Revell F 89 Scorpion in 1/48th Scale.Finished.

[Alex Gordon]

G'day Chums,it's not as if I haven't anything else to do but I just fancied building something straightforward.After the chopping and hammering fest that was my Spitfire build I felt the need for a more relaxing caper.It's a while since I built a jet and being as I've been tripping over this one for several years I thought this was as good a time as any to give it a go.  

 

 

Here's what's in the box.There's not a lot of bits,it's just the size of them.

 

 

The decal sheet has a bit of yellowing but nothing that a couple of weeks of concerted daylight exposure won't cure.

 

 

Wings and fuselage.The map invites the joining of the fuselage halves first followed by the shoehorning in of the innards once that has set through a big hole underneath.A dry fit confirmed that this will work.The wings have to go together at some point,might as well be early on.

 

 

This thing is bally huge.Where on earth I'm going to put this once done is,currently,a mystery.

 

 

Underwing and wingtip tankage.Like I said,straightforward.

 

 

Anyway,this is where we are tonight.The fit so far has been excellent,a little bit of gentle encouragement after glueing was all that was needed to set the joints just so,I'm looking forward to a distinct lack of sanding and levelling.

 

 

I've just remembered,I forgot to put the holes in the wing for the drop tank pylons.Oh well,that's what happens when the bench isn't big enough for the map and the kit all at the same time.

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

Edited July 23, 2021 by Alex Gordon

[Col.]

Now is indeed a good time to get this one done  

There's something of the Monogram style to this one that makes me wonder if it was originally one of their tooling

[modelling minion]

Got one of these beauties in the stash so I am very interested to see how yours goes together.

[Alex Gordon]

Hello again Chums,a bit of progress to report.

 

Col,thanks for looking in.Given the long standing tie up between Monogram and Revell it wouldn't surprise me if they used the same designer and toolmaker.This kit has a lot of similarities with Revell's recent PV1 Ventura kit in terms of precision of fit,layout,runner gates and refinement of shape so I wonder if they still are.

 

Craig,welcome in old fruit.I'll try to point out any niggles with this one,there are a few starting to emerge but nothing too serious yet.I have a thing about things you need to know before you need to know them,hopefully I'll pick most of these up and save someone a bit of carpet gnawing frustration.

 

The wingtip pods have all of the rocket noses protruding.They shouldn't,as is convincingly shown in this U Bend video .To be fair to the toolmaker I would think that to represent the tubes would have been difficult to do,there's not a lot of room in their recess.These were going to be removed.

 

 

While I was mulling over how to do this I turned my attention to the seats,driver's,

 

 

and navigator's.

 

 

The map is a little indeterminate in how the front seat goes together.The sides have a channel section at the rear,inside those are a couple of little indents that take the blobbish pins on the back frame.Once these are glued together the seat bucket drops in between the sides and the bottom back corner sits on top of the pin sticking out of the lower cross member.

 

 

The rear seat is the complete opposite,just throw the bits at each other and they fall into place.

 

 

The instrument panels are rather good,not quite as sharp as some that I've seen but well defined and just begging to be done a bit of justice.

 

 

Their fit into the cockpit tub is a bit of both,the front panel has a definite place to live,the rear one will have to wait until the tub is in the fuselage before it is fitted,the slots to take it allow a lot of side to side movement. There are some splendid photos on the F89 restoration blogspot of what these should look like.

 

 

Anyway,while the seats were setting and the grey paint I had hairy sticked on to the relevant bits of the tub was drying I went back to the wingtip pods.I chucked a miniature end mill into my cordless drill and gently worked in to the pointy bits until they were flat enough and wide enough to get a drill bit into them.I didn't try to take them all the way back to flat,this was all done freehand on my knee and far too wobbly to be precision milling.  

 

 

Once I could centre a drill on each of them I stuck a 1.4mm drill bit into the cordless and gently wound out each hole.It's not perfect but it doesn't look too far out to me.

 

 

Fitting the front ends of the pods to the rears was going to be interesting,there's naff all to hang them on.The locating tabs allow a lot of movement in all directions.

