1/48 F-89C Scorpion

[ghodges]

This is the 1/48 Revell(ogram) F-89C Scorpion. It's a relatively simple and straight forward kit with very good detail inside and out giving you very good "bang for your buck".

I opted to add a Black Box resin interior which only needs the addition of some plastic to act as floor supports and the removal of the molded-in interior side fuselage cockpit detailing in order to fit the resin side panels in place. The kit interior is actually quite good though the rein seats with their harnesses molded in are a real step up from the kit seats. The rest of the build is OOTB except for the addition of sheet plastic wing tank fins that were commonly added to the plane later in its life.

This kit does come with raised panel line detailing so I did rescribe 90% of the lines on the kit using a razor saw. I used Tamiya TS-30 Silver leaf as the overall NMF sprayed over an undercoat of Gloss Black. I then masked some areas and used both Alclad and AK Metallics for the varying panels on the model as well as Steel, Titanium, and Jet exhaust for the exhaust area.

These are the kit markings and they gave me fits, tending to curl up at the edges badly. No amount of solvent would make them lie down, not even my strongest stuff so I resorted to "painting/plastering" some of them in place with some Future, which sucked them down in place when dry. I actually had to paint the black background for the tip tank stars as the black decals just wouldn't lie down and the edges frayed while trying to press them in place repeatedly. I also had to replace the nose numbers with black dry transfer rub on decals and use stars/bars and USAF decals from the spares box..

Except for the decaling phase, this was an easy build that took just 9 days. Now on to the next!

 

Gil 

Edited 14 hours ago by ghodges

[Ron Bell]

How can you beat those Monogram 1/48 kits for 'bang for the buck'? This is excellent despite the decal travails. If you have a decal do that again, try coating one of the remaining decals with  Micro Liquid Decal Film and see if that helps. It does make the decals a little thicker, but may help with edge curling. Just remember that now you have carrier film and will need to trim the decal closely.  Listen to me giving you advice. That's rich. 

[ghodges]

Advice from someone as experienced as yourself is always noted and appreciated! I considered gloss coating the kit sheet, but after the very first decal (the nose stripe) went on without any problems, I decided not to. Even if I had, I'd have never considered using the Micro Scale decal film instead, so I'll have to give that a go in the future if needed. Thanks!

 

Gil