F-102C - Center Sucker

[frank2056]

I have an Arii 1/144 F-102A kit that has been sitting mostly built (and with a coat of aluminum!) in its box for a long while... I just haven't been motivated to finish it. My pile of almost finished kits has been bugging me recently, so I decided to do something with the F-102.

As I was falling asleep the other night, I thought "What would an F-102 look like with a nose intake? A Mig-21 intake?"

The next morning, I rummaged through my aircraft bits and found the intake cone from a 1/100 Tamiya Mig-21. A short time later (and much less PSR than I had expected) the F102A went from:

It has a sad:


to this - much better:


Here's a side view with the original canopy. I've also started to tweak the tail:



And with a modified canopy from a Tamiya 1/100 Me-262:



Which canopy looks better?
F102A:


Or Me-262:


This little plane looks like an evil and twisted mix of an F-102, Mig-21 and BAC Lightning. Or, the evolution of the XF-92A into the F-102A. I like it so far; almost like mixing peanut butter with chocolate.

Still no back story, though.

[Jschmus]

I was going to say, it looks almost like a straight evolution from the XF-92, if they had held onto the nose intake.  The PSR seems to have given the fuselage a bit of area-ruling.  Was this intentional?

[RotorheadTX]

She looks better with the 262 canopy, IMHO.
Bloody brilliant clever - needs a BMF-and-Red-stars finish. 

[Taiidantomcat]

Great idea!  Like you said, looks like it could be from a few nations as well 

[denodon]

looks neat to me, always liked jets with nose intakes.
Both canopies look good. The 262 one is better for its slightly further back placement but the standard 102 canopy seems to suit the angular nose intake better.

[Cobra]

has an Almost Gerry Anderson Feel to it! have you Decided on Paint Scheme & Markings Yet? if you do,how about using a Shark's Maouth on it? Can't wait to see more! Dan

[deathjester]

It definitely looks better with the F-102 canopy - much sleeker.  The whole thing looks like an in service evolution of the original Contain XF-92 design, the rocket / ramjet version!

[sotoolslinger]

That's cool as heck is what that is

[sandiego89]

Nice.  Another vote for the 102 canopy. 

[Scooterman]

262 canopy.  Red stars and don't forget wing fences!  In Soviet Russia, wing fences keep you straight, comrade!

[frank2056]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!

...The PSR seems to have given the fuselage a bit of area-ruling.  Was this intentional?

The F-102 prototype didn't have area ruling, but the F-102A did. I think that filling in the intake area and fairing it into the new nose cone makes it look like it's wider than the original - it's pretty much the same width; I cut the fuselage where the Mig-21 nose cone dia. matched the F-102 body the best, which just happened to be just ahead of the cockpit. The gaps were filled in with scrap plastic and superglue & talc putty, then sanded smooth.

I'll probably go with the 262 canopy, since it's clearer. It's much lower now.

The plane's nationality is still up in the air - it has wing fences already and I trimmed the pointy tail so it looks a little more Soviet now.

have you Decided on Paint Scheme & Markings Yet? if you do,how about using a Shark's Maouth on it?

I'll think about a BMF - the plastic on this kit is not the best and the panel lines look way out of scale under an aluminum coat. I do have a few shark mouth decals.

[Weaver]

That looks great!  

One suggestion - the canopy's maybe a bit too near the nose now, possibly making the swerve in the intakes to pass around it a bit too sharp. Since you've going to have to PSR it anyway (my vote is for the 262 canopy as well), why not take the opportunity to move it a little further back as well, possibly by about half a canopy length?

Here's a quick'n'dirty I did of the idea:

[Brian da Basher]

That's an excellent concept, Frank! I like the 262 canopy and the pug nose. It gives this baby a certain charm. Maybe this is what could've happened if Convair built the Lightning on license.

Brian da Basher

P.S. If you put RAF markings on it, I bet you'd be able to gaslight more than a few people!

[frank2056]

I finally finished this. The old ARII kit has its issues, especially with the decals. Last week I painted the plane with a dark gray overall and applied the decals (with Future as a setting agent) and a couple still managed to silver (or at least show the outline of the carrier) so I removed all the paint and went with an all aluminum finish.

I didn't do a great job with the plastic prep (plus the ARRI plastic was grainy) so the resulting paint job was below my standards. Still, in 1/144 scale it looks good from a couple of feet away.

On a  printed tarmac:


I used the tail codes from the DML F-15 vs Mig-29 kit.



The different metallic shades were accomplished by hand brushing MM Metalizer Steel and Dark Anodonic Gray over the aluminum. Some panels have hand painted aluminum, which produces yet another finish effect. I used Vallejo matte clear to seal the decals.

[sequoiaranger]

>applied the decals (with Future as a setting agent) and a couple still managed to silver <

On a NMF aircraft, I would think "silvering" would be OK! 

Nice looking aircraft for a "lawn dart"!