1/48 Monogram F-80C Shooting Star

by David Mielke " VMFA314Knights"

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I thought I might stay in the Korean War era for a bit, so the next item to follow my U.S. Marines AD-4W is a U.S.A.F. P-80C Shooting Star.  This one is finished in markings from the 8th FBW, 36th FBS, based at Suwon South Korea in the Fall of 1952.  Some of the markings on the American aircraft were getting a bit wild by this point and the “sister” ship to this one “Beer City Special” is one fine example (which is great if you are a modeler and like a bit of colour J).  As far as the kit is concerned, I believe if you want to build a P-80 in 1/48th then it will be this kit.  The Monogram kit has a few fit issues (gun bay door; wing fit on underside…) not to mention some heavy handed panel line scribes.  Suffice to say it is not one of their better models but can be built up into a nice kit.  Unfortunately both the kit and the decals are OOP.  (Any manufacturer want to remedy this?  An updated P-80 series would be nice.)  

Click on images below to see larger images

  

 

Remember to get the lead out for this nose wheel aircraft (I never liked the clear plastic rod to support the model aircraft) and luckily there is lots of room for weight in the nose on this one.  I also tried out a much thinned down version of Sheffield’s silver lacquer based paint on this A/C.  To me it worked just as well as the expensive silver paints and I bought this 55ml jar for about $3.00… you can do a few 1/48th B-29’s and still have paint to spare at that volume!  I went a bit heavy on the silver variation on this A/C however, it turned out okay and is a nice addition to the Korean War shelf at home.  I’ve even got an F-82G in the stash to eventually add to the group eventually…given time… and when I get some real space I’ll delve into that B-29 “Dragon Lady” as well as the A/B-26C Invader.   For the near future I’ll have to stick to the F-84, Mig-15, AT-6 and more F-86’s to add some depth to the Korean collection.

David

 

Photos and text © by David Mielke

Happy Modeling.