F-102a Meng 1/72

[Giovanni]

Hello dear modelers!

 

I'm currently working on some new projects one of this being a Delta Dagger.

I'd like to represent a 57th FIS machine -the famous Black Knights- which one not decided jet but surely

-in ADC grey 

-one of the William Tell 1972 participants.

 

If You can recall it...it's a real classic with the striking high viz colors and the art on the external fuel tanks representing a black knight riding an f-102a siluette and chasing an escaping bear! 

 

The kit:

 

 

The extras:

 

 

Master excellent pitot, Quick boost resin sets...

 

 

Reskit excellent wheels, Pavla resin cockpit set.

 

Some useful resources:

 

 

 

I spend some works about decals:

There're several producers offering this subject on their range...Xtradecal, Print Scale, Fundekals and last but not least there's an old Microscale sheet.

 

I purchased three sheets in the following order:

First the Microscale (on the left side of the following picture-partially used by the previous owner), then the Xtradecal set (on the right)  and to conclude the Fundekals sheet together with its stencils (sold separately-in the centre of picture).

 

 

I found the Microscale sheet not to be up to date to today's printing standards but was and is very accurate and the closest to the subject I was looking for.

A pity was to discover that the black knight art was printed in dark blue color while in reality it was black!

And the 57th badge was very bad printed even if a very accurate match to the one sported on the f-102a tail:

 

 

So I purchased the Xtradecal sheet and found myself really disappointed about its accuracy. There's few good in this sheet as we'll soon see

 

So to conclude after doing some researches I decided to purchase the Fundekal sheet even if I knew the knight and bear logo was missing in it.

I purchased it basically to find good alternatives for the fin badges. And to say it all in this set they are the best I found.

 

But still I was not happy so I was in the middle of the act of buying also the Print Scale decal set when I thought: I'LL DO IT MYSELF!!!

 

I first worked on the 57th fin badge and the result is the following:

 

 

I started from a picture found on the web reworked with Paint and converted with Inkscape.

It has been a major achievement over all the others as You can see on the next comparative picture:

 

 

I still have a soft corner for the Microscale one which would be perfect and better than mine if a better printing technology had been available when it was produced in the eighties!

 

The same I did with the knight and bear logo as you can see here by (note also how inaccurate and undersized the Xtradecal logo is):

 

 

So here my complete decal set:

 

 

From the Microscale sheet I'm going to use just the afterburner flames

 

That's all for tonight.

 

Hope to get you interested in following my new project.

Bye

 

Giovanni

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 16, 2019 by Giovanni

[RCarlson]

Really looking forward to this build if it's even going to be half as good as your Voodoo!

[Tripio]

Of course I will follow.

 

Regards,Laz

[Mstor]

Really amazing decal work. What are you using to print those decals, what type of printer?

[Giovanni]

Hello RCarlson, hello Laz. Thank you for showing your interest.

 

On ‎4‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 5:12 AM, Mstor said:

What are you using to print those decals, what type of printer?

 

I used a Kyocera Taskalfa 2552ci laser printer,  which proved to work very well with black color.

 

As all the printers for home and office it works with the fine dithering technology with color.

 

This means that the color is obteined trough the use of just three basic color (cyan, magenta, yellow) printed in small dots.

The result is more than acceptable if you want to reproduce dark colors (other than the three basic) but the result isn't good with lighter shades, greys etc.

 

So in general if the subject is small you can try to print with all colors but for larger areas you have to try and see the result first.

 

Additionally you cannot print the white color so for istance the badge had been printed on white decal film. This means you have to carefully cut the subject out from the sheet before using it. (that's the reason why I produced some back ups!)

 

 

I've starded to work on plastic parts, so If I have time I'll post something later.

 

Bye

Giovanni

[Mstor]

Thanks for the info Giovanni!

[Giovanni]

11 hours ago, Mstor said:

Thanks for the info Giovanni!

 

You're welcome!

I'm happy if I may be of help.

 

 

Let's start the construction beginning from the radome.

 

The one in the kit is good but not perfect and can be improved with patience and a bit of sand paper.

