F-106 - 318th FIS, McChord AFB, 1972 (Completed)
Consider this a proof-of-concept exercise. Despite the wiring looking pretty cool, I'm going to seal these up. The open panels really disrupt the cool lines of this sleek bird.
The detail of the Meng resin landing gear bays is very good, but the fit is awful. The resin part is 1-2mm smaller than the opening in the kit.
A better view of the gap
Even after removing most of the material from one side, there’s no way to resin is going fit without serious alteration.
White metal landing gears primed.
Proud of the fancy masking I pulled off here: burnt iron inside and steel outside.
Touch ups after sanding and filing.
After some research I determined that the landing gears on this particular plane at the time depicted by this decal set would still have been painted silver.
Unfortunately the CA glue on the resin had already set when I noticed this little gap.
The resin nozzle is supposed to fit over this notch, but as you can see, it does not.
And then I realized that part of the afterburner and fuselage would be visible. I don’t think it’s called out in the instructions. If it is, I certainly didn’t see it.
Some last second priming. Photos show that the interior here is dark interior green.
I’ll use steel paint for the part here that can be seen.
The landing gear bay is too deep to fit with the intake tubes intact.
It wouldn't really have been seen anyway, but it's a shame Meng's resin parts fit so poorly.
A little card to align the intakes with the fuselage.
I wonder if I might have been able to match these parts better if they'd been installed after joining the wings to the fuselage. Not knowing any better, I followed the kit instructions.
The fit problem here isn't the wings. It's the intakes that need to come down a little. They can be made to fit under pressure, but there's no clear way to clamp them down.
I'm hoping the tape has enough tension to keep the intakes meshed with the wing assembly. I'll wait at least 24 hours before removing the tape to give the cement time to cure fully and let the plastic settle.
This effort proved more successful. I managed to seat the wing root and intakes properly, though there are still some gaps to fill.
Cleaning tiny parts. I do not enjoy this process.
It feels like the first one took me half an hour to clean up and assemble. I was quicker with the later ones, but it was still a chore. I do like drilling out the tiny exhaust nozzles though...
A little Vallejo putty in the smaller gaps. Great product!
Tamiya white for the bigger gaps. I'll clean with thinner to avoid sanding away too much detail.
I ought to have paid better attention when cementing these two pieces together. The bottom aligns properly, which is important structurally, but it left a horrendous gap. I flowed in some CA glue, so I can sand and rescribe. (Some idiot left a fingerprint there.)
Filled, sanded, scribed and riveted. This turned out all right.
The putty interacted with the plastic much more than I'd expected. Removing the excess without sanding was a real chore.
Priming and sanding really works to show you where you need more filler.
The rudder sits a little too deep in the tail. It looks like it’s meant to be flush, but I didn’t want to do so much sanding.
The panel lines around the intakes are probably too deep. I’ll see how they look after the next priming.
The "burnish and cut" method worked really well for the masking here. Unfortunately the detail wasn't as well molded on the canopy. The technique didn't work as well there, resulting in some unfortunate scratches (not pictured).
I added some filler to the panel lines around the inlets and sanded them down; hopefully they'll be a bit more subtle now. Unfortunately I discovered that the instrument panel sits a little proud of the fuselage and won't let the windscreen seat properly. It's less than a millimeter, but I've added some styrene shims to make it fit. I'll fill in the rest with Vallejo putty.
Even with the shims it's not a bad fit. I'll pose the canopy open, so the gap won't be noticed. The extra tape is there while the PVA glue dries.
This little gap has held up the whole build for almost three days. I think maybe I’ve finally got it!
Had some paint problems, so I'll need to do these once again.
30-year-old decals received another layer of decal film.
Pieces ready for assembly.
I've been through a lot of photos, and not once did I find an F-106 that wasn't in nearly pristine condition. No preshading, no mottling, just a smooth ADC gray all over.
A few touch-ups and then it’s ready for the gloss coat.
Seems that the aqua gloss caused some of the silver paint to flake off. I've been able to clean most of it away with a cotton swab. Still disappointing.
Extremely grainy.
