Not all my "X's" live in Texas Edwards maybe. Part Quatre. Lindberg 1/48 XF-91 Thunderceptor It's a Thunderous! "Finished!"

[LorenSharp]

Yes we all know if you were to look up the phrase "totally whacked out" either my name or my  picture would pop up so..... in keeping with that ideal, May I present

(Drum Roll)

Lindbergs 1/48 XF-91 Thunderceptor

Comments, witticisms, and especially encouragements are not only welcome, but a necessity if this goes as I expect.

Where is Gunga Din when you need him? He always was the better man.

What I will hope to achieve, accomplish, fake it til you make it are as follows;

and in no particular order

Remove rivets( groans* not more Rivets)

construct correct cockpit

new landing gear and bays

improve the back end jet and rocket exhaust

make new decals

 

That's not too much work. hopefully I didn't tear off more than I can chew. At least I plenty antacid

Somebody want to have the men in white with the butterfly nets on standby please? Thank you. 

 

Now on with the show...

[Courageous]

A nice project to get your teeth into.

 

Stuart

[LorenSharp]

I'm afraid it will be that and much more Courageous. Rivets are being  pain to sand down. But 50's plastic is reputed to tough and hard.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Oddly enough Its one of my favorite Prototypes. I just find the Thunderceptor unique and interesting. I want to use the same kit and an F-84F streak cockpit and other bits to make it a bit better. 

[Col.]

I've always thought the XF-91 looked like a cartoon but the work you have planned for this one is no joke! 

[LorenSharp]

It's been waaay too long getting an update., especially when I started this 6 weeks ago and there are 3 weeks left in the build? so lets do a progerss report.

I decided to open up the nose and main gear bays. The kit has the doors that can be added and landing gear but these are stuck into holes in the fuselage and wings but no further openings.

I cut those out and began crafting reasonable facsimiles of the bays.

The bay is actually part of the intake diverter and the wheel folds up into that. I made the nose by from plastic card, bracing from rod and strip and some of the hydraulic lines from thin solder.

It's hard to see from this angle but the front of the bay is deeper than the rear to allow room for the nose wheel. I should have taken a picture from the side to represent this, but I didn't think of it at the time.

 

[LorenSharp]

The main gear bays  were easier. Just had to remove the molded on doors, they very deep panel lines made it easier to remove.

I did add an accumulator I made from a cotton bud stick. then filled in the holes for the "rockets" it was supposed to carry. I did find out from the Ginter publications AF legends 210 that instead of these wing mounted rockets, a retractable rocket pod like on the F-86, was to be utilized. but the program never progressed far enough for them to be added.

[LorenSharp]

Speaking of rockets, since this was to be a dual powerplant airframe.the back end was to put it a bit mildly, empty. You had the BIG hole for the jet engine and four smaller holes for the rockets. And that was it. but again this was the 50's, you know rock and roll, DA's, poodle skirts, and the only detail on a model LOTS of rivets and nothing else. So scrounging around in my junk spares drawer I found the nozzle from a 1/48 F-100. not only looks pretty close to the real thing, but had the advantage of having the right diameter and didn't require a ton of modification to work.

For the rockets I lucked out again and had some hollow brass tubing that was the right diameter as well.

putting the two together.

 

[LorenSharp]

the bottom has these two big holes for mount the plane on a stand, another 50's innovation, but totally useless for this build so the must be covered. a piece of plastic card to act as a backstop when filling time comes.

Now time to start adding stuff to the insides before covering it all up

 

[LorenSharp]

The the nose well as I mentioned is also the intake divider. since it has a cutout portion at the top and is wide enough at the back I'm able to use flat stick-on wheel weights. 14g s should be enough. This is thick heavy plastic after all, again, another 50's innovation.

For the cockpit I'm using the cockpit from an F-84F that I sacrificed parts from. but not to worry when I get around to build that I can get an aftermarket set to replace. I did put a base in to set the tub on

I didn't do much to the interior aside from using a silver pencil to highlight the gauges and switches.

[LorenSharp]

The bang seat is from the same F-84. I did have to add a new headrest, the original part was devoured by the carpet monster. It still need work in painting and adding a better harness. I'll add it at the end.

 

[LorenSharp]

From there just a matter of gluing the halves together and adding the wings, and tail 

Messy fun part time. Filler.

