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Kitty Hawk RF-101A/C


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2 hours ago, tony.t said:

I'm with Nikolay and think the cockpit detail is perfectly acceptable for 1/48.

Thanks! Except the seat, actually.

 

2 hours ago, tony.t said:

I like the way the kit comes with two canopy sets: nice to have spares.

Wow, I just realize it... Because the G/H shares the same sprue as the A/C.

 

1 hour ago, tony.t said:

And looking more closely at the hobbylink pages, there **is** a new RF-101C-looking IP as decal B1.

According to that, this would be so easy to put the new instrument panel part on the sprue with reconnaissance camera noses...

 

Can't wait to see it in my hands!

Edited by Nikolay Polyakov
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Still on the fence with this one. Having built the KH A/C single seat fighter its not the most pleasant build and having to turn a blind eye to its glaring inaccuracies still bothers me.  I imagine this kit will be about the same in both regards. At $69ish USD too...bit steep for me personally considering the work needed and other kits that I want that will require less work and are more accurate OBB (and cheaper too!). Each to their own and like I said I'm still on the fence. If I can get the kit for cheap(er) then maybe but not at close to $70 USD.

 

Regards,

Don

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4 hours ago, Don said:

If I can get the kit for cheap(er) then maybe but not at close to $70 USD.

 

Hobbyeasy still has it listed as a pre-order for $45.61. That's close to what they're selling the 101A/C and 101B kits for. They'll probably get them in soon. Lucky Model doesn't have it listed yet but I'm sure they'll get them in relatively soon too and sell them for about the same price as Hobbyeasy.

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3 hours ago, Mstor said:

Hobbyeasy still has it listed as a pre-order for $45.61.

It’s very reasonable price. I got mine «A/C» and «B» versions for about $40 USD with free shipping. As for me, that’s the highest price for this kit. Actually, for others too.

 

Cheers! 😎

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Looking again, there definitely are no KA-1 camera windows, though the squares seem engraved as part of the exterior finish. (Fortunately the real glazing at that station was inset so it's a case of cutting out the windows cleanly and simply glueing bigger pieces of acetate over the holes on the inside if you want open camera apertures. Not sure how the hatches worked - slid?). The panel in between the KA-1's and nose gear well had two sets of very distinct ECS louvre type vents and it looks as if these are missing. 

 

The kit is definitely post Mod 1181 with the KA-56 prism, and seems to (optionally) have some of the ALQ-51 ECM antennae (which can be omitted) but none associated with the APR-25 etc RHAWS. This is perfect for a ca.1964-1970 66th TRW USAFE Voodoo, but for a later Tan Son Nhut camouflaged jet you'll need to add the RHAWS bumps on the nose and tail and for an early Polka Dots in NMF the nose array requires the prism to be deleted and a new, flush, camera window put in place.

 

Aires: please do some drop-in vents and KS-72 camera shapes when you do a Quickboost antennae set. Replacement nose and tail tips with the RHAWS bumps on them would also be handy for a combat jet. 

 

Tony 

 

 

Edited by tony.t
adding and deleting - you know, editing
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The hatches for the KA-1 camera windows slid on tracks that moved them up into the fuselage (photo from Bill Spidle/Prime Portal):  

rf-101c_56-0166_06_of_18.jpg

 

Nikolay has shown us how the intakes can be fixed in his excellent build over at Britmodeller. 

 

If one can handle fixing the intakes, updating the cockpit shouldn't be much trouble. For the G/H, just leave off the radar display (Parts B3 & B4) and scratchbuild a new instrument panel. For the RF-101A/C, here is what the instrument panel should look like. This is a late-war/post-war version, with the RHAWS azimuth display in the upper left corner. Earlier jets would have had a symmetrical panel and glare shield. I wasn't able to find a photo of an earlier jet. One could vacuform a correct glare shield or make one from lead foil. The consoles can be sourced from a Monogram F-101 or start with the Aires F-101A/C cockpit. 