 

It should be a little bit more pointy in the aft part. This is more evident in the top view.

That's easy to correct.

 

It also misses some volume in the profile view in the central area.

You can brush some thin layers of Mr. Hobby dissolved putty to add the extra volume and then use a 1000 grade sand paper to turn the surface smooth again.

 

If you don't feel confident with such operations I have to say that turning the aft part a bit more pointy is enough to get a good radome.

The missing volume is almost unnoticeable.

 

On mine at this point I put the pitot and placed to the fuselage to test the result:

 

 

In the area were the Master pitot meets the radome there's still some putty needed.

But the result is more than OK to me.

 

 

What about the Quick boost replacement radome?

Well that's incorrect too!

In my opinion it's too much ogival.

I think the right shape lays in the middle between it and the kit part!

 

If you have already procured it well you can do the opposite operation as described above and make it less ogival by sanding it.

I think in general it'is easier to reduce volume than to add it so this could also be a solution.

 

The following picture shows the Quick Boost radome, the original kit radome and the one and other reworked by me:

 

 

And the following a top view of the same.

Note how the kit part needs to be thinned:

 

 

I hope this info could be of help for your Meng kits.

 

More updates tomorrow.

Bye

 

Giovanni 

 

 

 

  

 

Edited April 16, 2019 by Giovanni

[ST0RM]

Another great looking project Giovanni. I'm sure interest will be very high. 

By the self made decals, this will be another winner. 

 

-Jeff

[Giovanni]

7 hours ago, ST0RM said:

By the self made decals, this will be another winner. 

 

-Jeff

 

Thank You Jeff! I'd like to have a good f-102a but I don't want to spend too much time on it.

So I'm going to fix just the most evident shortcomings.

Let's see!

 

 

Now my little update.

 

With some more putty the radome contour is finally ok:

 

 

 

Next step had been thinning the air intakes splitter plates:

 

 

 

Here's a dry fit test. The overall fit/coupling is excellent (as for all the other parts in general):

 

 

The recessed lines are a weak point being  a little too deep. This is more evident in some areas.

The worst part is the tail section with its craters and wide and deep demarcation lines which aren't compatible with a natural metal finish!

 

There's no choice here rather then fill in and re-scribe.

 

Note: There are two bulges in the kit at the base of the rudder. Beside the fact they are overdone (and I'm wondering if I have to try to fix or let it go)...You should erase the right one since was not present in reality. Fortunately that's an easy task:

 

 

 

Other parts needing a fix are the wing fuel tanks pylons which are inaccurate.

I've seen two different lengths models in use with the later model been shorter.

By the way the pylon is inaccurate also to represent the earlier type according to me.

 

Here I'll have to cut and recontour. Also the details should be repositioned.

Probably the fastest way should be to scratch a new part.

 

 

But this will came later.

Now I'd like to go on with fuselage.

 

That's all for today.

 

Giovanni

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Giovanni]

Mini update:

 

The bulge at the base of the rudder had been removed and recontoured using plasticard, putty and sandpaper.

In the last picture the result after a coat of Mr. Surfacer 1200.

 

 

 

Bye

 

Giovanni

 

[JackMan]

Wow, I admire your attention to the small details. Good work!

[Tripio]

Hello Giovanni,

 

Any  progress in the build?

Regards,Laz

[Giovanni]

Hello Gents,

 

I resume this build with some updates:

 

To create the parachute compartment you have to remove some plastic as for the following picture:

 

 

This way You'll get the desired result:

 

 

A great effort had been spent detailing the exterior of the rear fuselage.

All the panel lines had been re-scribed and all the bolts finely reproduced:

 

 

 

 

I love the natural metal areas and I want them to be perfect!  

 

Switching to the burner can there's a resin replacement available from Wolfpack but I opted for using the kit parts instead with some minor improvements:

 

First carefully using a razor blade I separated the exhaust ring from the inner side of the aerodinamic bulges (in red on the following picture):

 

 

Don't mind the gaps You'll get on the ring. These would be invisible once all is assembled:

 

 

The variable inner exhaust part has been cleaned from its placement pins:

 

 

I've added a reinforcement element on the exterior of the ring by stretched stirene:

 

 

All elements had been thinned a little:

 

 

Here's what You'll get:

 

 

 

With the right use of colours I think the part will suit very well. 

