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On 7/30/2020 at 10:59 AM, CaptainObvious said:

No easy day huh? But it looks like you've got most of the hard stuff done.
Press on Kurt!

 

 

Thanks! I will press on, I plan to start painting the camo on the Monogram kit tonight.

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I have started painting. I decided to use the black base marble/blend technique

 

I started on the bottom with the marble coat

 

20200731_232927sm-vi.jpg

 

Then filled it in with a blend coat:

 

20200801_021201sm-vi.jpg

 

And I have done the same with the tan and light green. I will finish with the dark green later

 

20200801_224916sm-vi.jpg

 

20200802_004237sm-vi.jpg

 

It is a lot of work to do it this way, but the tonal variation is interesting

 

What a mess ... well see ya next time.... 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Getting to the home stretch with the monogram kit

 

Paint was completed, and I did not need much touch up

 

20200812_024538sm-vi.jpg

 

The keel was painted with MRP super silver, then I used Burnt Metal metalizer for heat staining

 

20200812_025413sm-vi.jpg

 

And I applied the decals directly to the paint

 

20200814_035835sm-vi.jpg

 

 20200814_035842sm-vi.jpg

 

20200814_035851sm-vi.jpg

 

These are old fashioned monogram decals which have milky adhesive which becomes clear as it dries. 

 

 

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On 8/15/2020 at 7:49 AM, Thadeus said:

Camo came out very nice. Love the area around exhaust. I tried something similar on a phantom and kind of blew it. Maybe next time 😉

 

On 8/16/2020 at 9:04 AM, CaptainObvious said:

Really nice freehand camo work. The mottle lends a nice subtle texture to the paint.
 The metallics on the keel turned out great!
-co

 

 

 

Thanks, I finally got the look I wanted. The Keel came out better than I expected too, I finally got a handle on testors metalizer but now it is going away.  I will update the thread again soon, but the good news is the decals dried and snuggled down very well, but one has a wrinkle, as though it got bumped and moved a little, so I am working with solvaset and a scalpel to minimize the wrinkle.

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Looks great so far, but why is there a white "5FF282" on the starboard nose?   I don't think operational jets had anything like it.

 

I can't prove it, but to my eyes it looks almost like an AMARC number painted on the aircraft after they are put in the boneyard in Arizona.  I wonder if Monogram used an AMARC photo to design the decals.

 

Edit: It looks like I was right - a quick search at the "amarcexperience.com" aircraft database reveals that "FF282" was the inventory number for 59-0397 when it arrived at Davis-Monthan in 1975.

Edited by KursadA
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1 hour ago, KursadA said:

Looks great so far, but why is there a white "5FF282" on the starboard nose?   I don't think operational jets had anything like it.

 

I can't prove it, but to my eyes it looks almost like an AMARC number painted on the aircraft after they are put in the boneyard in Arizona.  I wonder if Monogram used an AMARC photo to design the decals.

 

Edit: It looks like I was right - a quick search at the "amarcexperience.com" aircraft database reveals that "FF282" was the inventory number for 59-0397 when it arrived at Davis-Monthan in 1975.

 

I blindly followed the instructions and put the decal there. 🤦‍♂️.  I seemed to remember seeing a picture of one with a similar number in black, So I figured maybe they just made a mistake and made it white.  But I am glad you solved the mystery.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/1/2020 at 10:58 AM, RKic said:

did the decals dry clear? They look pretty rough in the pictures. 

They dried clear and very smooth. They actually look pretty good. I will update this thread this weekend with more pictures.  I was out of town for over a week and I am still trying to get caught up.

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Here is  the current status of the Monogram kit. I am just getting back to the bench after being out of town for over a week and It is hard to remember what my thinking was when I last worked on this. A clear coat has been applied over the decals, I applied black panel line wash in the control surface lines, and did some oil weathering. 

 

DSC_0033-vi.jpg

 

The Decals have snuggled as best they could

 

DSC_0034-vi.jpg

 

DSC_0035-vi.jpg

 

 

Here is the underside with oils for dirt, hydraulic, and  fuel schmutz

 

DSC_0036-vi.jpg

 

DSC_0037-vi.jpg

 

And finally the Cans:

 

DSC_0038-vi.jpg

 

I used various metal paints to try and capture the look which is seen in pictures of these

 

DSC_0038-vi.jpg

 

Next step - Dullcote

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I Have since Dulcoated the Monogram kit, and I went to perform final assembly but I realized I never painted the wheels. The centers were already silver, so I masked the hub with frisket paper, and primed and painted the tires. The color is Mr Color Tire black

 

2v2HS55Enx9awpY.jpg

 

the burner cans were painted with MRP Super silver

 

2v2HS55Q5x9awpY.jpg

 

and the cans could use some more work. 