 

070116-F-1234S-007.JPG


As you can see, I'm trying to convince myself this kit will be enough of an improvement over my Koster RF-101C conversion to justify all of the extra work involved to fix most of the kit's problems. Perhaps if I find one on sale....  😁

 

Ben

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Thanks for the info Ben. 

 

I tried the Koster-Monogram combo thirty years ago without great success and would rather work with the IM Kitty Hawk.

 

CMK make some resin cameras for the Tan Model RF-84F which might be adapted for the Voodoo, or make a new set specifically for the Kitty Hawk (yes please!). Judging by how much Aires did for the very obscure F-101A/C edition I'm optimistic there will be a deluge of resin detail/correction parts for the more popular RF-101C and F-101B boxings. Hope so. 

 

Tony 

 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Ben Brown said:

I wasn't able to find a photo of an earlier jet.

I find this one from the RF-101A Flight Manual (I hope it’s not a secret now):

43887946671_cbcf4e5061_o.jpg

 

4 hours ago, Ben Brown said:

As you can see, I'm trying to convince myself this kit will be enough of an improvement over my Koster RF-101C conversion to justify all of the extra work involved to fix most of the kit's problems.

Looks like the work with the Kitty Hawk’s kit is much easier than work with the conversion kit.

 

4 hours ago, Ben Brown said:

Perhaps if I find one on sale....  😁

Yes, I can build two modern Voodoo kits for the price of a one Koster conversion kit. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a very big fan of the 80s and 90s music, airframes from the Cold War era and all the beautiful things, but Koster’s kit is a bit dated. Let’s move forward...

 

36 minutes ago, tony.t said:

I tried the Koster-Monogram combo thirty years ago without great success and would rather work with the IM Kitty Hawk.

Yes, and now we have a lot of information on our forums and over the Net.

 

Cheers! 🙃

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Yup, that's the early instrument panel! Thanks!

 

You're right in that the Koster RF-101 has been surpassed. I think it and the F-101A/C conversions were rendered obsolete by the C&H conversions many years ago. I've never been happy with the way the camera windows turned out on my Koster conversion, but of course, I built it >25 years ago! I'll probably scrap it and use the windscreen and canopy, afterburners (if they fit), instrument panel, glare shield, and cockpit in the KH kit, to try to avoid spending $$$ on aftermarket. 

 

Cheers!

 

Ben

 

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1 hour ago, Ben Brown said:

I'll probably scrap it and use the windscreen and canopy, afterburners (if they fit), instrument panel, glare shield, and cockpit in the KH kit, to try to avoid spending $$$ on aftermarket.

Just glued the windscreen on my Bird and I need to say that’s the wrong canopy curve is very noticeable 🤔 I think I’ll add some photos to my Britmodeller.com thread tomorrow. Why you dislike an afterburners? The Kitty Hawk’s instructions are bit vague in the case of an afterburner PE part, but once joined and painted it looks very well.

 

The real:

42149665251_21e97c21a3_o.jpg

 

The Kitty Hawk’s:

42053341301_b93cc89f64_o.jpg

 

Thanks!

Edited by Nikolay Polyakov
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While looking thru some Google Life RF-101 pics i noticed behind the nose gear there was a panel, both large and small and the small one had vents. I think the large one looks too big considering the hole and these are most likely early production aircraft so the design varied once full production started:

 

large no vents: 

e581d5ae3c257b08_large

 

small with vents:

 

85a174451a78542e_large

 

The cameras inside:

 

http://www.boeingimages.com/archive/RF-101 Voodoo, SunRun, with Reconnaissance Cameras-2F3XC5SIDTJ.html

 

Jari

 

 

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Thanks Jari, very interesting observation here!

 

Notice, on a photo card provided by Boeing we can see how thin and elegant the splitter plate was made, and the wing lip from this angle looks also beautiful. Now back to the Kitty Hawk’s one... Looks like the splitter plate is done very thick and out of scale.

