparently. Not to worry as you won't be able to see it anyway. Over the plane's service life it had a number of modifications and at some point Hasegawa decided to re-mould the fuselage to incorporate some of them. The original kit was like this.

And the modified fuselage looks like this.

Working from the front they have added the ball shaped IR sensor which was fitted from late 1963 according to Detail & Scale, and in the cockpit they have added ther mssing radar scope and above it the "optical sight" that was added in 1958 - there are now decs included for both and they will probably be a real sod to put in place. Behind the cockpit they have added the UHF aerial which was fitted from 1969 onwards, then comes the retractable red beacon fitted to aircraft from serial 56-1430 onwards - those prior to that serial had a fixed beacon fitted further back and also underneath from late 1967. Finally they have added the IFF aerial that was fitted from July 1972 onwards.  Under the fuselage the original kit already had the arrestor hook fitted from 1960 and the retractable "barrier probe" fitted in 1957/58 as it was found that with both the nose and main gear being well back on the Dart, it tended to just run over the barrier. What they have not done is add either a retracting red beacon underneath to match the one on top, neither does it have the fixed ones, and they have not included the two Tacan data link aerials under the tail that were fitted in late 1970. Also, as I mentioned earlier, part way through production the wing was modified to resemble that of the F-106, the new one being called "Case XX" with the old one known as "Case X", but I will explain that later in the build. This kit still has the old Case X wings!

 

So, what does all that mean for this build. Well Hasegawa have released numerous boxing with different markings, and this one is for a late model with Case XX wings and all the trimmings. I have therefore bought an AM sheet which includes 4 planes based in Europe, two in 1960-1963 and two in 1965. I will build it as one of the later pair so that I can keep the IR sensor, but the two "new" aerials and the retractng beacon will have to go.

 

Time for a bit of backgound. Most of the info below is taken from the Detail and Scale publication on this plane.

 

Following the end of WWII the USAF as it was to become realised that it could soon be faced with the prospect of attacks by Soviet nuclear armed bombers, and that whereas missing a few conventionally armed bombers was not too big a problem, letting a single nuclear armed one through could be disastrous. They therefore decided they needed a much improved system to defend the continental United States. This was to be made up by advanced long range radars – the so called Pine Tree Line (1955) and the Defence Early Warning Line or DEW Line (1958) , coupled with fast, rapidly climbing missile armed interceptors. Initially they had to do with conversions such as the F-86D Sabre Dog and the F-94 Starfire derived from the F-80 Shooting Star, supplemented later by the purpose built F-89 Scorpion, but in January 1949 they issued an “Advanced Development Objective” or ADO for a supersonic interceptor deigned to counter the Soviet threat and nicknamed the 1954 fighter from the expected in service date.

 

In June of the following year they issued a “Request For Proposals” designated MX-1554, calling for a complete weapons system – airframe, armament and electronics, the first time they had tried the so called “weapon system concept”. Hughes was awarded a contract for the weapon fire control system - Project MX-1554, which was intended to actually fly the aircraft to the target and conduct the attack, with the pilot just being their as a backup! In January 1951 6 contractors submitted a total of 9 proposals for the actual aircraft – Republic (3), North American (2), Convair, Lockheed, Chance-Vought and Douglas 1 each. A month later this was reduced to one each from Republic, Convair and Lockheed, and in September 1951 Convair was declared the winner with their XF-102, based on their earlier delta winged prototype XF-92/XF-92A which had been built as the first US delta to take advantage of the work in Germany on delta wings by Dr Lippisch. It first flew in 1948 but had proved something of a disappointment as, even after adding an afterburner, it still could not reach Mach 1 in level flight, but did provide some useful research data. By this time the USAF had realised that the project was probably somewhat over optimistic, so decided that the initial F-102A would be only an “interim” version, to be replaced by the improved F-102B, later changed to F-106. As we now know things worked out a bit differently.

 

That's enough for now as the post is already quite long, so more next time.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited December 4, 2020 by PeterB

[PeterB]

The fuselage went together pretty well as you would perhaps expect from Hasegawa, but the way the vertical tail is moulded on this and the F-106 is a bit silly to my mind.

I think perhaps the fit is not quite as good on this kit as on the earlier one, and the front and back seams do line up with panel lines in theory but the horizontal one is a bit messy. However, on most if not all of the boxings the tail has large decs on it which would cover it. Also, it should perhaps be remembered that if the article on Wiki is correct, they only switched from making wooden models to plastic in 1961 and their first "scale model", a 1/450 Yamato Battleship was released in 1962, only 7 years before this was originally released. I have proped up the Aeroclub missile bay door mouling in front of it - not sure if it plastic or resin but I assume the latter. The lower wing is just a push fit at this stage.