 

 

Time for the circle cutter to do its thing.Two bits of gash plastic card were cut and fettled to go into the open ends of the rear sections where,on the real thing,there wouldn't have been a great gaping hole.

 

 

While that was setting I had a look at the mainwheels.Bill Spidle provided some good photos on the primeportal reference site which will be useful for this bit.

 

 

Right,that's that off let's do a spot of dryfitting now that the fuselage has set.The compressor faces are supposed to fit just here.

 

 

They do,perfectly.

 

 

When it comes to fitting the bottom of the fuselage the gap is too narrow by quite a margin.When pushed into place the compressor face component becomes too small and falls out.

 

 

The fuselage insert will have to be fixed in one side at a time,there seems to be something a little skiwiff and I'm not splitting that mileage of jointwork to try to correct it,especially since I went to a lot of trouble to make sure it was going to have no problems .

 

 

The front end of the insert isn't quite the same shape as its aperture so that will need a little attention too.And probably some Milliput.

 

 

One of the easier jobs to do was refining the two air intakes underneath,right one done.There's one on each side of the fuselage to work on too that I didn't take a piccie of.

 

 

Here's the plastic card discs glued in.

 

 

They're a bit gash but once it's all glued together and a slathering of matt black paint has gone in there won't be much visible in there. 

 

 

There's a fair bit of gen out there about this aircraft,airvectors.net gives a good overview and the National Museum of the USAF has lots of photos.

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Alex Gordon

[Chrisj2003]

Alex, great to see another F-89 in the GB and a D at that. What are you doing about the rockets now you have rightly eliminated them from sticking too far forwards? My understanding is that there was no cap on the pods and the rockets were in open ended tubes; are you modelling the empty tubes or the rocket tips? Would be too small at 1/72. 😀

 

Great progress so far; my F-89 is on hold pending dry weather to varnish; pre-weathering and wheels and bits stages.

 

Chris 

[modelling minion]

Coming along very nicely Alex.

Thanks for pointing out the areas of the kit that need some attention, not that there seems to be anything terribly wrong with the kit at all and the details in the instrument panels really are very good.

I like your fix for the protruding rockets, a very neat job.

Have you decided which scheme you will be finishing her in?

[Alex Gordon]

G'day again Chums,just a little paintwork this time.

 

Chris,thanks for looking in old fruit.By the sound of it your weather is probably worse than ours,mind you I have the luxury of being indoors so any delays are self induced.I'll tell you about the pods in a moment.

 

Craig,thanks for the kind words old chum.The kit is fine,it just needs a little forethought.I'm enjoying a bit of simplicity for a change.There are two schemes in the box,a D and a J.I'm going for the D model largely because the idea of chucking that many unguided rockets at an advancing bomber stream tickles my preposterous greeblies in much the same way as the submarine used during the American Civil War.The colour scheme is bare metal and Arctic Red which should be suitably challenging,it's a while since I've done a metal finish to any decent standard.

 

The cockpit tub has been painted,Humbrol 167 Barley Grey and matt black. 

 

 

The rocket pods had a flood of thinned matt black paint poured through the holes to hide the innards.I'll see how this looks before I decide whether or not to try to replicate the tubes.To be honest I hadn't given it any thought until Chris said something and it's quite possible my CDO (let's get it in the right order)won't let me leave it.

 

 

Why don't all manufacturers do this with the instrument panels,they look so much more convincing than a decal.Now all I have to do is learn to drybrush properly.A drop of something transparent and glossy will represent the glassware and hopefully be a good finishing touch.

 

 

The front instrument panel has been glued in and left to set.This will be vital to the correct positioning of the tub,that is a tomorrow job.

 

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

[Andwil]

Those instrument panels look great.  I agree with you on the moulded/dry brushed detail vs decals.

 

AW

[Col.]

Tidy progress Alex and you're making the most of that cockpit detail. Shame about the bellypan not fitting well when every other part seems to without protest.

[Alex Gordon]

Hello again Chums,some more to show.

 

Andwil,thanks for looking in old fruit.There's some splendid moulding in this one just begging for attention,it's a pleasure to see it especially since this kit was tooled in 1990 and can still stand up amongst more recent manufacturers output.