 

And the nose gear wheels are smaller on RF-101, isn’t it?

 

Cheers! 😎

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As I noted earlier: The panel in between the KA-1's and nose gear well had two sets of very distinct ECS louvre type vents and it looks as if these are missing.

This whole arrangement is very clear in some walk-around shots: look at photos 13 and 14:

 

http://nabe3saviation.web.fc2.com/waRF101.html

 

HTH 

 

Tony

Edited by tony.t
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Valom got the Intakes correct on their 1/72 kit.  Not perfect but it seems they hit the mark better than KH.

 

I built the F-101A/C when it came out and did an article for HS.  Not a fun build.  I occasionally ventur into 1/48 for my favorite airframes but KH still missing teh amrk.  I built their Cougars too-better but not without issue.


Will be passing on this one.

 

Steve

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On 8/6/2018 at 5:04 PM, Nikolay Polyakov said:

Just glued the windscreen on my Bird and I need to say that’s the wrong canopy curve is very noticeable 🤔 I think I’ll add some photos to my Britmodeller.com thread tomorrow. Why you dislike an afterburners? The Kitty Hawk’s instructions are bit vague in the case of an afterburner PE part, but once joined and painted it looks very well.

 

Hi Nikolay, I forgot to answer your question about the afterburners. It's just a personal preference for me. The Koster parts are one-piece resin, so there are no seams to clean up, unlike the KH nozzles. It looks like the afterburner spray rings in the KH nozzles are much too far aft. They should be up close to the turbine, almost against it (relatively easy fix). I also don't like the use of photo etched parts for the afterburner petals and those cone shapes they lean against shouldn't be there. The petals could have been done in styrene, like Hasegawa and Airfix did for their Spey Phantom engines, and it would have looked just as good for a lot less trouble to assemble. The main reason, though, is that the Koster afterburners are already built and painted, so I'd just have to transfer them to the new model. I'm lazy. 😄 

 

Steve, I hear you. Unfortunately, I like the RF-101 just enough to consider going through the hassle of fixing the KH kit. They managed to lower the bar so far with their Banshee that the RF-101 doesn't look all that bad in comparison. 

 

Cheers!

 

Ben   

Edited by Ben Brown
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15 hours ago, scorvi said:

Valom got the Intakes correct on their 1/72 kit.

Hello Steve! I saw the Valom’s F-101s sprues while searching which Voodoo to build, an intakes are angled too.

 

15 hours ago, scorvi said:

Not perfect but it seems they hit the mark better than KH.

Just a bit better 😉 As I said on my BM’s thread earlier, the Voodoo’s shapes are not so easy for the real-to-plastic transfer... I skipped the Valom’s kit because of the same price as the Kitty Hawk’s one. Maybe I’ll get one in the future!

 

15 hours ago, scorvi said:

Will be passing on this one.

But I want it anyway! 😜 But later (I have another A/C, B and both Meng’s «Deltas» stashed).

 

14 hours ago, Ben Brown said:

The main reason, though, is that the Koster afterburners are already built and painted, so I'd just have to transfer them to the new model. I'm lazy. 😄

It’s very reasonable Ben! But the next time I’ll try to get the best of the kit parts and I’ll assemble it properly.

 

13 hours ago, Niels said:

Already advised that on saturday 😎

The same story 👍

 

10 hours ago, Finn said:

Thanks Jari, amazing photo cards!

 

Thanks you guys! 🤝

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For nostalgia and aesthetics I much prefer the RF-101C, but the G/H was in some regards technically superior: the jets were equipped with CAI KS-87 framing cameras, becoming standard equipment on the RF-4C, which had built-in light exposure meters (the RF-101C had that little rectangular B-2 terrain light detector sensor near the nose that provided exposure info to its KA-2 and later Hycon KS-72 framing cameras).

 

I'm almost screaming for these kits. 

 

Tony

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