ChippyWho Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 (edited) This is one of a couple of Monogram Huns in my keeping; I really like the old Monogram kits and reckon the F-100 is still the best of the bunch in this scale. It is also readily available pre-owned at very attractive prices! The story so far: with the help of ARC’s tremendous knowledge-base in the persons of Ben Brown, ThePhantomTwo, ChesshireCat and KursadA, I have a decent idea of what the finished item should look like...I am dedicating this project to these gentlemen, and all the other members of this fine community who have provided information, inspiration and motivation whenever called upon! Decals are by Caracal and depict an Indiana ANG aircraft, City Of Terre Haute (56-979), which reportedly flew the last USAF F-100 mission in 1979 before retiring to the boneyard in November of that year. I have some aftermarket goodies like the Legend cockpit (but may not use all of it), Eduard etched brass set, Royale Resin wheels and Master brass pitot, hopefully these will be augmented by the AMS Resin 335 gallon fuel tank noses in due course. The wings and tail surfaces have all been sanded clean of the fine raised detail characteristic of Monogram plastic and scribed instead; the horizontal stabs are razored off and upper wings separated into left- and right- parts (this is to facilitate a better join between the upper and lower fuselage halves). Originally, I planned to install the stabs with brass pins into brass tube inserted thru the completed fuselage, but this may interfere with the Eduard exhaust which extends deep into the interior, so we’ll probably have to make do with brass ‘collars’ on either side for location. I’m a bit scribed-out for now, so I’ll get back to the fuselage halves for some more ‘needlework practice’ a bit later; in the meantime I’m dismembering the tail/exhaust section to improve the appearance of the burner aperture. The idea is to thin out the rear fuselage walls and make some kind of internal support for the plastic and brass exhaust pipe/burner, so the latter does not just sit against a solid surface as moulded. Photographs (kindly provided by ThePhantomTwo!) show this airframe fitted with the F-102 type burner; fortunately the Monogram kit supplies both this and the earlier type. Interestingly, these have lightly recessed surface detail already moulded! This is all looks very nicely done, and replicates the drag-chute release ‘scales’ down the port side rather well. I won’t post too many photos of all this, but will try to cover the salient points. I should have some progress on the hot end tomorrow... Edited September 3, 2014 by ChippyWho Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 (edited) Thursday. Less achieved than I had hoped due to life intervening, as usual. Fight's On with the burner -or burners, as I will ruin use both kit exhausts to get a clean shot at the rear of the fuselage. As you can see, this has had the original burner removed and been thinned down some. It will need to be even thinner (see-through?) before I'm done... Meanwhile, the 102 style can has been detached, wrecking the end of the fuselage to which it is moulded, hence the need for the original part -at my skill level, you either lose the burner or the bit it sits in, can't save both! The next op is to remove the inside of the burner so I can fit the Eduard substitute. It looks like a very close fit. Also, the short exhaust pipe inside of the Monogram can is industrially thick...I'll get the rotary tool on it at the lowest speed, but thick plastic and finesse are not best buddies. I'll try not to melt anything... It is supposed to end up looking like this. Well...KBO! Edited October 25, 2016 by ChippyWho Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ThePhantomTwo Posted April 4, 2014 Share Posted April 4, 2014 Press on brother,looking good so far! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 Thank you! I think it will all be OK with a bit of luck and loadsa sanding... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Madhatter Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 I'm just stoked to see a WIP from you ;) looking forward to seeing more of this build MH Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted April 5, 2014 Author Share Posted April 5, 2014 Hi Madhatter; thanks for your comments -an honour to have you on board! Like everything I touch, this will proceed agonisingly slow but I hope to have something vaguely like an F-100 at the end of it all... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SERNAK Posted April 5, 2014 Share Posted April 5, 2014 (edited) MONOGRAM RULES!!!!!!! Edited April 5, 2014 by SERNAK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted April 6, 2014 Author Share Posted April 6, 2014 SERNAK, I couldn't agree more! I always seem to have more fun building classic Monogram/Revell kits than any other kind. So, what happened today? Well, I decided not to power-grind the exhaust -the remaining ring in the above photo is too small to hold and work on safely. Instead, to avoid melting anything or getting the dreaded 'modeller's manicure', I went the hard way and drilled most of the plastic out by hand followed by a sand-a-thon. This way, there is still something left to play with...! A word about the Eduard set (48-183): this is quite an old product, and pre-dates the coloured offerings and self-adhesive parts common today. However, it is still widely available (a testament to the enduring popularity of the Monogram kit!) and of excellent quality. No less than three instrument panel options are provided (F-100C, F-100D Early and F-100D Late). Different acetates for the instruments in each are also included, naturally. Some very good components are provided for the cockpit, canopy and landing-gear, plus a tail-skid and open tail parachute compartment. The exhaust I'm about tackle had me at a loss, though. Photos I found of the original 'F-100' burner don't show a lot of the inside detail, but what they do show doesn't look much like the Eduard bits... The 'F-102' can (as in the link in my previous post) is much more like the etched parts, but has eight petals with an actuator for each. The Eduard petals are half the width but 16 in number, with another ring representing 16 actuator rods! Hmmm...I can probably disguise the join between alternate petal sections with some thin wire actuators instead of the etched item. I haven't rolled the brass exhaust tube into shape to check the fit as yet; I should really anneal it first but I no longer have a gas hob, so I guess it'll come down to the biggest Zippo I can find! More fun tomorrow. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted April 9, 2014 Author Share Posted April 9, 2014 (edited) The exhaust in bits: Now to get it all to fit together...and why is the fan so much larger in diameter than the pipe? Not something I've encountered with Eduard's 'roll your own' items before. The AMS fuel tank noses have arrived. An instruction slip enclosed with these says they are the correct scale diameter, but smaller than the Trumpeter tanks (for which they are designed), requiring some sanding of the kit items to match them. The Monogram tanks, however, provide a rare 'Goldilocks' moment -they are nearly spot-on! The standard banana tank is in the background; clearly a little tidying-up of the join is in order, but overall these are quality upgrades! (Also, I ordered some AMS corrected nose/FOD cover sets for the Trumpy -D and -F I have 'resting' somewhere; these are very smooth too and the red FODs fit the Monogram intake nicely -of course!. All good, because I didn't really fancy trying to hide the internal seams on an intake that changes colour part way in!) Edited September 3, 2014 by ChippyWho Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.linus Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Nice work on the exhaust! That's going to look sweet when it's installed Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 Thanks .linus, I think it will do what it's supposed to with a little 'persuasion'! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Just found your build blog, and intend to follow along to completion. Being a older modeler (66), I fondly remember when Monogram and Revell were king of the hill, and we bought and built everything that they produced. I'm really impressed with both the exhaust to date, and the modified AMS fuel tanks. Looking forward to your next update. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 (edited) Many thanks Joel, I appreciate your comments! Being of similar age, I always felt Monogram products were pretty special back in the '60s. But (as I bore everyone banging on about) they are still good news -it's not merely a nostalgia thing; I'd take the Revell/Monogram Century Series over just about anything else today. The only exception might be the F-104, which is done rather nicely by Hasegawa. I'm still not sure about the brass exhaust outcome -it will probably be more of an approximation than a totally accurate replica, but I can live with that if it's all I've got and it should look better than the kit part. I'm still figuring out a good way to install it all... Very nice work on those Navy machines, by the way! Edited April 10, 2014 by ChippyWho Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 Thanks Chippywho. Deep down I still love those Allied WW11 props. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 Deep down I still love those Allied WW11 props. Joel So do I! Project update #?: The relentless pursuit of exellence continues -but not here. Returning to the Scribing Ritual, this time the lower fuselage is the victim. It is hardly demanding stuff, a no-brain cycle of sanding down the raised detail until a whitish 'ghost line' remains, applying plastic label tape, gouging a furrow, de-ridging by sanding again, removing debris from the line first with another pass of the scribing needle, then a brush, then a swipe with extra-thin cement (thanks, Enrywar67 -it works a treat!). Then restoring rivet lines with a micro-drill bit. Nothing worth photographing. But it does give me time to ponder the exhaust installation and so forth. The extended tanks have been tidied up; one of the things that occurred to me whilst in 'scribing idle' was that I probably should have used epoxy to fix the resin bits instead of cyano (they are quite heavy). I may live to regret that one... <_< Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 ChippyWho, I was wondering if you were going to address all those raised panel lines, or just live with them. Sure glad you're not cutting corners. