**** DONE: GB-44 1/48 RF-101C - Military A/C of post-war time

[Donivanp]

Username : donivanp
First name : Don
Category : intermediate
Scale : 1/48
Manufacturer / Model : Kitty Hawk RF-101C&G/H
Extras : Extra decals (not sure yet which I'll use) Possible use of resin exhaust: Eduard cockpit

As mentioned the kit ha been started but just a bit.

 

[Donivanp]

Using a post from "The Modeling News" The Modelling News: Dry Fit Review: Gary puts together the KittyHawk 1:48 McDonnell RF-101C & G/H as an online help on how to corret this kit.

More on that to come.

 

[vandee]

Nice start Don. My goof.

 

[A4K]

Nice one John, but you'll need to set up your own thread for your build, this one's Don's

 

[Donivanp]

Reconnaissances was the original use of military aviation!

The ability to look over the next hill and see what your opponent was up to. During the United Sates Civil War, balloons were used to look out and observe and report what troop movements were being done.

The first uses of powered flight by military services were to observe opposing forces. The US used them in the pursuit of Pancho Villa and this was the first uses in WWI, The Great War.

Later came the adaptation of the fighter aircraft to stop the reconnaissances aircraft from getting their information back. This in-turn resulted in reconnaissance aircraft being based on the latest fighter type aircraft with cameras instead of guns.

The McDonnell RF-101A/C was of this design and as an offshoot of a fighter version, it was to far out shadow its original. The F-101A/C was designed to be a long range bomber escort for the Strategic Air Command (SAC) but just as they started making deliveries of the new fighter, SAC deciding it would not work and no longer wanted them, transferred the new fighter to Tactical Air Command (TAC). With a limited production run of only 77 F-101As and 47Cs (the main difference between an A and a C is that the A was stressed to 6.33 Gs and the C was stressed to 7.33 Gs) all assigned to the 81st TFW at Bergstrom AFB, TX as high speed tactical nuclear bombers. Not being much use in Texas, they were transferred to Bentwaters RAFB England and as a whole had a relative short lifespan.

The RF-101A/C on the other had was to have a much more lively career. Starting on 27 November 1957, TAC wanted to show off its new Thoroughbred by putting on a record breaking transcontinental speed run. From Los Angles California, to New York, New York and back again. Than in October 1960 the new reconnaissance bird over flew Cuba in support of the Cuban Missile crisis, bringing back vital photographic information on what was being done about the instillation of nuclear missiles in Cuba. Just one short year later, in October 1961, the RF-101Cs were deployed by the 67th TRS to Vietnam.

THE MODEL

Being the only version of the VooDoo family to see combat, I felt Kitty Hawk would have released it first, but they chose to release the single seat fighter F-101A/C first, and then the critics chimed in, and rightly so. For a kit that cost $80.00 plus there were a lot of mistakes. The intakes were of the version used by the two seat F-101B/F and not any version of the single seater. The Decal sheet had all the buzz numbers wrong in spite of the fact the box artwork was correct? Really? There were many other issues, some correctable some not so much by the modeler.

It took Kitty Hawk near five year to get around to the RF variants and they still got it wrong! All of the original issues and new ones, as they did not change the cockpit instrument panel! The RF version and the single seat fighter version have different IP layouts.

Well having wanted a 1/48th reccee VooDoo for decades and not really wanting to do a conversion, which would have had most all the same issues as the new production kit plus some, I bought two when they came out. I do feel I am rewarding bad behavior but what else can you do.

Print Scale came out with a set of RF-101 VooDoo decals a couple of years before Kitty Hawk announced that they would do a VooDoo line and I had purchased that set as I did have the vacuform conversion set (well two of them) but I couldn't make myself dig into that. Caracal has released two sets for the kit as well. I strongly recommend these sets if you plan on doing one.

The kit does come with two different noses, one for the A/C variants and one for the G/H. The G is an F-101A conversion and the H is a C conversion.

 

[Donivanp]

Nice start Don. My goof.

NP we have all had one or a dozen ;-]

 

[fubar57]

Looking forward to it Don

 

[vandee]

I built the 1/72 Hasegawa RF-101C a few years ago. Will be watching this with interest.- John

 

[Airframes]

Nice one Don ........ BUT, please edit the thread title to show what the subject is ; it's not currently shown until looking at the kit manufacturer etc.

 

[Donivanp]

Nice one Don ........ BUT, please edit the thread title to show what the subject is ; it's not currently shown until looking at the kit manufacturer etc.

Got it thanks.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Don.

 

[Wurger]

I have edited the title....

 

[Donivanp]

Thank you for fixing my screw up, AGAIN!

Okay, so lets look at the kit in detail, I have two so I used the unstarted kit to show the sprue break down.

The kit is for the most part the F-101A/C kit with different noses and decals as well as clears.

Changed sprues!

RF-101G/H nose

RF/101A/C nose

RF-101A/C

RF-101G/H

Kit markings

 

[Donivanp]

After market decals

Print Scale

Caracal RF-101C part 1

Caracal RF-101C part 2

Eduard cockpit

 

[Donivanp]

Reference material

Although Kitty Hawk asked for Detail & Scales help on the kit, they seem to have ignored most of their advice. Below is the RF-101C IP, note the difference with the F-101C below.

I've had this book for about 35 years. I love the color photos of the war time birds.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Donivanp]

So now, as they say, On with the show, this is it!

I have already glued the upper and lower wings together and cut the intake to desired length and shape.

Here is a comparison of the original intake with the modified intakes

The kit does not start with the cockpit but with the intakes and exhaust nozzles.

I had already started both,

So today I've moved on to some painting and PE work. The PE set at first looks to be thick and very heavy. Upon looking closer, it has a heavy clear protective film on both sides. It is very nicely done once (PE wise) once the film is removed. The concept they devised though for the AB can and petals armature, IMHO, leaves a lot to be desired. I do have and very well may use AM resin exhaust cans.

Working up the intakes and painting,

And I had already glued the nose together. Of point i was not happy with KH lack of interest in filling the nose. Hasegawa put all the cameras in their RF-4B/C in 1/48th as did Tan models 1/48th RF-84 Thunderflash. Comparable priced (or even lower) and I would expect more then being offered. KH has not shown to be All they can be!

 

[fubar57]

Good start. If I had my druthers, I would have glued the nose halves to their respective fuselage halve. I've only had to do it twice but I got a better fit and less filling/sanding

 

[Wurger]

 

[Donivanp]

Good start. If I had my druthers, I would have glued the nose halves to their respective fuselage halve. I've only had to do it twice but I got a better fit and less filling/sanding

As a rule, I agree with you on this, and I can't recall why I did it this way, but I had a reason for doing it. I'm going through on this one but may do the other like you suggest.