Howdy, everyone!
I've been spending time at the workbench lately. Our AMPS Chapter is involved with a display for a museum, and that has eaten up quite a bit of our collective time over the past year. We're still not finished, but every week gets us one step closer. My part of the project was to handle the aerial assets (read: helicopters), where I painted four that were constructed by some of the other members of the club, and I built and painted another pair, one of which will remain in my collection.
In addition, I wanted to finish some of the half-completed models I had in the queue, including one that featured in my Model Building 101 seminar. As a result, I managed three completions (two helicopters plus a Revell 1/72 F-101B) in the space of a few weeks. I'll publish Voodoo pictures later, and the photos of the display will have to wait until it is officially unveiled at the museum sometime in the early parts of 2020.
While I was on a roll, I kept moving. I had started a new-tool (2014) Airfix Spitfire Vb during our HobbyTown Saturday build days. It got stalled, but I picked it up and am not too far from the finish line. It is an interesting kit--I'm sure you can find in-depth reviews of it on the Interwebs--and for all the griping over some of the decisions Airfix made, it is a far shade better than their old 1977 kit, that's for sure. Is it better than the 1993 Hasegawa or Tamiya kits? I can't say--while I have copies of the Japanese kits in the stash, I have never built one. I will go out on a limb and say that they all have their plusses and minuses, so there is a kit for everyone...
The only issue I had with the Spitfire was finding markings. I settled on an old Ministry of Small Aircraft Production set, 4814 "USAAF Spitfires" to decorate my model as "Lobo"/HL-M from the 308th Fighter Squadron, 31st Fighter Group based on Sicily in 1943. The price tag on the sheet shows I bought it in early 2000, and I was curious to see how well they worked. Well, the results were rather mixed--they looked good on the sheet, but didn't respond well to solvents. I used Solvaset for most of them, and even diluted the solvent caused the blue in the insignia to run a little. Eventually (and with a little help), they laid down into and around the details, but I had to babysit them in order to get them to behave. I applied the clear gloss overcoat to them last night. I noted some rough patches that I'll polish out with a 3200 grit Micro Mesh pad, then do the toning/"weathering" before flat coat. The only concerns I have from here on out are the landing gear leg attachments--a half-lap joint where the leg meets the knuckle that others have wailed loud and long about. We'll see how it goes...
Again, pictures at 11...but here are a few from the first decal. You can see how the blue ink ran a wee bit and the disc is slightly discolored. I'm not going to worry about it, since it will look okay by the time I get through with the toning and shading. You can also see how they are on the thick-ish side and didn't quite suck down all the way into the panel lines. A sharp #11 blade persuaded them otherwise...
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While the Spitfire winds through the finishing phases, I have picked back up on the Wingman/Kinetic IAI Nesher in 1/48th scale, also started during the HobbyTown Saturday sessions. These kits, while nice, are not for the faint of heart. A lot if sanding, filing, trimming, test fitting, sanding, filing, trimming...
When it is complete, I'm sure it will be an impressive model. The journey from kit to model will be fun, and will definitely exercise those Model Building 101 skills!
I also intend to get back to finishing the camouflage scheme and construction on the long-suffering Special Hobby Macchi C.200 that I've been chipping away at for ten (!) years now. There's still that 1/700 scale USS Cowpens (CVL-25) in work. The Aerolcub 1/48th Gloster Gamecock needs some love, too; and, since it is so close to the finish line, the 9-year StuG IV project might just get finished before the end of the year, too. In the desire to clean out the backlog, I want to get all of these done before I tackle something else.
Wish me luck.
In the meantime, how about a piece I wrote on some older kits?
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At the recent IPMS/USA National Convention in Chattanooga, I picked up a couple of kits from my childhood—Revell’s 1/72 scale F-15A (kit H-257) from 1974 and F-16A (kit H-222) from 1976. Why, with all the up to date kits of these airplanes available, would I buy these dinosaurs?
Nostalgia.
There was a summer in the mid-1970’s—probably 1977—when my brother and the other neighborhood kids virtually emptied the shelves at the local SuperX Drug Store of plastic models. One of the trips yielded the aforementioned kits. I can’t recall who built what—I seem to recall building the F-16, but I could be mistaken. Anyway, these were pretty nice kits for their day, and honestly, they still stand up today if you consider what they are and what they aren’t.
What they are: Affordable, quality Revell kits from the mid-1970’s, they were based on early information from the USAF and manufacturers, and served as a few hours of fun time. They were available in more stores than just hobby shops.