 

Col,thanks old chum.Apart from the belly the kit just seems to fall together.

 

The cockpit tub was positioned and given a drop of glue and then,while still on the move,the underside was dryfitted into place and left while the glue set.This will prevent the tub from coming adrift due to flexing when the belly is put in properly.

 

 

There is only one way to positively locate the tub.There are no lugs or flanges in the fuselage so the way to do it is to let it sit in the fuselage with the back of the instrument panel shroud up against the front of the aperture.That way it can be made to sit square into the bargain. 

 

 

The bit at the front end of the belly that isn't quite the same shape as its hole will push into place without chewing anything off it.

 

 

There are two of these intakes,one on each side,which were drilled out and squared off.

 

 

They were then backed with a small square of plastic card,as were the two underside intakes.

 

 

One edge of the belly insert was then glued in.There is an easy side and a difficult to the point of snapping something during lining up and wrangling side,I went for the easy one first.With hindsight I wonder if I should have worked the tricky side first and whether or not it would have been easier in the long run.

 

 

That was left overnight to set.

One of the known foibles of silver plastic is its habit of showing where things are or were,like sanded off panel lines or,in this case,where the holes in the wings are meant to be.For those who have never encountered this before there are half a dozen grey shadows with a very distinct trail leading away from them caused,I assume,by the flow of liquid plastic past the sticky out bit that forms the partial hole in the inside of the wing.The two holes that I forgot to open up are the ones to the right.

 

 

We're back to the belly insert again.

 

 

The undercarriage components look rather good.

 

 

The noseleg,after cleaning off the part lines,went together easily.

 

 

The mainlegs were cleaned up and dryfitted into their places and the retraction struts glued to them.This will make painting easier.The going opinion on the wheelwells is that they are interior green.That's fine by me,I have now found a use for that Humbrol 30 that I've got lying around.Mixed with some of the 154 insignia yellow that I'm not convinced by it makes a passable green that is mostly going to be concealed by a closed maingear door.It is still wet here,I'm hoping it dries matt so that it doesn't look like the outfall of a crippling oil leak.

 

 

The belly insert took some wrestling into place,the trickiest bit being the bit between the jetpipes which wants to sit towards the already fixed side.It turns out that this is a known snag.

 

 

Anyway on to something simpler,there are a couple of tiddly intakes to put together,so I have done.

 

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.I'm going to look at some more photos of F 89s to see what else I've missed.

[Col.]

Looks as if you've won the main wrestling match with this one

[Alex Gordon]

G'day again Chums,

 

Col,wrestle is the word.I've nearly got it straight though.

 

The green bits are the inserts for the nosewheel bay.My mix of Humbrols 30 and 154 has dried glossy but I don't think it matters too much.The detail on the insides of the mainwheel and leg well doors is rather good.From photography it would seem that the mainwheel well doors can be either open or shut on the ground so mine will be closed thus avoiding the fun and games of trying to hinge them to hang properly.The nosewheels have some subtle detail on them that I'm hoping to bring out with some appropriate paintwork.

 

 

The exhausts are quite something,I didn't realise that they were quite so well polished until I saw this piccie.It seems a shame to paint them really.There is a part line just inside the nozzle to remove but that is just a gentle scrape with the back of a scalpel blade for best results.This photo is the best I could find of the J 35 engine back end.There's a little work to do to match it but not much.

 

 

There is only a stubby little tongue to hang the wingtip pods on,but it really doesn't need anything more substantial.

 

 

The tailplane is big.It has recesses top and bottom for the fin.The shorter of the two recesses is for the upper portion and both are wider than the lump they take so it's not a click fit.

 

 

The wingtip pods have gaps top and bottom where they attach to the wings.

 

 

These have been filled with a mixture of plastic card strip and stretched runner to add a bit of strength to an otherwise likely to wobble and snap off sort of joint.

 

 

Big beastie isn't she.It has just occurred to me that I don't have anything big enough to sit her on when it comes to finished piccies time.

 

 

The engine fronts went in with no problems and positioning them was simple enough using a paintbrush handle wielded through the exhaust apertures.

 

 

With the intakes offered up it shows the amount of gap filling there will be to do.

