1172 Scale I Construction

. . . . cvln C

Fitting aftermarket
parts and solving
the problems of a
pre-owned vintage kit
BY LEON SIMPSON

orth American Aviation's Sabre 45 (so called for the sweep of its Leon used solid fundamentals
wings) was the successor to the great F -86 Sabre series. In May and a patient approach to revive
an old, beat-up Esci F- 1000. A flawless
1953, after completion of two mockups and more than 100 design
narural-metol Finish and Flashy decals helped ...........
changes, the first Super Sabre, the YF-100, took to the skies - and him model Fighter ace Col. Raymond Tolliver's
with it was born the famous Century Series of US. fighters. F-looD, Triple Zilch.
The F -100 went through many more changes before reaching its zenith
with the D model, with a strengthened structure, arresting hook, separate Resin and photoetched metal
inboard flaps and RHAW antennas in its tail as its most visible distinguishing I scrubbed the resin parts with a soft tooth­
brush and a bit of dish soap to remove any
features.
residual mold release, then let the parts air
Esci's old F -100D is still one of the best in 1172 scale. With modifications, dry.
it has been reissued by Ertl, !taleri, Revell, even Tamiya - and I was lucky To make it easier to handle and paint, I
enough to find one on the Internet for only $20, with Aires detail sets for the attached the seat to the end of a cut-off
cockpit and wheel wells included. It seemed quite a bargain - but what I got toothpick, 1; the sharp end can be stuck in
something to hold the part while paint
was a big bag of plastic parts with a broken wingtip, a scratched and chipped dries. .
clear part, detail sets in various states of disarray with a resin piece wrongly Working with 1172 scale photoetched­
super glued to a half of the fuselage, and an ancient, yellowed set of instruc­ metal details can be tricky. Nothing like
tions. When I realized the film part for the instrument panel was missing, I having to use your best tweezers to pull a
decided to spring for an Eduard Zoom photoetched-metal detail set. 1172 seat belt from under your fingernail­
So, I knew this bird wouldn't just fall together - but that's what real model­ and never mind how I learned it's a good
idea to wear eye protection. I like to use a
ing is all about, right? rounded blade to remove parts from the fret

24 FineScale Modele.. April 2010

A toothpick makes a handy stand Leon cuts dosely with a curved A locking tweezers - also known as Leon made a super-glue applicator
for painting a 1/72 scale ejection blade to detach photoetched-rnetal a hemostat - secures a photo­ by opening the eye of a needle and
seat. parts from the fret. etched-metal part while Leon sands mounting the other end in a tooth­
off its attachment paint. pick handle.

Eduard and Aires parts grace the Leon likes a technical pen for tiny There are fancier metal-bending The cockpit tub tokes shape; Leon
seat, providing a lot of detail in a panels, saying irs precise and easy tools, but a couple of razors do the left out the seat until he was sure of
little space. to correct. trick for Leon. the canopy fit.

Tapiilg down the photoetched-rnetal Carefully applied paint and Pledge Future floor palish for lenses Pitfalls of a partially built kit - the previous
instrument panel holds it in place give the instrument panel a pleasing complexity. owner hocked up the fuselage edges trying to
for painting. fit an aftermarket cockpit, then gave up.

without sending them airborne. With a
rocking motion, cut as near to the part as
possible, 2. If parts get slightly bent, you
can flatten them back out by rolling them
between your fingernail and a hard, smooth
surface.
No matter how closely you cut, some
trace of the attachment point will probably
remain. Put the part in locking tweezers
with only the stub protruding, then use a
diamond file or sanding stick to remove the
stub,3.
Attach photoetched-metal or resin parts
with super glue. You can use a toothpick to
dispense tiny dabs of glue, but I like a tool I
made by grinding out the eye of a needle
and mounting it in a toothpick, 4. The tiny
fork at the tip delivers super glue precisely.
Painting the cockpit
After installing Aires and Eduard pho­
toetched-metal parts on the seat, I was
ready to paint the cockpit. The Aires
instructions didn't mention color, the old
Esci instructions said light blue (urn, no),
and my references said only light or
medium gray. I went with Humbrol U.S.
ghost grey (No. 127), 5.
Take your time with detail painting.
Look away occasionally to readjust your
eyes; when you look back, often you'll see
spots you missed. You might even try a pair
of magnifYing glasses; the inexpensive gro­
cery-store kind works great.
I airbrushed the base color in the cock­
pit tub, let it dry, then traced details with a
fine-point black technical pen. Ifyou make
a mistake,just let it dry, paint over it, and
redraw. I like it better than the usual paint­
then-dry-brush technique, 6.
Once the tub was painted and inked, I
moved on to bending the photoetched­
metal launch rails for the ejection seat. You
can buy a bending tool, but I use two utility .
razor blades, one as a holder and one as a
bender. Lay the part on the bench, put the
edge of the holder blade on the line of the
bend, then slide the bender blade under the
part and lift it to make the bend, 7 - and
be careful.
Tip: Before bending the metal, anneal it
by heating it over a candle flame to make
the metal more malleable.
Using the seat as a guide, I placed the
rails, then added and painted remaining

April 2010 WW1oY_FineScale_colft Z5

Not Leon, lOOugh - he tacked the Gradual sanding and constant test- The cockpit fit now, but Leon still had a long way to go to close the canopy.
resin cockpit tub in place and went fits made way for precise place-
to working on situating it. ment·of the tub.

