1/48 Revell/Monogram Encore Models F-102A Delta

Gallery Article by Steve Negley on Jan 14 2014

 

 

Convair F-102A Delta Dagger

For the most part the kit has real nice detail with the resin and PE parts that are added to the kit but some real care needs to be put into the kit to make the resin and the PE fit. Some of the resin can't be used because the resin is to thin, mainly the resin jet intakes and the resin control surfaces. I liked the idea of the separate control surfaces so I just used the plastic control surfaces that were cut from the wing and vertical stabilizer. Actually after the wing was cemented together the plastic control surfaces fit better than the resin ones. At least they did for me.

 

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Although released by Monogram many years ago, for some reason this is the first time I have ever attempted to build this kit. This kit really turned out to be an enjoyable project For the most part everything lined up and went together well. The wing root area looked like it would be a problem but after some fitting turned out not to be. The only real problem with seams that I had were where the upper and lower wing had to be cemented. The missile bay has very nice detail, seemed a shame to cover all this up and the kit gives you this option but I chose to leave it open and expose the missiles and the missile racks. The cockpit comes with nice photo etch and and resin details. I used all of it rather than any of the kit or other aftermarket parts. 

Painting and Decaling 
The model was primed with some automotive grade gray primer, left to dry for a couple of days and any final sanding was done. The entire model was steel wooled with some 0000 steel wool and the entire model was sprayed with Testor's Model Master Gloss Aircraft Gray FS 16473 and left another 2 days to dry before any decals were applied. I went with some decals by Draw Decals to finish this kit up. The Draw Decals use a silk screen process for the colors and while the carrier film is thin the silk screen ink seems to be thicker than the regular ink used for decals. This caused a problem for the silk screened ink part of the decals to settle down over panel lines and rivet detail and the inked part of the decals were also very brittle. While the decal and color outline as a whole was very good with these decals I only ended up using the tail markings off this sheet. The kit comes with a nice decal sheet so I used these for the National insignia, Air Force and USAF markings, and stenciling. The Draw Decals sheet profiles 4 aircraft. I decided to do the California ANG offering. This particular aircraft is from the 163rd FIS based at Ontario, CA ANG base. I remember seeing 2 of these aircraft parked on the Clovis, CA ANG ramp in the early 70's when I was on my way to the Feather River for a Salmon fishing trip. The tail marking was striking and I always wanted to model an F-102 from this squadron.

Steve Negley

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Photos and text © by Steve Negley