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ThePhantomTwo Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 (edited) Something to keep you pumped up..... I am guessing the pic was taken around 1973 to 1975,we started putting the ANG shield on the jets in 1975 IIRC.Plus the -102 burner was installed in '72/73,95% were delivered straight from SEA with the original burner section installed in 1971. Edited April 14, 2014 by ThePhantomTwo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted April 14, 2014 Author Share Posted April 14, 2014 Something to keep you pumped up..... Yessir! That's a 'right click' for sure! Many thanks for this and the burner info. I had the barefaced nerve to take the weekend off, so nothing to report here today but I'm down for some more scribing time later -should have the bottom fuselage finished soon. I've never done a total re-scribe before, so I'm taking it slow but no major grief so far... :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 I love the Monogram kits as well, especially the Century Series aircraft (the Voodoo being my favorite). Your Hun will be stunning I am sure and I look forward to watching your progress. Cheers! Don. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted April 14, 2014 Author Share Posted April 14, 2014 I love the Monogram kits as well, especially the Century Series aircraft (the Voodoo being my favorite). Your Hun will be stunning I am sure and I look forward to watching your progress. Cheers! Don. Thanks for your support, Don -I wish I had your confidence in my abilities! Being of a certain age (or an age when nothing is certain!), I'm a big Century fan and plan on getting through most of them in 1/48 over the next few years. All Revellogram, naturally (well...except for the Starfighter, maybe!) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ThePhantomTwo Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted April 17, 2014 Author Share Posted April 17, 2014 (edited) All this and a patch too! Very handsome indeed; they look like a fiesty threesome... So, Whassuuup? This: I took these photos a few nights ago; the lower fuselage is all scribed now. This is how it looks once it has been smoothed out and the lines are still full of debris -but you can see them better! Rightly or wrongly, I am following all the original panel detail so I hope Monogram got it right... This aircraft will be buttoned-up. The fit of the gun-bay cover is like this: Card shims, putty and sanding in the crystal ball, then. That's OK, I get that with any kit! On the plus side, there is some excellent (if partly imaginative) moulded detail in the gear bays: I'll fit a few extra bits here too. Back to the mines now, thanks for looking! Edited September 3, 2014 by ChippyWho Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Madhatter Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Coming along very nicely! I have never attempted to re-scribe a kit before - something I should do one day, but most of the kits I have are already recessed so I don't actually need too! What are you using for guides for the scriber? I've heard of the dymo tape and a metal ruler methods, so i was just wondering what your using to keep it nice and straight? I was looking at that last picture of the gear bay and for such an old kit, it has really good detail. It's even better than some of today's crap they pass off as "detail"... Looking forward to seeing more of this come together Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ChippyWho Posted April 18, 2014 Author Share Posted April 18, 2014 Hi MH, your comments much appreciated as always! I'll admit scribing is more a chore than a joy; sometimes the subject justifies the effort...it's a bit like modernising an old house if you can't find a new one that checks all the boxes, you expect to have some work and the end result is (hopefully) better than you can achieve by other means. Previously I've only had to re-scribe specific areas where there's a problem for whatever reason, but all you need to know can be found in this excellent thread by Enrywar67 -just don't look at my work after you've seen his -please! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Aw man that is AWESOME work there ! Seriously, I love the new panel lines. They will most definitely POP under a coat of paint. Top shelf work there. You are tempting me to reach for one of my Monogram Huns and have a go at it myself. Curse you...! LOL... :lol: ! Cheers! Don. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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