 

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

[modelling minion]

You're doing a great job on this beast Alex, and she is a big beast isn't she.

Well done on getting that troublesome belly insert sorted, you've got a good result there.

 

[Alex Gordon]

Hello again Chums,yet more to show.

 

Craig,thanks old fruit.So far that's the only bit that hasn't fallen into place.Hopefully this build is giving you a decent heads up so that your go at it causes a little less headscratching.

 

Do you remember me muttering something about sitting the cockpit tub nice and square?

 

 

Miles out.There is a hole where the top of the rear bulkhead should be and that area didn't look too convincing so I decided to make a new bulkhead further forward and closing up the gap.I did this in three bits,a central rectangle and then two shaped wings.I've no idea what the real thing looks like but it was the simplest way to do it and it will be mostly hidden by the seat.A spot of Milliput will finish off the top edge and the whole thing will disguise my little foul up.    

 

 

While we're on the subject of the seats,photos show a red cushion on the front of the headrest.A couple of offcuts of 10 thou plastic card made the shapes.

 

 

I could probably do loads more to the seats but I'm happy with how they're coming on so far and I don't want to bog down in the mire of uncertain scratchbuilding that causes builds to stall.

 

 

The intake mouths are now glued on.The insides were given a coat of Polished Aluminium first and a moment or two was taken to make sure that the outside joint was flush.There has been Milliput on the not quite the same shape bit and that join now feels good.I'm not sure how I'm going to replicate the missing rivets yet but something will come to mind. 

 

 

The glassware has been extracted from its bag.Before I got my fingerprints all over it I was quite taken with how smooth and clear it is.I took my time with a Tritool saw to cut it from the frame and remove the knobbly bits without causing any damage.

 

 

I'm now heading off to find some decent photos of the canopy.More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

Edited January 17, 2021 by Alex Gordon
Keyboard Dyslexia

[Back in the Saddle]

I’ve never seen this kit before - what a great build.👍

[modelling minion]

The canopy parts look very nice and clear Alex, should help show off your good work in the cockpit a treat.

Nice touch adding the head rests to the seats.

[Alex Gordon]

G'day again Chums,a spot of glassware this time.

 

Matt,thanks for looking in old fruit.I hope you're enjoying this one as much as I'm enjoying your 747 build,your workmanship is something to aspire to.

 

Craig,thanks old chum.If I can remove all of my fingerprints from the canopy I hope it comes back to its original clarity.

 

I've masked the inside ready to paint the white of the canopy sealant.Offered up to the frame it sits slightly proud at the front end.This was the same on both sides.

 

 

I took a bit off the back end using a wide flat file,offering up a couple of times to make sure I didn't remove too much.

 

 

My dodgy filing has left a slight gap at the top of the back edge,that'll be more Milliput then.

 

 

The windscreen has also been masked inside.

 

 

A brief hairy stickful of gloss white later has given me this.Once dry and Milliputted the inside will be treated to a coat of grey as per this photo I found on LSP.

 

 

The recesses on the tailplane around the fin have been filled and are just waiting for the proving coat of paint.

 

 

The tyres have had a coat of matt black and while I was at it a very thin slathering on the metalwork to bring out the detail.

 

 

Did anyone spot that I'd got the mainlegs the wrong way round a few posts ago?

 

 

The mainwheels should be outboard.This has now been rectified,the struts are now the correct way round.

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

Edited January 22, 2021 by Alex Gordon

[Col.]

A lot of nice work going on there Alex

[Alex Gordon]

Hello again Chums,a bit more bench time today.

 

Col,thanks for chipping in old fruit.I was composing this post when you did and I pressed the show reply tit and thought I'd lost it .Thankfully not however.

 

The mounting holes in the front wheels are slightly bigger than the axles.

 

 

This was cured by putting a couple of slivers of 10 thou plastic card card in the holes and then gluing it all together.The wheels were then rotated so that they sat evenly. 

 

 

Having painted the mainwheel brake discs I needed to remove the paint where the leg would mount.The wheel was put on to its axle and rotated making a witness mark where the paint needed to be scraped away.Once done the mainwheels were glued to the legs.

