Popular Post Navy Bird Posted January 7 Popular Post Posted January 7 The F-94 Starfire was Lockheed's first-generation all-weather day/night interceptor. Developed from the basic design of the T-33/P-80, it was the first operational USAF fighter with an afterburner. I believe it was credited with the first jet vs jet night victory in Korea against a MiG-15. Anyway, you guys can read Wikipedia as well as I can. This is the old Emhar kit which first saw the light of day in 1993 - that's 32 years ago. And, of course, it shows it. It lacks some detail, has at least one gaping error but, hey, it's a C model of the Starfire and those are hard to come by in this scale. So I built it. I've built an Emhar kit before (my F3H-2 Demon) so I kinda knew what I was getting into. Here is my usual silly summary: Project: Lockheed F-94C Starfire Kit: Emhar Kit No. EM3004 Scale: 1:72 (preferred by Australopithecus and Homo Habilis alike) Decals: Wolfpak 72-108, and a few stencils from the kit Resin: True Details 72-452 cockpit and ejection seat set Photoetch: Just a few scrap bits from the spares box Masks: Made by hand! With a pencil and a pair of scissors! Paint: Alclad ALC101 Aluminum, ALC103 Dark Aluminum, ALC102 Duraluminum, ALC111 Magnesium, ALC119 Airframe Aluminum; Gunze H58 Interior Green, H11 Flat White, H12 Flat Black, H318 Radome Tan, H8 Gold, H21 Off-White; Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black; Testors Green Drab FS34086; MRP 048 Super Clear Gloss Improvements/Corrections Corrected wing dihedral to the correct 8 degrees (it was around 2 degrees) Replaced kit cockpit, coaming, and seats with True Details resin set Added photoetch igniter ring to afterburner Thinned the walls of the intake housing to better match the real thing Replaced boundary layer splitter plate with card stock Thinned the fins on the wing tanks Added detail to the main gear bays and fuselage air brakes with card stock and styrene rod (but forgot the nose gear bay! Ugh!) Added photoetch detail to inside of fuselage air brakes (lower and side) Added actuators to main gear struts Markings from Wolfpak sheet (kit decals printed in wrong colours and fonts) Red stripes on walkways, canopy sills and de-icer boots are individual pieces from the spares box Added a single photoetch mirror to the windscreen Added central canopy brace with AN/ARN-16 radio compass loop antenna dome Added photoetch pitot under the forward fuselage So that's it. You can see the WIP thread here. Now, on to the pics! And a nice combo shot for Emhar to use in their marketing promotions: Cheers, Bill 79 9 1
RidgeRunner Posted January 7 Posted January 7 That’s a beauty, Bill. And that’s an Emhar? In 1/48 Martin 1
John R Posted January 8 Posted January 8 Sow's ear into silk purse! Another really nice one, Bill, especially the way that decal goes over the end of the rocket pods. Was that fun? The most interesting part of the WIP was seeing that you use a gloss white undercoat for the Aluminium Alclad John 1
cpoud117 Posted January 8 Posted January 8 Once again, you've managed to turned a mediocre kit into a masterpiece. 😲 Inspiring stuff, really. 1
Zephyr Posted January 8 Posted January 8 Wow! Sounds like you jacked up the fin tip and ran a new model underneath... The result is spectacular. 1
giemme Posted January 8 Posted January 8 1 hour ago, John R said: Sow's ear into silk purse! Agreed 100%! And up to the usual (very high) NBS standard! Ciao 1
PATRICK FROM THE SANDS Posted January 8 Posted January 8 I have this kit in my "do list" for 2025 but I am scared by the crude aspect of the stuff and the huge amount of work to make it a decent Starfire... However your is absolutely great and I will save your improvement list to do mine...one day! 1
Navy Bird Posted January 8 Author Posted January 8 20 hours ago, RidgeRunner said: That’s a beauty, Bill. And that’s an Emhar? In 1/48 Emhar it be. Really. Although I did use photos of the 1:48 Kitty Hawk kit to help with some of the extra detailing. Not that the Kitty Hawk kit is accurate... 10 hours ago, John R said: Sow's ear into silk purse! Another really nice one, Bill, especially the way that decal goes over the end of the rocket pods. Was that fun? The most interesting part of the WIP was seeing that you use a gloss white undercoat for the Aluminium Alclad Thanks John. It just looks like the decal goes over the end of the rocket pod. It's actually two decals - the complete national insignia goes under the pod, and a small bit of another insignia was cut out and placed on the pod, aligned with what was underneath. It took longer to type that sentence than it did to cut out and place the second decal. Oh, although I stated my intention to use gloss white as the undercoat, I actually used a gloss light grey. White would have taken several coats to cover my red putty, but the grey just one or two. 10 hours ago, cpoud117 said: Once again, you've managed to turned a mediocre kit into a masterpiece. 