1/48 Monogram F-101C Voodoo

with C&H Aero Conversion

by George "Chorse6" Salerno

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This model was started almost a year ago.  I took the slow road with it as I worked on some other kits.  This was the first time I used a large resin conversion and a lot of photo-etch. 

HISTORY

   The F-101 was the offspring of McDonnell's XF-88 Voodoo.  Originally designed to fulfill a SAC requirement for a long range fighter to escort bombers.    Though many teething problems with engines, aerodynamics and armaments, the F-101A made its maiden flight on 29 September 1954.  Even though SAC cancelled their requirement, the USAF realized the Voodoo was a "hot" aircraft, proving its great speed.  On 12 December 1957, MAJ Adrian Drew set a world speed record of 1207.3mph while flying a pre-production F-101A (though that particular a/c had the larger afterburner cans of a B model).  The F-101A had good avionics (for the day), great range, and the ability to bomb using the M-1 Toss Bombing System and the Low Altitude Bombing System (LABS).  TAC picked up the option for the original Voodoos, producing a total of 50 A-models.  The USAF identified the need to strengthen the airframe to meet the need of a fighter-bomber, modifying the airframe from the 51st production aircraft  through the 124th a/c to handle 7.33g.  There is no external differences between an A and C model Voodoo; only some internal strengthening and some avionics.  In fact, many pilots would not know if they were flying an A or C unless they looked closely.  The A/C Voodoos were originally assigned to the 27th FBW at Berstrom AFB, TX and later transferred to Bentwaters, England and the 81st TFW in August 1958. 

   Interesting note; though the F-101 A/C carried 4 M39 Cannons, they were allegedly not very accurate and not used often. One source stated Voodoos could only hit 50% of rounds fired at a 15x15 foot target at a range of 1500 feet.   One cannon was later replaced on the right side and replaced with navigation equipment.  This inability as a fighter further cemented its role as a tactical nuclear bomber.  

    The specific aircraft I built was the 81st TFW Commander's F-101C (FB 54-1491) circa 1961, assigned to Bentwaters, England. 

 KIT OVERVIEW

    The base model is Monogram's "Century Series" F-101B Voodoo.  Much is already written about this kit, so no further discussion is necessary. I used C&H Aero Miniatures Conversion kit, Eduard's F-101B Photo-Etch, Koster's F-101A/C exhausts, Belcher Bits nuke weapon and a little scratch building. 

   The main part of the conversion is the C&H Aero Miniatures Conversion kit. The conversion includes a complete forward fuselage, instrument panel, exhausts, rear "keel", narrow tires, vacuformed canopy, pitot, NACA vents, and lower landing gear door (Photo 3).  A nice set of decals were provided as well.  As previously stated, this was my first major resin conversion.  My initial impression with the C&H set was favorable. Panel lines were finely (a bit too finely; more on that) engraved, which means one has to rescribe the Monogram kit, which is not for the faint of heart. The forward fuselage had some air bubbles, which took a lot of work to fill (part being my own inexperience as well). The instrument panel, though generally correct in shape, lacks appropriate detail to dry-brush and paint for a good look. The tires look very nice, with appropriate bulges. The exhausts is nice, coming in two parts.  The rear "keel" was nicely done, as well. The vacuformed canopy was very nice, but the windscreen lacks the detail of a F-101 canopy (Rivets/braces).  It may be okay (and your only choice) for a closed canopy, but I wanted mine open, which the kit allows.  Instructions that come with the conversion set are clear and straightforward; however, some of the steps for assembly could be approved (more on that).  

CONSTRUCTION

    I started slowly by first rescribing the Monogram Kit.  Monogram used raised panel lines and unfortunately the Voodoo has many of them.  I also added additional "rivet lines" that were plentiful on a Voodoo.  Another major detail to fix was removing the all the formation lights (C&H instructions has this as step 16, but I would do this much earlier) as well as the directional antennae mounting; A & C model Voodos did not have them.  The engine air scoops need to be removed, and replaced with the NACA ducts.  A little CA glue, putty and sanding made this a fairly straightforward task (Photo 4). 

