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This is the 2001
re-release of the 1984 F-101B Voodoo. While the mold still displays
"1984" on the drop flaps (I believe that's where I sanded it off), the
decals and the box are new. Ironically, when I brought this into an IPMS meeting
I got to see the box for the original 1984 release, as it was being auctioned
off (along with other old kits).
This kit just screams sleek, and is rather beautiful (or maybe I'm just a nut?),
regardless of the fact I heard it flew like a pig. I loved the look of the F-101
since I saw a line drawing of one ages ago, but the F-101B is even better, as
the cockpit doesn't look like an out of place blister, and helps blend the nose
into the fuselage, so I would argue.
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The build started
off well enough, but soon became my version of "The Model From
Hell"
Let me elaborate. I
started this kit with grand designs. I would be working on many new experimental
(for myself) techniques which I had never done before, and hopefully the result
would be astounding. Well, they failed and yet it still looks good, but more on
painting later. The cockpit was the first thing I noticed. It is clearly one of
the best cockpits I've ever seen in a jet before. Out of the box you've got a
real contender, especially when considering the seats it comes with. These seats
didn't want to go together too well (the side pieces did not want to
connect behind the cushions, but a little force and some CA glue at the very top
fixed it well enough), but they are very well made. You would be hard pressed to
find better non-photo-etched seat belts, and while the hoses were slightly
thick, when you look down on them once they are installed it looks good to me.
As you can see, the end result is
very nice, but here's why I call it "The Kit From Hell":
I started this before the weather got too cold (read: before snow covered
the yard). I also do my painting outside. The two are related. I could only get
so far and then it got too cold to do any more work. So I got frustrated. I kept
doing what I could, but this kit doesn't allow any subassembly, basically. You
need to make the cockpit to put inside
the fuselage halves. You need to do the intakes to put them into the wings. You
need to paint the wheel wells and drop flap wells to put the wings together, you
need to then join the wings to the fuselage to do the afterburners, the wing
joins, and not to mention the weapons bay along the way. You need to do the nose
gear before the nose goes on (Note: NO forward wall on the nose well, construct
your own).
So basically when I got stuck at a difficult part I couldn't branch out to
another as easily as other kits have allowed. This is an older kit and has
raised panel lines, albeit nice ones. Well, I had a plan of painting the entire
thing flat black (this is the third kit I've used an airbrush on) and then
spraying a heavy layer of aircraft grey onto that, then sanding down slightly
when I was finished to produce pronounced black panel lines. Sounds good, right?
Well, yes and no. I had a dip in the dorsal surface on one side of the fuselage.
It took a bit of sanding and filling, and I lost some detail on the backbone. I
tried to rescribe the lines with a knife but I'm not good with such things, and
I don't
think I helped it any. Well, with all of the touch-ups and join problems I had,
I nixed the "sand the panel lines to the surface" idea, and instead
decided to go for a kind of a shaded surface (using the dark underside and
spraying selectively with the aircraft grey), which, basically, didn't turn out
well either, as I had to put on thick coats in some areas when I retouched some
areas. Then there was the whole problem with the wing gaps. Somehow, don't ask
me how, there was a combination of CA glue, model cement, and green putty, that
caused my wings to literally melt in weird bubbly patterns all along the wing
gap (which I had been valiantly trying to conceal). well, I thought I was
screwed, until I remembered somebody said they used CA glue as a filler.
So I crossed my fingers, hoped the CA glue hadn't done this in the first place,
and filled in the dimple areas, and it looked decent enough to continue.
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Well, the kit is a very rewarding
kit, if you put a lot of effort into it. You won't get a "shake 'n
bake" model from this one, but I think you'll have enjoyed it much more if
you do finally get this sucker done.
Some problem areas to specifically watch for: The wings subassembly attaches
very poorly to the fuselage. Especially in the rear. I tried to brace it with
sprue (as in the picture) but two of those fell out and I eventually used some
CA to cement what little bond was there, and then the green putty secured it
even more (this kit should have come with green putty included!). So be careful
in that area, as it is also one of the best areas to hold the kit by, and it
would be best if the kit didn't fall apart when you did hold it. The fit was
also horrible by the weapons bay. The rotating weapons bay, which I fixed into
position, had about a milimeter's gap between the rear edge and the wing
subassembly (which is also where the wing subassembly began and the fuselage
ended).
I chose to do a "clean" aircraft, and with many thanks from the ARC
discussion board visitors, I was able to learn many things, especially which
side was flown "out". Well, the leading edge of the weapons platform
had a very pronounced step coming from the fuselage in front of it. This is
highly inaccurate, and what I had to do was fix the door in
place, fix the wings in place, putty the entire perimeter of the weapons
platform, and then sand/grind it smooth. I didn't correct the step in the
leading edge, but I reduced it and lessened its appearance. The fins on either
side of the weapons door also fit poorly. I had to carve off a little flap on
the leading edge, put the fins in place, and then putty in the small gaps here
and there (no easy task, by this time), but the result looks a thousand times
better than the original look.
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Another major problem is the nose
wheel setup. First and formost it is a horrible fit, just putting the struts
onto the gear, and the door spreader into the well walls. Second, the gear sits
on two recesses on each side wall, thus cradling it and securing the nose
gear.
Unfortunately the well walls are asymetrical and the gear sits lopsided. I
constructed a new gear setup, by carving off the braces that were there (these
lines were well over-scaled anyways) and by assembling the strut to the gear
FIRST, then putting it into position on the well roof, then putting the walls
back into place. I had to carve out part of the nose cone to fit the forward
well wall, and I did a simple smooth wall, and this fit the rest of the walls
somewhat. The well roof, on the other hand, is well detailed.
The main gear had several problems, especially lack of any kind of detail in the
instructions about where, how, and in what way they should be assembled. There
are gear support struts which you WILL be lost about if you don't do some
research. Check mine out, or the walkarounds on ARC here. They are very helpful
for non-cockpit related problems.
Aside from that the rest of the kit went together with a normal amount of fit
problems. Reinforce everything you can, as it WILL come off, sometime or
another.
The painting techniques I tried include the previously mentioned ones, and a new
one for the cockpit instruments. Long ago I posted some pics on the discussion
board and got some favorable feedback, which was nice.
I masked the 'pit tub very carefully, spraypainted it white, then a thin black,
and sanded the tops of the controls, producing a respectable look.
I chose to do the decal scheme included in this kit which used the blue tail and
the star decals. The red was just a hair out of register (other colors are fine)
but you can't see it unless you look for it. I used Blue Angel Blue mixed with
white until I got a lighter shade (I eyeballed it) to use on the tail. The wheel
wells are a mix of "green" (standard) and "dark green", 1:1.
Red is simply red, black is simply black. I used rubber on the wheels, which
I've never done before, and don't know if it's noticably different from black in
the pictures, but there's a brown tint to it, which looks nice.
Oh, and the hood stowage is not available in any walkaround I've ever seen. I
had to ask the man who did the astoundingly good build of this same kit, Roger
Jackson. He cleared it up for me. It attaches to the bulkhead in the cockpit
sticking FORWARD, on the right side, sticking past the WSO's head. Keep that in
mind if you ever build this.
So, despite all the problems I'm happy to have this completed version to
display. I don't have too much room, though. Ironic, no? Anyways, It turned out
with a orn/shaded kind of look, but I think that's mostly from touch-up
painting, wear and tear (handling for so long) than it is from intentional
undershading.
I've spent more time on this model than any other. It's official. But it also
looks better than many I've done before. I'm no pro, but this one make me proud.
Enjoy!
Mark
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