The final outcome after letting it dry for a day or two while working on other projects and getting ready for Father Christmas came out pretty well. I used masking tape to keep the sanding damage to a minimum.

From here I'll begin adding the metal foil and makin new landing gear. but that will be next week. I've been drafted to prepare dinner for Christmas. MY idea of fish sticks and potato patoters was soundly voted down. So much for working on my projects, jamming out to Christmas carols on the radio and quaffing lots of rum and brandied eggnog, light on the egg. Anywho A merry Christmas/ Happy Holidays to everyone here on BM. Until next time, Stay Safe, Stay warm, and Model Party On!

 

[Col.]

Nice to catch up on your progress with this one Loren. It's coming together nicely  

[LorenSharp]

Thanks Col. Hopefully I'll get them across the finish line in time.

[Colin W]

One of my favourite planes. I've been looking for one for a while so well done with the cockpit and the wheel bay detail.

Also looking for a Thunder Screech.....

[LorenSharp]

On 12/27/2022 at 1:46 PM, Colin W said:

One of my favourite planes. I've been looking for one for a while so well done with the cockpit and the wheel bay detail.

Also looking for a Thunder Screech.....

Thanks Colin, The only Thunderscreech That I know of was from Collect-Aire. Long out of production and IF you do find one the price would be horrendous. I've got an idea for one using either the prop assembly from either the 1/48 XFY-1 Pogo or the old XFV-1 Salmon and mate that to an F-84 F. I picked up a slew of the XFV's in a yard sale junk box. enough good parts to make one complete model and a bunch of the prop assemblies for any other projects. But will be a build for another day.

[LorenSharp]

But now speaking of builds and now that Father Christmas has come and gone lets see how I've managed to progress thus far.

Once I got the seams and holes and whatnot filled and sanded down and everything smoothed out as well as I could I painted the nose intake white in prep to printing it red before beginning the foiling process,

and painted the wheel wells gloss black for the metallic paint.

[LorenSharp]

Once those were dry, A shot of MRP Insignia Red and Alclad II Stainless Steel in their respective areas. then I began foiling the fuselage with Bare Metal Foil. Applying following what panel lines were left from my sanding them down. The leading , trailing edges and the the horizontal stabilizers I painted Gloss black the Alclad II Aluminum.

Even though this isn't a very big model the foiling process still took  day and a half to complete.

[LorenSharp]

I took some fine steel wool and further augmented the panels here and there to give some variety. Then painted the anti-glare panels and the wing walk panel on the upper wing.

 

[LorenSharp]

The bang seat I took from an F-84F in the stash and added harness' made from masking tape.

And I painted the exhaust with MM Burnt Metal.

[LorenSharp]

Whilest all this was going on I printed out a better set of landing gear and wheels 

These a little closer to the actual gear and the proper size.

I wanted to show the canopy opened but since the kit canopy is one piece I decided to use my razor saw and separate the two. nd I almost succeeded. I managed to crack the windscreen right at the last stroke of the saw. which  meant that I also had to print out a solid plug to vac a  new part.

[LorenSharp]

I've got to put the decals on next then get the gear assembled and painted and attached. and get all the final bits on and this will be in the bag. with luck before the final strike of the bell at midnight has ceased. so stay tuned for my final entry later today.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looks great … I was thinking about the Sabre dog style Rocket tray that these were supposed to use. If anyone has a Revellogram going in their stash and isn't planning on using the bits. Could you not use them as a base for the system on this ? 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[LorenSharp]

Thanks Dennis. I thought about adding the rocket system, I had a spare set from another F-86D but then I found an actual mockup of the launcher. It was similar but split in two. One section on each side of the lower fuselage. But the Thunderceptor didn't get far along enough in the testing to test with ordinance, So I by-passed. An now with 30 min left in 2022 my final entry in this build.

The decals are in pretty sorry shape, but I really only need the tail codes and the XF-91 panel. anything else I can get from the spares drawer. I gave them several coats of clear lacquer just in case they want to try and shatter.

I also made a new windscreen from the master I printed out.

I added the "Narwal" shaped pitot tube. this has to be the biggest spike I've ever seen. I almost didn't use it because it looked out of scale. But surprisingly it is correct. So it stayed. And the important kit decals went on more or less without any trouble.

I borrowed, stole, liberated the canopy mechanism from a spare F-84F

and made a pitot tube from some silver wire.

[LorenSharp]

The landing gear I used more silver wire to the gear for hydraulic lines.