 

Soon more updates since I'm still working on the subject

 

Bye

 

Giovanni

Edited January 4, 2020 by Giovanni

[Giovanni]

Hello,

 

a little update:

 

I've modified the afterburner inner part with some plasticard stripes to have a ring more similar to the real one:

 

 

Finally started with some color:

 

 

Glued the parts together and dry tested the result on the fuselage.

 

 

Not the best I've done but I like it.

 

That's all for tonight.

 

Bye

 

Giovanni

[Giovanni]

I've darkened a little the exterior ring.

In the meantime the kits are going to be two.

 

Bye

Giovanni

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by Giovanni

[Giovanni]

Hello gents,

 

here you are some news on the project!

 

I decided to scratch new speed brakes:

 

 

 

 

 

Dry fit test:

 

 

Then I decided to give a boost to the main wheels bay compartment:

 

 

 

 

 

All the pipes and wirings are still missing so not all the job had been done.

 

A dry fit test:

 

 

This is a picture of the subject I'm working on s/n 56-1419 year is 1972, PLEASE HELP NEEDED: I'm looking for good pictures of the left side, in particular of the aft section.

Also pilot name and crew chief name could be of great  help.

I'm asking this because on the exterior of the nose gear door there was a black painted rectangular probably reporting pilot and ground chief names.

 

 

If You may contribute then I would be really grateful

 

Giovanni

 

 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Giovanni

[janman]

Very meticulous research - and fine work!

[Giovanni]

Thank You Janman!

 

Ps. The pictures was taken durning 1972 William Tell weapons meet in Tyndall.

 

Bye

 

Giovanni 

[kurnass77]

Superb work mate!

All the spent time in scratch and detail you've done will repay for sure lately!

 

Gianni

[Mstor]

I keep forgetting this is 1/72 scale. Amazing work!

[Giovanni]

On 3/9/2020 at 4:04 AM, Mstor said:

I keep forgetting this is 1/72 scale. Amazing work!

Thank You Mstor!

 

Hello,

little update:

I've added some wirings:

 

 

 

After a coat of Mr. Surfacer:

 

 

That's it!

Bye

 

Giovanni

[Giovanni]

On ‎3‎/‎8‎/‎2020 at 8:55 AM, kurnass77 said:

Superb work mate!

All the spent time in scratch and detail you've done will repay for sure lately!

 

Gianni

 

Hello Gianni sorry I forgot to say thank you last time. Please forgive me!

 

 

Today's update:

 

Sometimes less is more: the lower wing surface detail is excessive and overdone so I opted for eliminating some of the unnecessary.

First a layer of cyano:

 

 

 

After sanding  a layer of Tamiya white putty:

 

 

Sanded again:

 

 

 

I will add some riveting later.

 

 

Then switching to the main wheel well I've added many many hydraulic pipes and colored all so this is the results missing just the final touch-ups:

 

 

 

And here with the original kit part to show the differences:

 

 

I renew my REQUEST OF HELP:  I'm looking for good pictures of the LEFT SIDE of s/n 56-1419, in particular of the aft section when in Tyndall for the 1972 William Tell competition.

Also pilot name and crew chief name could be of great  help (see the picture above for reference).

I'm asking this because on the exterior of the nose gear door there was a black painted rectangular probably reporting pilot and ground chief names.

Thank you

 

Bye

 

Giovanni

 

 

 

 

 

[kurnass77]

Hi Giovanni, the wheel wells is fantastic!!!

Unfortunately I can't help you with the pics request...

Stay safe my friend.

 

 

Gianni

[Craig Baldwin]

I don't check in here as often as I should. Very happy along with others you are carrying on with this build. Beautiful work.

[GeneK]

58 minutes ago, Craig Baldwin said:

I don't check in here as often as I should. 

 

Craig,

 

Thanks for the heads up on this outstanding build. You know how much I appreciate such high craftsmanship as Giovanni's.

 

Gene K