    While slowly rescribing, I worked on the cockpit.  C&H stated you can keep the dual B-Vodoo cockpit and slide it in.  I tried dryfitting and wasn't too pleased with the fit, so I cut off the front cockpit and built a rear bulkhead.  I had a choice of using the C&H instrument panel, the photo etch or the straight Monogram.  The C&H panel is the correct shape; however it lacks detail for the numerous instruments of the Voodoo. One could use decals, but the C&H panel was not "as busy" as a Voodoo panel.  The Monogram B Model is nicely done and could pass for a RF-101A/C.  I chose to use the Eduard's photo etch detail, even though it was not exactly correct (Most noticeable issue was the radar scope in the center versus upper right for a A/C model).  A few photo-etch and scratch details were used for the rest of the cockpit.  The ejection seat from the kit is very nice and pretty accurate.  Since the kit gives you two seats, I did one OOB and the other using photo etch, which I used (Photo 5). 

     Before gluing the forward fuselage to the rest of the model, the cockpit and the nose gear bay need to be inserted.  This was possibly the most frustrating part.  It is very different from the kit assembly.  In general, you paint the pieces prior and insert each one at a time parts 18 and 19) through the rear plug; having to get the gear doors through the hole for the nose gear.  Essentially, you build the gear well inside the plug.  Contrary to the Monogram instructions, the nose gear is supposed to be attached later. Even after much sanding to adjust the sides of the nose well, I had tremendous fit problems.  As well, I attempted to dry fit the nose gear into the well, which was impossible to fit.  Through some trial and error, I assembled the nose gear in the well at the same time, though the well itself was not as "tight" as I wanted (Photo 6 below gives you some idea of the finish state).  Fortunately, the nose gear well is small, and difficult to see inside.  If I do it again, I believe I would cut off the nose gear doors, build the well with nose gear and insert it into the plug, then attach the gear doors later.  Once the gear well was in place, the cockpit is slid in place on top.  A little adjustment is needed to insure the cockpit will sit properly. I felt the cockpit was slightly "reclined" if I wasn't too careful. 

Click on images below to see larger images

Once the rescribing was complete, it was time to cut the forward part of the fuselage. The C&H instructions were simple and clear.  I marked the appropriate cut line on both fuselage halves; however I recommend cutting a few millimeters forward of the instructions (believe the reason will be clear in a second).  I cut the two fuselage halves with a Dremel before joining them .  After they were cut, I joined them together, then sanded the cut (using an orbital sander) until I got close to the marked line, fine tuning it by hand.  I felt this gave me a more "flat surface" to join the plug to the fuselage, which I did next with a fair amount of CA glue, with a little Mr. Surfacer 500 to fill in some of the seam. In general, the fit was pretty good between the two pieces (Photo 6).   

    One detail I attempted was to correct was the nose cone of the turbine (part 47).  On the Voodoo, the nose cones are slightly bent out, with a vent on the top.  I drilled a hole in the appropriate location and sanded to adjust with good effect.  Unfortunately, once the turbines are installed in the ducts, they are extremely difficult to see in the completed model.  I wouldn't bother doing this again; therefore photos of the work would be superfluous. 

    Another major assembly is the replacement of the fuselage keel between the engines. C&H tells you to remove it in step one, though I did not do this until after the fuselages were joined.  C&H's instructions are pretty clear on where to cut, but it is more difficult than it looks. After I made the cuts and sanded them appropriately, I added the new keel.  The fit here was marginal.  I dry fitted and sanded numerous times to get the best fit, having to use a lot of CA glue/putty to fill gaps. In sanding down the joint, I lost some of the "raised" detail that is evident on Voodoos in that area. To try to fix it, I used strips of Bare Metal Foil glued with CA. I used a pin vise to recreate the rivets. The effect is passable, but not to my liking (Photo 7). 

Due to all the repairs, much of the fine detailed engraving was lost, therefore I had to rescribe the forward fuselage. The lines from the joint to the rear also had to be redone, which wasn't too difficult.  The wings were later attached, though they had some gaps between the fuselage, which took a little work to repair.  Since Voodoos rarely had their air brakes open on the ground, I chose to keep them closed. The main landing gear doors need to be modified slightly. The lower portion of the gear door needed to be removed and the resin doors attached to replace them. I didn't attach this until after I painted the lower door and placed the gear on the aircraft (following painting).  

   Another adjustment needed is to reduce the wheel hub for the resin wheels, since they are narrower than B model wheels. This was done easily with some sanding. I held off doing adding detail parts (landing gear, engines, tail, fuel vents, pitot, hook, tanks, etc which I did after painting and decaling) until doing the main painting. This was all straightforward, so I won't go into details.  The only other issue I had was the main canopy.  