 

 

The white canopy sealant was overpainted with Humbrol 167 grey and,once dry,the masking was removed.There was a bit of bleed under the tape from the white but this was picked away easily with a cocktail stick.

 

 

The white on the windscreen had been overpainted with matt black and glued into place.The joint line shows all the way round but nothing that a little Milliput won't cure. I'm intending to use the canopy as a mask for the cockpit.Offered up it sits well but it would need to be a closer fit if it was going to be displayed closed.

 

 

The wing pylons fit where they touch,both ends are good but the bit between the locating pegs has a gap that will need to be filled.I decided to fit them before painting so that the work needed wouldn't affect the paint job.If the fit had been good then I would have left them separate until last.To do this the fuel tanks had to be cut off.I drilled for and fitted some copper wire pins for the tanks as part of this.

 

 

All of the masking was done and then the canopy was gobbed into place using Maskol as a fixative.

 

 

Milliput has been wiped into every gap I can find.These joints behind the intakes were fun to get at,there's not a lot of room in there.

 

 

Anyway,the wings are now glued on and setting and this thing is bigger than the cardboard box that I use as a spraybooth and is taking up pretty much all of the bench.

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

[Col.]

More tidy work and in particular getting the filling done so smoothly in the intake area.

 

16 minutes ago, Alex Gordon said:

...the wings are now glued on and setting and this thing is bigger than the cardboard box that I use as a spraybooth and is taking up pretty much all of the bench.

There's an incentive to finish this one before you start another project

[Alex Gordon]

Just for you @Col.

 

 

[modelling minion]

Excellent work Alex, she really is coming along very nicely indeed.

Big bugger isn't she! Placing her on top of that Canberra really shows off her size.

[Alex Gordon]

G'day again Chums,a few more little bits to show.

 

Col,thanks old chum.With this being a metal finish I'm trying to make as smooth and blemish free a surface as possible.

 

Craig,thanks old fruit.Sorry to read that you've contracted The Bug,hope it doesn't give you any real gyp.I was wondering what the fruit of such an unholy union would be and came to this conclusion,photo from the  Aerospace Heritage Foundation of Canada     .

 

 

The wings were glued on last night.There are gaps between them and the fuselage but careful aligning made sure that there was nearly no step.

 

 

A smear of filler did the deed.The underneath was largely the same.

 

 

Something that @Chrisj2003 mentioned earlier got me thinking about a simple way of replicating the rocket tubes.I stuck a length of runner into the cordless and turned a taper into the end.I then cut some little rectangles of aluminium foil.

 

 

One by one each little bit of foil was wound around the taper and pushed into a hole in the end of the pod.

 

 

Like so.

 

 

A little twist of the taper to release the cone of foil and we're ready for the next one.Each cone was gently pushed in leaving a little bit of excess.

 

 

Once they were all in some Klear was applied using the tip end of a bit of wire and allowed to wick into all the holes on the outsides of the cones.

 

 

While maneuvering around the lamp stem,my legs,the bench and other obstacles I managed to drop the bally thing.

 

 

It made working the now separated pod a lot easier.Once the Klear had got a bit of a grip each cone end was spread to stop it pushing in any further and a start made on cutting off the excess.Once set properly the shank of a drill bit will be gently pushed down each one to make them roughly parallel sided and then some more Klear run in to stop it all falling apart.The whole job,both sides,took about an hour to get to here.It's dead easy and nowhere near as mind numbing as making up multi part individual link tank tracks.

 

 

A coat of satin black was brushed on to the drop tanks in the vain hope of finding that I'd got the joints right.I forsee more sanding and smoothing.

 

 

More soon Chums,thanks for looking in.

Edited July 23, 2021 by Alex Gordon
Replacing dead photo URL

[Chrisj2003]

Oh; your tank to wing joints are as fragile as on my 1/72 one. 💩   ...and I am going to photo mine next to my Cranberry when done; great minds.  

 

Sorry about mentioning the tubes.

 

Chris

[Col.]

You're pulling triumph out of the tragedy of a dropped model there Alex and coming out with a great solution to the rocket tube conundrum.

You've also circumvented my question on how the off-spring of that particular get-together would look