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.
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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).
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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.
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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:
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F-101 Voodoo
Detail and Scale, Volume 21 by Bert Kinzey
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Century Jets:
USAF Frontline Fighters of the Cold War by AIRtime Publishing
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Modern Military
Aircraft: Voodoo (Squadron Signal Publications) by Lou Drendel and Paul
Stevens
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Fighting Colors:
USAF Europe in Color, 1948-1965 (Squadron Signal Publications) by Robert
Robinson
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Jet Fighters of
the U.S. Air Force: The Century Series (Revell) by Bert Kinzey
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"McDonnell's
One Oh Wonderful: F-101 Voodoo" by Jack Dean, Wings, August 1999
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"It's
Witchcraft: McDonnell's F-101 Voodoo" by Rene J. Francillion, Airpower,
May 1980
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78th TFS
Bushmasters Website (part of the 81st TFW), http://78th-woodbridge.org/index.html
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