😲 Inspiring stuff, really. Thanks. Mediocre might be too strong of a word to describe the kit! 6 hours ago, PATRICK FROM THE SANDS said: I have this kit in my "do list" for 2025 but I am scared by the crude aspect of the stuff and the huge amount of work to make it a decent Starfire... However your is absolutely great and I will save your improvement list to do mine...one day! Thanks Patrick - hopefully my WIP might be of some help. Look forward to seeing your build of the kit! 9 hours ago, giemme said: ...And up to the usual (very high) NBS standard! Nothing But Senseless? That about sums up my feelings building these old, sub-par kits. One of these days I'll build a real kit. Cheers, Bill 2
billn53 Posted January 9 Posted January 9 Wonderfully built model from an iffy kit! Well done, sir! 1
72modeler Posted January 9 Posted January 9 Bill, That is the best build by far of the Emhar kit I have seen so far! And in my favorite colors and markings,m too! Well done, sir! Mike 1
Lightningboy2000 Posted January 9 Posted January 9 Stunning work as usual Bill! I might use this as a guide for when I build mine. (thanks to Courageous) Couldn't find that resin replacement cockpit anywhere though so I'll have to doctor an etch set for the T-33. Look forward to your next project! 1 1
Navy Bird Posted January 9 Author Posted January 9 45 minutes ago, Lightningboy2000 said: Couldn't find that resin replacement cockpit anywhere Here are a couple, rather expensive though: eBay link 1 eBay link 2 Cheers, Bill
Lightningboy2000 Posted January 9 Posted January 9 3 hours ago, Navy Bird said: Here are a couple, rather expensive though: eBay link 1 eBay link 2 Cheers, Bill Fffff!!!! 😂 I'm not paying that much! I think I'll mess about with the bits I've already got. I might be lucky & find that resin set for a better price if I keep looking. 1
kapam Posted January 10 Posted January 10 Incredible work! Wish I could do them as cleanly and precisely as you. 👋👋👋👋 1
John R Posted January 10 Posted January 10 There have been many derogatory comments about this kit (including mine) but I think that it should it should be given some good marks. I think that it is the only F-94C in 1/72 scale and apart from the error with the dihedral and a minor discrepancy in wingspan (which Bill knew about but didn't think it was enough to worry about) it's very close to the right shape. I built one straight from the box back in the olden days before I started showing signs of AMS. As I recall it went together without too much fuss and filler and my only regret was not doing something about those intakes which detract from the appearance. Whilst I considered it, modelling time in those days was a bit short. John 1
woody37 Posted January 11 Posted January 11 Looks like a Tamiya kit that just fell together Bill 🤪 Great result! Cheers 1
Navy Bird Posted January 11 Author Posted January 11 On 08/01/2025 at 21:54, billn53 said: Wonderfully built model from an iffy kit! Well done, sir! Compared to most of today's kits, it certainly is a bit crude. But it's over 30 years old - by the standards of the time it wasn't so bad. At least Emhar didn't engrave lines to show you where to put the stickers. On 09/01/2025 at 11:32, 72modeler said: That is the best build by far of the Emhar kit I have seen so far! And in my favorite colors and markings,m too! Well done, sir! Thanks Mike. You don't see too many of these built nowadays, and the selection of schemes to choose from is downright anemic. The kits decals were crap, and the Wolfpak sheet was all I could find. But that's OK, as I really like that scheme too. It would have been nice to do the scheme on the box (since that aircraft was stationed just down the road from our house at Griffiss AFB, NY when I was but a wee lad). 20 minutes ago, woody37 said: Looks like a Tamiya kit that just fell together Bill 🤪 Well, let's not get carried away... I recently bought the new Special Hobby F-84F which should look quite nice parked next to the Starfire. Come to think of it, I also have some F-100, F-104, F-86, and F-89 kits in the stash so I could go crazy with the Alclad. First, though, I need to finish the CF-105 I just started, and then I'd like to build a Vigilante. But not the Trumpeter kit! I'll need to re-scribe the Hasegawa kit, but I won't have to deal with all those rivets! Cheers, Bill 1
Ad-4N Posted January 12 Posted January 12 Fantastic workmanship. Just know your effort will not be in vain, Tamiya will announce a 1/72 F-94C this March. 😄 1
Mig88 Posted January 12 Posted January 12 Outstanding work on the old and basic kit. Well done and nicely finished! Miguel 1
Cookenbacher Posted February 2 Posted February 2 Amazing work on this one Bill, all the corrections you made were well worth it! 1
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