   Much to my own chagrin, I screwed up removing the C&H's vacuform canopy.  Since I wanted an open canopy, I had to cut the rear from the windscreen (not the part I screwed up).  As stated before, the forward windscreen lacked some detail, so I deferred to using the Monogram windscreen.  I added some detail building a lifting mechanism to the canopy brace.  After attempts to repair the C&H canopy, I ended up using a Koster canopy.  This was slightly longer than C&H, so some surgery was needed to make it fit properly.  I had to cut the back rail, sand the canopy a bit and reattach the back frame.  One thing I noted, the Koster canopy was of a much sturdier plastic than the C&H.  I added  photo etch to finish the job.   I requested a replacement from C&H and may swap it out when it arrives. 

   One "unusual" addition I made was to add a tactical nuclear weapon.  There were no references on how the MK28s were carried, nor which type the 81st used or trained.  I assumed a MK28RE, which references stated was carried by the F-101C and used a Belcher's Bits resin bomb (Photo 8) (Thanks to Smithery).

Click on images below to see larger images

PAINTING

 I first primed using Alclad grey primer.  I first painted the metal ring next to the nose cone using Alclad Stainless Steel. I covered that up with tape and finished the rest of the fuselage using Alclad Aluminum, Dark Aluminum and  Duraluminum.  The fuselage keel was painted using Alclad Pale Burnt Metal, MM Titantium and Magnesium, darkened with a little black.  There was only one reference photo and one drawing of the a/c I built, making the matching of the tail and trim colors difficult.  I used Testors Red (the little bottle) and MM Blue Angel Yellow for the first two colors. The blue was done mixing MM Blue Angel Blue (I had some) and MM Insignia White until I got a close match (Photo #).  The nose is MM Interior Black and the anti-glare panel MM Olive Drab.  MM Aircraft Gray was used to paint the tailfin cap.  The MK28 was painted with Alclad Polished Aluminum to make it stand out. 

 Though in most photos, it appeared that the Voodoos were kept fairly clean, the particular aircraft I was building was used late in the Voodoo's life, so I wanted some wear and tear.  After sealing with Future, I washed panel lines lightly with an oil wash.  I weathered some panel lines by airbrushing a light coat of smoke, an effect that I saw on a previous work.  Some oils were used to lightly weather the under fuselage.  I used some black artists charcoal to further weather the exhaust area.  I dulled-down the overall finish with some Tamiya Flat base and Future mixed (though I didn't do this with the drop tanks). 

  DECALS

  C&H provided fine decals (not sure who made them).  There was little carrier film and they reacted very well to Microsol/set.   I only used the non-squadron markings from this set.  I added additional stencils from an Eagle Strike 48-235 I had.  The stars on the tail proved difficult.  I ended up using various stars from 1/72 WWII Armor models and some spares.  Also, I ended up cutting some stars from miscellaneous decal sheets.  The tail numbers were from a Superscale numbers sheet. 

Click on images below to see larger images

OVERALL

  I'm was generally pleased with the results.  I've always had an affinity for the Voodoo and wanted an A or C model for my collection.  The C&H Aero Conversion is not for the feint of heart.   As stated earlier, this was my first dive into a major resin conversion and I learned much.  I'm glad I took my time (though it seemed like forever).  C&H products seem worthy and I will probably give them a try with another modification for other aircraft in the future; however, I have a RF-101 conversion from Koster and look forward to trying a major vacuform conversion; adding another single seat Voodoo to my shelf.   

George

References:

  • F-101 Voodoo Detail and Scale, Volume 21 by Bert Kinzey

  • Century Jets: USAF Frontline Fighters of the Cold War by AIRtime Publishing

  • Modern Military Aircraft: Voodoo (Squadron Signal Publications) by Lou Drendel and Paul Stevens

  • Fighting Colors: USAF Europe in Color, 1948-1965 (Squadron Signal Publications) by Robert Robinson

  • Jet Fighters of the U.S. Air Force: The Century Series (Revell) by Bert Kinzey

  • "McDonnell's One Oh Wonderful: F-101 Voodoo" by Jack Dean, Wings, August 1999

  • "It's Witchcraft: McDonnell's F-101 Voodoo" by Rene J. Francillion, Airpower, May 1980

  • 78th TFS Bushmasters Website (part of the 81st TFW), http://78th-woodbridge.org/index.html

Photos and text © by George Salerno