Beyond The Sprues
Current and Finished Projects => Physical Models => Aero-space => Topic started by: Brian da Basher on February 13, 2017, 04:13:27 AM
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(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_001.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_001.jpg.html)
While the U.S. Air Force was proud of its Shooting Star jet fighter, it sought the improved performance of swept wing technology. Lockheed was commissioned to perform design studies which soon became a prototype.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_003.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_003.jpg.html)
That prototype exceeded all expectations in flight tests and was quickly ordered into production.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_002.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_002.jpg.html)
Originally conceived as an upgraded F-80, the prototype was called the F-80SW due to its swept flying surfaces. Since the new aircraft only had 20% parts commonality with the Shooting Star, it was eventually given its own unique designation. Thus the F-98 Super Star was born.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_004.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_004.jpg.html)
Seen as the ultimate progression of a design that had its roots in W.W. II, the Super Star entered service too late to see action over Korea.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_005.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_005.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_006.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_006.jpg.html)
The aircraft was deployed anywhere the U.S. Air Force felt the need for a robust air defense. By 1956 five squadrons of Super Stars were based in West Germany.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_008.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_008.jpg.html)
That year would be pivotal indeed, not only for the Super Star but for the fate of the world.
While 1983's Able Archer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83) has become legendary, less known is the drill that set the standard 27 years earlier.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/top%20secret%20exercise.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/top%20secret%20exercise.jpg.html)
N.A.T.O. forces were drilled so often that these things had become almost routine. 1956's Bravo Bowler alert exercise seemed more prosaic than most as it only involved testing command & control communications under simulated war conditions. No one at N.A.T.O. from the Secretary General to the janitor saw any cause for concern.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_010.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_010.jpg.html)
The flurry of radio traffic between various N.A.T.O. commands did not go unnoticed by the Soviets and they nudged their forces closer to war in response as they had no way of knowing this was merely an exercise.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_009.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_009.jpg.html)
Just before sundown on February 19th, the N.A.T.O. BLEW NET or Brussels Local Early Warning network picked up what appeared to be an enormous aerial armada. F-98 Super Stars from the 247th fighter squadron were scrambled to intercept the bogeys.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_010.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_010.jpg.html)
As word of the scrambled fighters made its way to various N.A.T.O. units, what had started as a mere communications exercise suddenly became very real.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_011.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_011.jpg.html)
It seemed an eternity until the intruders were identified. Finally, a flight of Super Stars led by Major "Red" Butcher made contact with the unidentified invaders.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_012.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_012.jpg.html)
A collective sigh of relief was breathed all up and down the N.A.T.O. chain of command as the bogeys turned out to be only migrating cormorants. "Red" Butcher and his flight returned home to base.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_013.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_013.jpg.html)
Unfortunately, the scrambled Super Stars caused Communist forces to up their alert level yet again which in turn caused an increase in alertness in the west.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_014.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_014.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_015.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_015.jpg.html)
Things eventually reached DefConned 1.67 before cooler heads prevailed and tensions decreased to their usual hair-trigger state.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_019.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_019.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_018.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_018.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_017.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_017.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_016.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_016.jpg.html)
The only tangible result of this mini-crisis was when the Super Stars jettisoned their drop-tanks to pursue the bogeys.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_021.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_021.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_020.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_020.jpg.html)
Those tanks, dropped from 35,000 feet, fell to earth just over the Iron Curtain and wrecked the Red Army Bowl-O-Drome in Ost Bumfeld.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_023.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_023.jpg.html)
The F-98 Super Star would eventually be replaced by more modern types as the 1960's dawned and eventually faded from memory.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_024.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_024.jpg.html)
No Super Stars survive today and the powers that be were successful in erasing everything from the record except for one small artifact discovered after the 247th disbanded.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/trophy%20bb.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/trophy%20bb.jpg.html)
To this day, enthusiasts often mis-identify the few grainy photos of Super Stars publicly available as Saab Lansens and only one kit of the F-98 was ever made, a rather crude offering by the Heckno company. Still, for one brief moment, the F-98 defended the West against Commie aggression.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_025.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_025.jpg.html)
Brian da Basher
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This all started with a venerable 1/72 Airfix F-80 Shooting Star a good friend sent a while back (thanks a million, Bill!)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/Airfix%20F-80%20boxart.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/Airfix%20F-80%20boxart.jpg.html)
Isn't that box art great? You can almost smell the kerosene. What's inside is pretty nice too, especially given the kit's 1960's vintage.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/Airfix%20F-80%20kit.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/Airfix%20F-80%20kit.jpg.html)
I've always had a huge soft-spot for the Shooting Star. Not only because it was the first U.S. jet fighter to see service in any numbers, but it's also very easy on the eyes. Still, I often wondered what an upgraded version with swept wings would look like. Fortunately, the wings from a 1/144 Airfix 737 and the tail feathers from a 1/250 Lindberg DC-8 were willing to be sacrificed for the cause.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_01.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_01.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_02.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_02.jpg.html)
I also had to use one of the kit's drop tank halves for a canopy since the original part went missing. Initially I saw this as a draw-back but got to like the lower, sleeker look.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_03.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_03.jpg.html)
It turned out I'd tossed the kit canopy in a box of spare clear parts to keep it safe. Of course, I didn't remember this until the model was built. Doesn't it always seem to turn out this way?