And this is with the bay doors in place - needs a little work but a darned sight easier than trying to fit 6 flimsy kit doors - in fact the build review in D&S says it can't really be done so you should use scribed  plastic card! They also complain about the main gear well and I can see why - looks like I will have to look at some pics and add a bit of detail. With the missile bay closed up this should be a relatively easy build. The only slight problem was that the ejector seat seemed to be mounted a little too far back and would hit the fuselage if used so I moved it forward very slightly and shortened it a little too to clear the canopy. Incidentally, you can see the retracted barrier probe on the centreline just behind the missile bay - when in use it extended below the fuselage to snag the barrier.

 

So, whilst I get on with fettling the joints here is part 2 of the story.

 

The initial design was essentially an enlarged XF-92A with the nose intake changed to wing intakes to make room for the radar and a more powerful Wright J67 engine with which it was expected to achieve Mach 1.93 at 62000ft, but as that was not yet available it was decided to fit the Westinghouse J40 which should still give Mach 1.88 at 56500ft, but as events proved the J40 was a failure and production was eventually cancelled, so a P&W J57 was fitted instead. Although more powerful than the J40, it was also heavier, and when flight tests commenced on the by now YF-102 in October 1953 it was found that the plane still would not get beyond Mach 1 and handled badly. Although wind tunnel tests had been carried out there was no supersonic tunnel available at that time so the drag had been seriously underestimated. Fortunately the new “Area Rule” theory had just been published and so the fuselage was modified slightly, bulges were added at the rear and the nose fuselage lengthened. This helped, but it still did not break the sound barrier until the nose was lengthened again and made slimmer and angled downwards, the cockpit moved forward and the windscreen made more streamlined, the wing extended and made thinner, and boundary layer fences added together with some cleaning up of the airframe and a more powerful engine. Finally, in December 1954 the YF-102, which had initially been named the Machette but now was called the Delta Dagger, achieved Mach 1 in a climb and Mach 1.2 on the level – the F-102 was finally on its way, although it was still waiting for the Hughes fire control system!

 

During the test program many more changes were made, the most obvious being increasing the size and height of the vertical tail, but the first 66 planes initially had the short tail and it was these that entered service in April 1956 with the 327 FIS at George AFB. The larger tails were soon retro-fitted. The early planes were fitted with an interim fire control called the MG-3 derived from the E-9, whatever that was, but later it was upgraded to the MG-10 in 1958. By this time the original concept of a complete weapon system was rather watered down, but the MG-10 did get guidance signals from the SAGE system and so once the pilot had the target on his scope he could in theory carry out a fully automated attack. A total of 879 F-102A were eventually built, together with a further 111 TF-102A two seaters – which means that around three times as many of this “interim” design were built than the later F-106, and during the course of its service life numerous other changes were made, including changing the original upturned “Case X “ wingtips to the later “Case XX” version with downturned tips which improved stability, particularly at low speed, and increased the ceiling – starting with 56-1317 in October 1957 but not back dated. An arrestor hook was added in 1960, an IR seeker in front of the cockpit in 1963 and data link antennae under the tail in 1965, and various changes to other aerials, lights etc. The aircraft was armed with 6 Hughes Falcon AGM, usually 3 IR and 3 Radar homing, which were carried inside a weapons bay and were lowered on trapezes for firing, together with 24x2.75” unguided rockets carried in tubes inside the actual bay doors, 2 to a tube, though they reduced to 12x2.75” rockets on the handful of Daggers fitted to carry the AIM 26 nuclear version of the Falcon.

 

Final installment next time.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

Edited December 5, 2020 by PeterB

[Chrisj2003]

1 hour ago, PeterB said:

Machette

 

Loving the lesson; and glad they didn’t go with Machette. 

 

Nice AM. 

 

Chris

[Col.]

A good update both by way of your progress and the type's history. Your Aeroclub missile bay cover may well be plastic as John Adams produced many of his aftermarket parts in that material.

[PeterB]

Thanks Col,

 

I does look like plastic.

Just realised I was wrong about the position of the ejector seat - Hasegawa mould the rear of the canopy as part ot ther fuselage as it was not transparent!.

 

Pete

Edited December 6, 2020 by PeterB

[PeterB]

All the main bits are on now so reaady for primer - no doubt I will see a few places that need more filling and sanding.

Abd yes, I have managed to break off one ot the probes on the tail and it is too thin to drill so replacing it will be fun!

 

Final bit of background.

 

The F-102A served in the US, Alaska, Europe and the Pacific theatres and in 1960 began to replace ageing F-86D and F-89 in National Guard units, eventually equipping 20 Squadrons. In March 1962 small units began to rotate through Vietnam and later Thailand, but there were seldom if ever more than 22 in theatre, The last ones left at the end of 1969. They were mainly used for air defence, but some did fly escort for B-52 raids. After it was finally retired, some were exported to Greece and Turkey and over 200 were turned into target drones.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited December 7, 2020 by PeterB

[stevehnz]

Nice history lesson Peter, it never hurts to have a refresher on something as interesting as this. I'll look forward to seeing this coming along.

Steve.

[Col.]