What they aren’t: Expensive, super-detailed Uber kits with every nut, bolt, and rivet correctly portrayed, available only in a hobby shop. However, they are good in outline, so they’re also not garbage, as some have labeled them.
These kits are products of their time. With a few hours’ work, maybe a little aftermarket, and you will have a couple of handsome models on the shelf.
Why would anyone build one of these? My answer—color. We see tons of current configuration F-15’s and F-16’s in their multiple shades of gray, but very seldom seen are the early pre-production and prototypes in their colorful roll-out and test schemes, which brings me to the point of this article…
Let’s take a look at each—we’ll see what we need to do, we’ll take a look at what is available to do it, and we’ll take a look at photos.
Starting with the F-15A, here’s what we need to know:
- The F-15, like the F-14, didn’t have any “true” prototypes that wore an XF- or YF- designation—from the first airframe to the last, they were all F-15’s. The plan was that any changes could be made on the production line; therefore the first airframes would serve as the Flight Test articles; they are often designated as pre-production or Full Scale Development aircraft.
- The early F-15A’s could be identified by their squared-off wingtips, un-notched horizontal stabilators, short speed brake, and the installation of the Douglas IC-7 ESCAPAC ejection seat.
Now, looking at the Revell kit, here’s what we have:
- Fairly nicely done exterior with recessed panel lines, for the most part.
- Simple interior, it lends opportunity to scratchbuilding some of the smaller details. Actually, you could do a lot of good simply by installing an aftermarket Douglas IC-7 ESCAPAC ejection seat.
- It represents the early aircraft with square wingtips, short speed brake, and the notch in the stabilators.
The first thing you must ascertain is whether or not the airplane you want to build had these features. Early in testing, engineers noted a problem with wing buffeting, and their “fix” was simple—they (literally) cut the wingtips off at about a 30 degree angle from wing tip at the leading edge to the aileron break on the trailing edge, giving the production Eagles their characteristic raked wingtips.
The short speed brake remained through the first 12 production Eagles. It was extendable through a 66 degree angle, and this caused some rearward visibility issues for the pilots as well as some buffeting. The cure was to extend the length of the speed brake, allowing the same braking action with a smaller extension angle. The early “long” (aka production) speed brakes had an external stiffener that was later removed.
Revell’s kit correctly depicts the short speed brake. One important item of note: There is no “well” into which the speed brake—either short or production—closes into. There are streamlining plates that stand perhaps ¼” off the skin of the airplane, but the brake closes flat onto the skin of the upper fuselage. The only well is for the actuator. Most kits of the F-15 still depict a recessed well, however. The fix? Build the airplane with the brake closed…
The final item is the notch, or dogtooth, on the horizontal stabilizer. Flight testing revealed a slight flutter problem, and adding the notch solved the problem (this was the opposite of the later F-18, where McAir engineers removed the dogtooth from the stabs on that airplane for the same reason). Revell gives you stabs with the dogtooth, but the first Eagle flights were flown with stabilizers without the snag. The fix? Square off the notch, insert a piece of properly sized Evergreen, and sand to shape.
Add a test boom (brass or Evergreen rod) to the nose and the appropriate paint and markings, and there you go. If it bothers you, source a set of early F-15A wheels, as they were different from the later F-15C versions.
The early airplanes wore either Air Superiority Blue (FS15450/FS35450) or gloss white with various trim colors. The first Eagle, Serial 71-0280, wore Day-Glo red panels over the ASB, while some others wore International Orange or Gloss Blue. As for decals, you’re in luck—Caracal Decals has produced a decal sheet dedicated to the early F-15’s.
Incidentally, you can source Air Superiority Blue from Life Colour (UA 37), MRP (240), Hataka Red Line, Tru-Color (TCP-1229), Mr. Hobby (C074), K Color, and True North Precision Paint. Many of these are gloss, which is fine—the scheme consisted of a mix of gloss (15450) and matte (35450) Air Superiority Blue.
Some other miscellaneous items—the main landing gear of the F-15A, when viewed from directly forward or aft, cants outward, so make sure you position yours accordingly. The early flight test aircraft lacked the gun, so take note if your kit has the opening in the left wing leading edge glove. If you feel the need to replace the exhaust cans, make sure you use one with the “Turkey Feathers” installed.
