Korean War Lockheed T-33A

1
March 22, 2017
Starting point: the victim, new decals and oven cleaner
2
March 22, 2017
Initial breakdown, not too much damage so far
3
March 22, 2017
And stripped. Damage assessment: canopy OK, not all paint gone yet, one busted main gear, one busted speedbrake and kit a bit less detailed than I remembered. New tip tanks left over from Airfix F-80C build.
4
June 5, 2017
Adding detail to the very basic interior and seats
5
June 5, 2017
Painted cockpit, added nosewheel well. Note bad condition of nose, damaged in earlier build. Trouble ahead...
6
June 5, 2017
Adding main wheel wells and scratchbuilt speedbrakes. Huge gaps around original ones, so better leave them open...
7
June 5, 2017
Main assembly done, lots of filler needed everywhere, especially around the wing.
8
June 5, 2017
Lots of work later, rescribing done, wing root finally OK. Far more work than I expected..
9
June 5, 2017
Tailplanes on, now only smaller detailing ahead before I get to the painting stage.
10
July 12, 2017
Detailing wheel wells
11
July 12, 2017
Cockpit ready, added blind flying hood and associated hoop
12
July 12, 2017
Wheel wells painted and weathered
13
July 12, 2017
Ready for the paint shop
14
July 12, 2017
I did lots of sanding and filling so first a Tamiya gloss black coat. Not too bad, some minor rework done
15
July 12, 2017
Second try with Vallejo Metal Color and uh oh... this did not go well.. Not sure what went wrong, probably thinned paint too much and applied too wet coats.
16
July 12, 2017
Pressing on, spraying on darker color... and damaged paint during masking...
17
July 12, 2017
Re-applying previous color to fix things... this time the paint is pulled off by the masking tape and also rubs of easily. Aargh!
18
July 12, 2017
... think I nailed it now... Wondering if the black base coat was a bad idea.
19
July 12, 2017
No question of masking the anti-glare panel, so making a decal
20
July 12, 2017
Decal sprayed, this is not a bad idea, easier than masking and spraying!
21
July 12, 2017
Finally in the decaling stage, so far so good. Using old Microscale sheet 72-239, with stencils from another (F-80) Microscale sheet.
22
July 12, 2017
And done.. but not without problems. The fuselage band fought me all the way and the tip tank stripes started to disintegrate.
23
July 12, 2017
Some weathering with dark pastel
24
July 12, 2017
Installing the gear, this being a rebuild one main gear is very weak, hope it will not sag over time...
25
July 12, 2017
Installing doors and scratch built speedbrakes
26
July 12, 2017
And we're done. Finally...
27
July 12, 2017
28
July 12, 2017
29
July 12, 2017
Did not turn out as hoped, lots of blemishes, but certainly an improvement over the previous build.

Comments

22 March 2017, 19:58

Hans Zwetsloot
And here we go for another rebuild, rejuvenating the T-33A I built as a teenager ages ago. Will be rebuilt as a Korean War T-33A to better fit in my collection. First up: cockpit and wheel wells.

22 March 2017, 20:06

Hans Zwetsloot
Did not do too much building lately but this one progressed a bit further. I misjudged the condition of the kit, it's a lot more work than I expected. But we're getting there 🙂.

5 June 2017, 18:32

Ekki
Following.

11 June 2017, 15:15

Hans Zwetsloot
Finished another rebuild. Not at all as easy as I expected. Build stage went OK, but had lots of problems with the Vallejo Metal Color, it did not go on well, rubbed off easily and in some areas was pulled of by masking tape. Duh... Maybe it didn't agree with the Tamiya gloss black base coat. Decals gave problems as well due to their age and the complex shapes. Should have treated them with decal bonder first. Nevertheless happy enough with the end result. Just don't look too close 🙂

12 July 2017, 10:15

Hans Zwetsloot
Oh, and during the build I discovered that the tip tanks are the wrong type. Should have been the longer Fletcher underwing tank. Could have sourced these but unfortunately the tip tank stripes were sized for the shorter Lockheed tanks. Oh well...

12 July 2017, 10:19

Łukasz Gliński
Nice one, nevermind the tanks😉

12 July 2017, 11:26

Oleg Smilyk
Nice result!

12 July 2017, 14:48

Ekki
Very good work.

13 July 2017, 16:24

Spanjaard
very nice recycling, you truly give it a second life 🙂

14 July 2017, 17:26

Album info

A rebuild of my very old Hasegawa T-33A, it now fits nicely into my Korean War collection. Rebuild was much more difficult than anticipated, especially the painting and decaling did not go too well. Still, a big improvement over the earlier build.

Lockheed T-33A Korean War

29 images

1:72

Completed

1:72 Korean War Aces #1 (Microscale 72-239)

Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star

US Air Force (1947-now)
49-987 Skoshi Chief
1953 Korean War - Kimpo AB

NMF Natural metal

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