Good to watch this one taking shape for you Pete and hopefully not too much remedial work ahead after the first coat of primer.

[PeterB]

Earlier I mentioned the two diferent wing types used. This is not as clear a picture as I would like but it will probably do.

On the left is the F-106A and on the right the F-102A. Both have a pronounced droop to the leading edge of the wing, but as you may be able to see, in the Delta Dart it continues all the way to the tip and that is the "Case XX" wing. With the earlier batches of Delta Dagger the droop washed out towards the tip, which was twisted upwards and that was the "Case X" wing. Quite why they did it I do not know but you may remember I said they had a lot of problems with the aerodynamics of the F-102 due to the lack of a supersonic wind tunnel. I am guessing it was to do with tip stall perhaps, and maybe was thought to improve stability. In reality, once the case XX wing was fitted both the speed and ceiling were improved it appears, so it was not perhaps a good idea after all!

 

Incidentally, the review in D&S suggests that you can convert the wing on the F-102 kit to a case XX one by grafting on the tips from an F-106 kit, and I did actually try that with my old kits, but it was going to take a lot of filler to blend in so I decided to take the easy option and buy new decs instead!

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[Col.]

That's a clear enough illustration of the differences Pete. Thank you.

[PeterB]

I have boxed in the wheels wells, added a bit of wire for pipes or cable runs together with some struts in the bay, and fitted the main gear legs.

Not much like the real thing but better than it was. Ready to be sprayed ADC Gray. I should perhaps mention that early Daggers like this one had vertical main gear legs, but later ones apparently had the legs angled slightly forwards, thus moving the balance point nearer the nose. I can't find a date/serial number for when that actually happened, so you have to be a little careful when building this kit. Also, as I said in the splurge for the F-106, the wheels changed - probably several times. This kit has early ones I gather. You get a good view of the barrier probe in this pic just in front of the wheel bay -  when in use it seems it rotated down and forward to hook the barrier net.

 

Pete

Edited December 10, 2020 by PeterB

[Col.]

Tidy upgrade in the undercarriage bay Pete. Enough to make it look busy without being fussy.

[PeterB]

Ok, I decided I might not have enough paint to airbrush this and the F-106 so I used a hairy stick. The Xtracrylic paint goes on rather nicely providing you can get in with a thin, wide, flat brush.

This is after 4 thin coats well brushed out and I am happy with that. When I painted my old kit back in the 1970's I think I probably used Humbrol Medium Sea Grey and that is far too dark - this looks much better - it is rather paler in real life.

 

Pete

Edited December 13, 2020 by PeterB

[PeterB]

Well, I guess this is now ready for a coat of gloss varnish and then on with the decs! I will be using a combination of kit ones and Xtradecal.

As you can see I have replaced the probe on the tail that I broke off. I have painted the canopy but still have to do the blue tinting - the first time I tried using thinned Tamiya clear blue it was a bit too dark so I stripped it off. Of course the black blade like thing in the front of the cockpit will probably make it hard to see anyway but what the heck.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[Col.]

It's looking good Pete. A nice smooth coat of paint for the decals to go on.

[PeterB]

As I mentioned earlier, I have bought an Xtradecal set of early F-102A markings and there is one point that puzzles me. The kit USAF/US AIR FORCE markings are in black, as they were on my old kit, but the Xtradecal set has them in dark blue, but then has the "Buzz number" in black. Odd, and I am not certain they are correct - any thoughts? Unfortunately non of the colour pics in the D&S book show early versions but all the late ones they do show have everything probably in black - not easy to tell.

 

Pete

[PeterB]

I had a look at all the makes of decal for the F-102A on Hannants and they seem to be 50/50 Black and Dark Blue, so I dug out the Scalemaster USAF decs that I bought in 1981, probably the first thing I ever bought from Hannants as I was mostly buying from Tony Walker in Hackney at that time. They have Dark Blue USAF etc and Black serials and Buzz Numbers, and then I remembered my Squadron Signal "Century Series in Colour" published in 1980. That gives a breakdown of all the colours used and confirms Insignia Blue for titles and Black for serials and buzz numbers, so it seems Hannants were right, at least for some aircraft - there is nothing to prove that black was not used on some, perhaps contrary to instructions!

 

At least another 2 days worth of decs to go, but is beginning to look quite good - at least to me! The red and white stripes on the nose probe are being a pain, likewise the hook and probe on the F-106, but that was to be expected. Not quite as sleek as the F-106 but better than some I could name, and somewhat better than my original attempt.

 

Getting there slowly.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited December 17, 2020 by PeterB

[PeterB]

I guess I have now got about 75% of the decs on so not far to go. In the meantime I have had a shot at some landing lights.

Easy enough to make out of gash sprue, but the size and shape makes them difficult to hold with tweezers! Crude but they will do. I know the nose one was on the door, but those on the main wheels might have actually been on the legs - darned sight easier to mount them on the doors though. I wonder if Meng have moulded them, unlike Hasegawa?

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

Pete