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_04.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_04.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_05.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_05.jpg.html)
Things might improve with a load-out. A couple of Fuji T-1 drop tanks were added.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_06.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_06.jpg.html)
After this, it was off to the paint shop. The old hairy stick was used to apply the acrylics, pretty much all Model Masters Primer Gray.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_01.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_01.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_04.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_04.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_03.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_03.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_02.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_02.jpg.html)
Model Masters Insignia Blue was used on the canopy which was then given multiple coats of Liquitex acrylic Artist's Gloss Medium to get it all nice and shiny.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_06.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_06.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_05.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_05.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_07.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_07.jpg.html)
The tailpipe and nose guns & radar panel were painted and the it was time for decals.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_08.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_prog_xpaint_08.jpg.html)
Most of them are from an Airfix F-86 Sabre.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_000_upper.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_000_upper.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_00_under.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_00_under.jpg.html)
The U.S. Air Force titles were swiped from a 1/144 B-47 sheet and the squadron insignia on the nose were made for a 1/48 P-36.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_026.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_026.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_027.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_027.jpg.html)
While applying the tail markings, the idea came to me to add a blue stripe on top of the yellow one. I thought this would compliment that squadron insignia on the nose.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_030.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_030.jpg.html)
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_029.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_029.jpg.html)
I had a blast building this kit over the past two weeks and I'm grateful to Bill for enabling me to see this concept take form.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_030.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_030.jpg.html)
I hope you enjoyed the story of the F-98 Super Star and reading a little more overlooked aircraft history.
(http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g392/Bri2k/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_028.jpg) (http://s1099.photobucket.com/user/Bri2k/media/F-98%20Super%20Star/F-98_028.jpg.html)
Brian da Basher
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Brian, this is indeed a most excellent kit bash. The 1:144th scale wings blend well with the 1:72nd scale fuselage and it reminds me just a little of the Saab Lansen and the F-93 Super-Duper Sabre.
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Brian, I love the F-80, and this swept wing makes it an even cooler and sexier plane! The wider wingspan looks good.
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Beautiful and plausible!! That looks better than Lockheed's F-80D/E studies for swept-wing F-80's. Beautiful build job, too.
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Great improvement for the F-80 Shooting Star! Congratulations! :-*
(Thanks for explaining the wing came from a 737, I was almost sure it was from a F-86: I have not enough imagination ??? ) ;)
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Gorgeous with the usual great backstory!
Alvis 3.1
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The airliner wings suit her very well - looking like a proper jet now. :)
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:) What can I say? Outstanding!
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Lovely design! :) Sure improves the F-80's looks.
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Great job, BdB! :)
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That's a cracker BdB :-* :-* :-*
Kit (PR19-Kit) would really appreciate those long wings ;D would you mind if I posted a pic or two over on the What-If Forum
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That's a cracker BdB :-* :-* :-*
Kit (PR19-Kit) would really appreciate those long wings ;D would you mind if I posted a pic or two over on the What-If Forum
I'm really glad you like it and feel free to post it over there. Those guys haven't seen anything from me for quite a while.
Brian da Basher
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The wider wingspan looks good.
She would have banked and turned like a semi, but excelled at high altitude interception. Not a horrible compromise for 1954. :)
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I happened to see something similar on the other site: F-80SW http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,40221.45.html (http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,40221.45.html)
Great minds think alike...
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Oh come ON! Just when you think you've seen the best, BdB brings out something like this! Just beautiful and so real looking.
Have you thought of doing the RF 80 the same?
God I hate you you wonderful whatifer you, and of course love the kite. :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
Now go away and give the rest of us a chance, you brilliant chap you. ;) ;)
Ian
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Oh come ON! Just when you think you've seen the best, BdB brings out something like this! Just beautiful and so real looking.
Have you thought of doing the RF 80 the same?
God I hate you you wonderful whatifer you, and of course love the kite. :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
Now go away and give the rest of us a chance, you brilliant chap you. ;) ;)
Ian
Gotta chime in with pigflyer. With all the fine configurations you built, as best I remember, this is my favorite. Markings are period correct convincing. :-*