If you want to work with a more modern kit in any scale, you will have to backdate them on your own. The easiest route to the early speed brake is to assemble the model with the brake closed, fill the seams with CA, and re-scribe the outline to depict the original speed brake.
To square off the wings, do what the engineers did in reverse—add a triangular piece of styrene sheet to the wingtip. The wingtip is the reference point.
Add the ESCAPAC seat, eliminate the gun, fill the notches in the stabs (as described above), and get Caracal’s early F-15 decal sheet. It is available in both 1/72nd and 1/48th scales.
In 1/32nd scale, you’re on your own, but it is not difficult. The hardest thing will be the markings since no decals exist.
Some good photos of the first Eagle in flight show the original wingtips and stabilators (Photos: USAF). They also show the lack of a gun, and that the main wheel doors remained open after the gear was extended (Photos: USAF):
Now, moving on to the F-16…
Unlike the Tomcat and Eagle, the F-16 program began with the General Dynamics Model 401 in a fly-off against the Northrop P-600 Cobra. Accordingly, both manufacturers produced two flight test prototypes, the YF-16 (Serial Numbers 72-1567 and 72-1568) and YF-17 (72-1569 and 79-1570). None of these airframes was considered a full-spec version of the eventual aircraft, they were merely test articles, hence the YF- designations.
The eventual winner was the YF-16. Following the two YF’s, there were seven Full-Scale Development F-16A’s produced, five single-seaters (Serial Numbers 75-0745 through 75-0750) and two two-seaters (Serial Numbers 75-0751 and 75-0752). For all intents and purposes for scale modeling, the FSD aircraft were virtually production airframes with the smaller horizontal stabilators. They were fitted with the Stencel SIIIS ejection seats, too.
The Revell kit is a pretty good representation of the FSD F-16A. A replacement seat might be worthwhile, and you’ll want to replace the forked pitot tube of the YF-16 with a straight one made from tube or Evergreen rod, otherwise you get a decent model of the FSD airplanes. If you want to do some additional detailing, the main gear retraction jacks are missing, but are easily added with some scraps of Evergreen.
The kit came with markings for the first FSD airplane in the “Bicentennial” red, white, and blue scheme also worn by the two YF-16’s, but for some reason they got the serial number wrong.
At one time, Vingtour Decals offered a decal sheet for the early Vipers, but it seems to be out of print and hard to find. If the decals in the Revell kit are in good condition, simply replace the kit-provided serial number with white numbers to depict “50745”. Note that the “flag panel” was not always present, and sometimes included an Israeli or an Iranian flag, depending on who G-D was trying to sell the airplane to at the time.
The FSD F-16’s were a colorful bunch of airplanes. Some wore overall single-color gray schemes, others wore experimental “Cloud” and two-tone grays, others were painted in the initial Compass Ghost Gray schemes. One of the two-seat F-16B’s wore a “Lizard” scheme similar to the A-10’s Euro-1 scheme of two greens and dark gray.
These airplanes had multiple roles, as well. They tested the extended tail housing, heavy ordnance carriage, special flight regimes (AFTI F-16), Wild Weasel systems, and alternate engines (in addition to the DFE, one of the two-seat F-16B’s was fitted with a General Electric J79 as used in the F-4, in hopes that smaller air forces would acquire the type without having to do the dance with the DoD to gain access to the F100-powered airplanes before President Reagan relaxed the export rules). Two would be converted to F-16XL SCAMP configuration and used by NASA after the USAF was through with them.
75-0745 was the aircraft retrofitted with the General Electric F101 Derivative Fighter Engine (DFE), and when it received the new engine the tail logo read “F-16/101”.
To do this with a more up-to-date kit, start with an early F-16A with the small stabs. In 1/72, try to find a Hasegawa F-16A+ kit and source some small stabs, or start with the Italeri kit—it ain’t great, but it is a good starting place. In 1/48th scale, Tamiya and Monogram both offered fairly decent kits of early F-16’s, you may want to try to find one. There are some goofs you’ll want to fix—both have the early split nose gear doors, for instance—but a little work will yield a nice model. Replace the ACES II seat with the Stencel type, delete the position lights on the inlets, rearrange the antennas, and apply the appropriate markings. This should satisfy all but the most dedicated Viper fan.
Here are a few shots of the #1 FSD ship. The second photo is after it received the DFE and is sitting next to a production-standard F-16A. Note the longer test boom on the nose of the engine testbed, too (Photos: USAF)…
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That's all I have for this installment. Thanks for reading! As always, be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.
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