I've no idea how old these decals are, but fortunately these have held up so far. The edges have needed some coaxing to lay flat though.
Careful repeated applications of Mark Fit Strong and/or Mr. Mark Softer and gentle pressure from a moistened cotton swab have tamed the edges pretty well. These are the largest of the decals and the ones I was most worried about.
The anti-glare area was a little off, so I masked and repainted.
Masked with poster tack. Worked well!
Left side mostly finished
Clear gloss applied. There are a few decals to go on the weapons bay doors and the missiles, but other than those, decals are basically done.
Clear green over silver and then a drop of Krystal Klear. I dig the effect! I think it works.
Top half gloss coated.
Now on to the weapons bay
Very fiddly assembly
Masked and primed.
I’m experimenting with panel line washes a little. I want to try and bring in a little blue to reflect the slight tint seen in photos.
This may be a little too dark, but I really like it.
Finished!
You can see a small gap where the bays on the wings meet the fuselage. It turns out that the bays should have been seated flush, leaving a gap toward the wing tips. The landing gear bay doors have a tab that would fit perfectly in this gap. There's nothing in the limited instructions that accompany the resin kit to indicate this. If I'd known to seat the bays closer to the fuselage, I might not have had to remove so much material from the wings, and they might have fit better from the start. Hopefully my experience pays off for someone else!
Comments
49 9 April 2023, 17:07
Ogre-TromboneI'm finding this to be a complicated kit with lots of fragile parts. I spent a good 30 minutes going through the instructions, making notes, and planning. I think I have a good approach now, so I should be able to pick up the pace. I hit a wall deciding how to assemble the missile bay, which I'd like to display open. Basically I'm going to mask the area and leave it unassembled until the very end. Once the rest of the model is basically finished, I'll assemble the interior of the bay, mask off the surrounding area, prime and paint (since everything inside is basically green). There's no way all those fiddly bits would have survived assembly, filling and sanding, painting and all the rest. This seems like the safest way to do it.
13 April 2023, 17:07
Slavo HazuchaThat's a truckload of detail and that in 72-scale - and looking all great! 👍🏻
What you describe with the resin reminds me about making the mistake once of trying to combine Aires LG wells for Hobby Boss to a Kinetic kit (same aircraft of course 😄) - that was really a mess...
Keep up the good work, a very promising looking dart so far!!
16 April 2023, 08:08
CaptGPFLove the super detailing work you are putting into the kit. Can't wait to see how the Dart comes out!
20 April 2023, 16:17
Ogre-TromboneI've used Alcad II Aqua Gloss several times now, and I still don't know how quite how to use it. I've tried building it up in thin layers like an acrylic, but it only ends up grainy. I have better luck spraying it on wet, but then I risk flooding the surface. I almost always end up wet-sanding out the rough patches. Any advice would be welcome!
17 May 2023, 03:57
CarloI have had problems sometimeswhen applying a clear coat over gloss paints i.e it tended to bead and not flow, so I gave the gloss paint a sanding to take the gloss off, which gave a better result. What did you use as the base coat ? Maybe a higher pressure for clear coat as well ?
17 May 2023, 05:50
Ogre-Trombone@Carlo, the base coat is Mig Ammo, which is a satin finish. I don't think it was beading up as much as it seems to be a skill/technique issue. There was a little graininess in the primer layer, which I thought I'd sanded away, but maybe that's carrying over to the subsequent layers as well.
Adding that other parts of the plane seem to have come out OK, where I think I was laying it on a little wetter and more directly. Higher pressure might help atomize the gloss better, so I may give that a try.
17 May 2023, 14:16
Ogre-TromboneI tracked down more reference photos and confirmed the location of a few remaining stencils, so I'll be placing those tonight. These 40 year old old decals have held up well, but they take some care to coax into place. This is the build that never ends!
After those are done, I'll seal them in with a gloss coat and then start work on the weapons bay and landing gears. Based on my experience with the decals, I was wise to build in this order, but it's a little weird that there's still so much construction to be done on what is basically a finished model.
2 June 2023, 18:23