 

 

The KittyHawk Kit was primed

2v2HS55Hqx9awpY.jpg

 

then I started the marble coat

 

2v2HS55edx9awpY.jpg

 

I stopped for the night because I was tired, the next day I applied a wash to the tires

 

2v2HS55Zyx9awpY.jpghttps://media.fotki.com/2v2HS55edx9awpY.jpg

 

I finished the underside light gray marble and blend coats

20200918_023542sm-vi.jpg

 

I will continue with the camo in the next few days. I sure hope I can wrap these up in time!

 

 

 

 

Edited by Kurt H.
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The next step was to mask and paint the keel

 

Lots of careful masking, resulted in this, I wrapped the whole model since metallic paints seem to creep everywhere.

 

2v2HVdcGux9awpY.jpg

 

I used Mr Color Super Silver

 

2v2HVdcMEx9awpY.jpg

 

After the silver dried I used Model Master Metalizer "Exhaust" to try to simulate heat distressing

 

2v2HVdwuJx9awpY.jpg

 

Here is where it stands now, There are some areas of the Camo which require touch ups,so that will be the next thing I address

 

 

2v2HVdwHax9awpY.jpg

 

 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

Edited by Kurt H.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well .. better late than never

 

Both models are done

 

monogram:

 

2v2HCaC2dx9awpY.jpg

 

KittyHawk:

 

2v2HCaC3Cx9awpY.jpg

 

I just finished the last fiddly bits on the KH and took pictures. I will follow up soon with more pictures and my conclusion

 

Thanks!

Edited by Kurt H.
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Well ... how do these models stack up?

 

2v2HCb8qqx9awpY.jpg

 

 

KH on the left, Monogram on the right. 

 

I reviewed this build thread, there were things I forgot about. This is a really tough call.

 

Monogram:

Advantages:

Better detail on some parts, most notably the seats and the wheels

simpler assembly

 

Drawbacks:

Raised panel detail

difficult to pose flaps closed

 

Kitty Hawk

Advantages:

Engraved surface details

much better wing to fuselage joint and fit

 

Disadvantages:

 

multi-piece fuselage

correct missile bay for RF option not included

mold design issues - huge attachment points on small parts, ejector pin marks in prominent places, ejector pin towers,  molding lug in a really bad place on canopy

 

inconsistent detail - some parts have great detail but the wheels are wholly unsuitable 

Decal sheet is unusable for F-101B variant

 

A tough call for sure. Neither of these kits is clearly better or worse.  The Kitty Hawk kit is good, but falls short due to mold design issues detailed above. It seems like a little more attention to detail would have really benefited this kit. I was most disappointed in the canopy. The molding lug between the two attachment points is ridiculous. it is in a place which makes it difficult to remove. Then, one of the canopy attachment point snapped off while test fitting the canopy. I am not sure if was my fault or the design of the kit, but it was very irritating.

Both of these kits fall short with the main landing gear attachment. The main gear legs are beautifully detailed on both kits, but there is really not a positive attachment on the monogram, and while there are small pins on the KH, the smaller rear pin is too fat to fit in the locating hole. The larger primary pin is really short. Both kits would have you put the nose gear in place during assembly. This should never happen. It is going to get broken. On both kits the nose gear does not have great attachment points. It looks like to create an accurate nose gear this is required, but I think the attachment could be improved. 

 

The kitty Hawk Kit has options for open panels to see avionics detail. And I was pleasantly surprised to see all the panels fit very well to build the nose with all the panels closed. 

 

In 2020 engraved panel detail is the expected standard. The panel detail on the KH kit took a wash very well and looks great to my eye. In 1985 it was still acceptable to have raised panel detail. It is not fair to ding monogram here.

 

I have no idea which of these is more accurate. They both look like an RF-101B to me. I know there has been much said about the Kitty Hawk kit so I am not going to repeat it now. 

 

The Decals for the monogram kit are minimal, but not much is needed as there are not a lot of markings on the RF. I replaced the national insignia since the kit decals were slightly out of register

 

The RF decals for the KH were fine as well. The major problem with the RF markings is the formation light decals are all the same length. Unfortunately the formation light on the tail is longer, but the decal is still short... so the decal does not stretch the length of the formation light.  I ended up using aftermarket national insignia, the blue in the kit decals are too light.  However, if one chose to build an F-101B .. the decals are junk. The color is too light and the fonts look like they were made with what ever font was on the artists computer, not the actual font of the markings. 

 

 

Both of these build into attractive replicas. The Wheels of the KittyHawk are the only really glaring part which need upgrades. There is no tread detail, and the halves of the main wheels do not fit well.

 

If engraved panel detail is important, the KH kit is better. If raised panel detail is acceptable, the monogram kit is easier to build and does not require modification to make the RF-101B 

 

I declare this showdown a tie. 

Edited by Kurt H.
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