Revell Northrop F-89J Scorpion 1/72 [FINISHED]

[klr]

I have 3 of these kits, plus an Academy (ex-Hobbycraft) 'J' kit. The Revell kit was first issued in 1991 (at least that's the year on the mold stamp), and I would have bought it not long afterwards:

 

While obviously a very nice kit for its time (and superior to the Hobbycraft tooling IMHO*), the German-printed decals were not the best, so I left it in the stash.

 

*Although Hobbycraft issued a much wider range of variants.

 

Fast forward to 2013, and the kit was reissued with Cartograf decals, and I eagerly bought two of this release:

 

I am building the 'J' version with 2 x Genie nuclear-tipped rockets and 4 x Falcon missiles, but also the composite fuel/rocket pods on the wing tips, which were originally carried by the 'D' version, as per the box-art. As all 'J' aircraft were converted 'D' aircraft, these pods must have been readily available, and the Revell instructions are quite clear that they could be carried by the 'J'.

 

There are separate decals for the pilot's main instrument panel, depending on the version.

 

Edited March 14, 2021 by klr

[Jb65rams]

Nice choice. I’ll be watching with interest as I have one in the stash.

[Col.]

This has proved a popular subject already but a worthy one and with plenty of colour about it. Nice choice and a full meal deal of death with it

[klr]

So ... starting with the cockpit, which has 13 parts and (for the F-89J) 10 decals. Both 4-part seats were tricky, but for different reasons, which I won't go into here:

 

 

The first really tricky part though is the ventral insert. The instructions suggest that the intake part (19) is fitted first, then the fuselage halves joined, then the insert (20) added.

 

I decided to attach both of these parts in the order indicated, but to just one side of the fuselage. When I tried to fit the insert, it just wouldn't go. So I ripped out the intake part, and attached it to the insert, to ensure they would fit together. Then I fitted this to one side of the fuselage. This worked much better, but still required liberal use of masking tape:

 

I also attached the assembled port wing, which was a good fit:

 

The starboard wing was problematic, requiring some shims to get an acceptable fit:

 

Everything joined up:

 

The section between the exhaust ports was difficult to attach to the rear fuselage, but I persevered. Overall, I am satisfied that my sequence for the air frame construction was the correct one.

 

Next, the canopy and windscreen attached. There is an noticeable "step" between the front of the canopy and the top of the windscreen, which required some surgery to hide (as best I could):

 

The inner Falcon pylons were attached, but before I can attach the remaining four pylons (some of which required some trimming to mate satisfactorily), I need to paint and decal the outer wing sections, which I am currently doing. I am also still fine-tuning the lower fuselage joins, but they are in much better shape than this photo suggests. Most of that mess is just excess filler waiting to be cleaned off.

 

There is one more looming conundrum, which is the orientation of the wingtip pods. All photos I've seen suggest these should be more or less "flat". But given the angle of attack of the wings. the pods would similarly point upwards:

 

I will probably have to remove or at least drastically cut down the wing tip locating tabs.

[Col.]

Good progress and well done on working a better construction sequence than Revell suggest; seems to be common amongst their kits.

There's a few other Revell F-89 been done in this GB and addressed the wingtip pod issue along with some others that may be worth a read through for more tips and ideas to improve your kit  

[Alex Gordon]

Looking good so far old fruit,it seems that you've many of the same snags as the 1/48th version.I solved a few of them here ,elsewhere in this GB.Hope this is of use.

[klr]

On 3/1/2021 at 5:28 PM, Alex Gordon said:

Looking good so far old fruit,it seems that you've many of the same snags as the 1/48th version.I solved a few of them here ,elsewhere in this GB.Hope this is of use.

Thanks, I should have read this and the other build threads before I started!

 

I decided to completely remove the positioning tabs for the wing-tip tanks, and manually positioned them at what seemed the correct attitude:

 

Spot the deliberate mistake with the rear fuselage serials, behind the roundels.

 

So, still lots of work do over the next couple of days.

[Alex Gordon]

10 minutes ago, klr said:

Spot the deliberate mistake with the rear fuselage serials, behind the roundels.

G'day old chum,the wingtip pods look spot on from here.Looking at the decal sheet,would it be possible to cobble together the buzz number from the unused serial numbers?

 

 

The awkward numbers are already there and the 1 could be made from a suitably doctored F.

Either way your paint job is looking rather good.

[klr]

On 3/12/2021 at 7:13 PM, Alex Gordon said:

G'day old chum,the wingtip pods look spot on from here.Looking at the decal sheet,would it be possible to cobble together the buzz number from the unused serial numbers?

 

 

The awkward numbers are already there and the 1 could be made from a suitably doctored F.

Either way your paint job is looking rather good.

I had completely overlooked the possibility of using the spare serials. With a bit of creativity (it's easy to make a 7 from two bars) and a 0 from the remains of a Heller F-8 decal sheet, I got it done:

 

So, the kit is now "complete", not without some further struggles. The decal for the anti-glare panel just couldn't be fitted as far back as it should be, not without obscuring the sides of the windscreen. Also , I couldn't figure out where to place a few of the stencil decals.

 

 

More pics in the gallery in 5 minutes.

[billn53]

Nicely done! I recently finished Hobbycraft's F-89C (not part of this group build) and it's interesting to contrast that kit with your Revell (which I also have in my stash, and do plan to build . . . . someday )

[opus999]

Wow, that's a beauty!  I don't know what you used for the NMF, but it looks very realistic!