Chinese P-80

[The Rat]

A flurry of (possibly futile) activity has begun, with full knowledge that my legendary procrastination may be my downfall again. Basic cutting and component assembly has been done on the venerable Airfix P-80, and decals from the Airfix Il-28 contain markings for Russian, Polish, and Chinese examples.

So, what if a Shooting Star was downed fairly intact during the Korean War? The Beagle, being a larger aircraft, had larger markings than one might normally find on an aircraft the size of a P-80, so it may require sourcing from some other kit. But we'll see.

[Flyer]

Sounds good. Oversized marking's probably wouldn't be a bad idea, better visibility to uninformed MiG pilots 

[NARSES2]

Sounds good. Oversized marking's probably wouldn't be a bad idea, better visibility to uninformed MiG pilots 

My thoughts as well

[The Rat]

 

No canopy in the kit. I know I have at least two more kits, both opened and one only has bits, and I can't find those canopies either. They had them, and I'm sure this one did.

[frank2056]

Can't you put a small windscreen on and make it an open cockpit?

I even found the Chinese test pilot for you:

[Leading Observer]

Could you adapt a MiG-15 one to fit?

[jcf]

The Lockheed L-159 concept was a proposal to turn the F-80 airframe into a cruise missile. 
Range with a 2,000lb warhead was projected to be approximately 3,000 miles at 520 mph.

Aside from ground-launching from a track, another possible configuration was to have them
launched from a modified transport aircraft, amongst them the R6O-1 Constitution carrying
one under each wing.


Perhaps a quickly modded one-shot attempt to take out a carrier. 

[The Rat]

Nice idea, but...

I FOUND THEM!

Well, 2 of them, so this one is back on. 

[The Rat]

The Airfix P/F-80 is a nicely molded kit, but it has a quirk that is rather inconvient for the modeler. The nose wheel must be placed before gluing the fuselage halves together. It's almost like they wanted to have a retractable gear feature, but gave up after the nose wheel. I haven't glued it yet, so it can be rotated up to lessen the chance of it getting broken during construction. Still a pain.

Nose wheel by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

[PR19_Kit]

That's a REAL pain on almost any model, isn't it? It's asking for the whole leg to be broken off during subsequent PSR and painting sessions.

Revell are very fond of doing that with their 1/144 airliner kits, and I try and modify them so I can assemble the nosewheel later on. Year after year I go to the Revell stand at Telford and give them a tough time over it. Do they take any notice? NO! 

[jcf]

My usual approach when dealing with that is to slot the mounting 'sockets' so
the landing gear can be pushed up into place after assembly and painting.

[The Rat]

My usual approach when dealing with that is to slot the mounting 'sockets' so
the landing gear can be pushed up into place after assembly and painting.

Exactly what I was going to do, once I thought of it. Which was about 10 minutes after joining the fuselage. 

[jcf]

  Sod's Law strikes. 

[The Rat]

Sod's Law strikes.