Styrene repair

'------- Kit

~Aires

Sheet styrene, sanded to shape, restored the fuselage sides to their proper At the top, the kit's nose-wheel bay; below, the resin replacement.
height.

After more shaving and sanding, The new bay and instrument panel Leon tacked the fuselage and wings together and checked the model's bal­
the nose-wheel bay was a worthy helped Leon determine placement ance by letting the plane teeter on his fingers.
addition. of the cockpit tub, too.

details such as the throttle and rudder ped­
als, 8. I left the seat out to check canopy
clearance later.
Instrument panel
I used the Eduard instrument panel,
attaching it to a box with a bit of masking
tape to make it easy to airbrush, 9.
The next day, when the paint was dry, I
used the technical pen as before to outline
bezels and other details. I brushed Pledge
Future floor polish on the panel's mount,
which was plenty of adhesive for the thin
photoetched-metal part. Tiny drops of
Future applied with a fine brush replicated
instrument glass, 10.
Correcting for the canopy
The Aires cockpit set was meant to be used
with an open canopy, but the previous
owner of my kit apparently had tried to
install it and close the ·canopy. Then, with
the canopy sitting way too high, he had
carved away the cockpit sill and walls
before giving up, 11.
The only solution I could see for the
problem was to continue sanding down the
sides of the cockpit opening until the resin
tub would fit, then reestablishing lost plas­
tic to fit the canopy. So, I taped the fuselage
halves together and set to work, using the
resin part frquently to check my progress,
12. When I was satisfied, I removed the
tape and worked the insides of the fuselage
halves,13.
The next day, cup of coffee in hand, I
looked forward to a bit of quiet, early
morning modeling - but when I test-fitted
the canopy again, I realized the kit's previ­
ous owner also had ground down the tops
of the canopy sills on the fuselage halves.
What a gap! 14.
But I wasn't going to give up. I used sty­
rene sheet to rebuild the kit parts, slowly
sanding it to shape and rescribing lost panel
lines, 15.
The cockpit tub had no positive location
points left, so I installed the nose-wheel bay
first to help situate the tub. The wheel bay
was worth the extra work; it is quite an
improvement over the kit part, 16. Minor
surgery was required, but the patient came
through fine, 1 7.
Next, I attached the Eduard instrument
panel to further guide the tub's location,
18. Check the fit with the fuselage halves
often; don't just cram the tub in one fuse­

26 FineScale Modeler April2010

Lead weights placed out of sight in the forward fuselage keep the jet from With weights and cockpit in place, Lean glued and clamped the fuselage.
being a tailsitter.

Working cautiously, Lean gradually cut open the lower wing to receive the Setting his motor tool at low speed, Nervous work: The wing had to be
resin main gear boy. Lean cut slowly and checked often hollowed for the outboard bay
to get the opening right. without breaking through the plas­
tic above it.

Holding the plastic up to a light helped Lean gauge his progress. The resin bay fit fine from below ...

[age half and expect it to fit like a kit part.
Once the instrument panel fit, I joined it,
the nose-wheel well, and the decking at the
rear of the cockpit, checked the fit one last
time, then applied a generous amount of
super glue to bond the tub to the top of the
wheel well.
A balanced approach
Have you ever built a tailsitter? You proudly
set a newly completed model on its landing
gear ... and it rocks back and sticks its nose
in the air.
To prevent your model plane from tail­
sitting, tack together all the main compo­
nents (fuselage, wing, tail, radome, etc.)
with masking tape, then balance it on your
fingers where the main gear struts will
attach, 19. Ifit tips toward the nose, you're
golden. If not, you need to weight the nose.
I attach lead fishing-line weights, also
called split shot, with super glue. Ifyou
have a nose intake, like on this plane, you
have to find a spot as far forward as possi­
ble in the fuselage, 20.
After a quick check to make sure I'd left
nothing out, I joined the fuselage with
Testors liquid cement and clamped it with
tape and clothespins, 21 .
Well, well
Now for the really tricky part - that beauti­
ful resin wheel well in the lower wing. I
removed a lot of plastic, 22, working
slowly with a small cutting burr in a motor
tool set on low speed. (Don't forget eye pro­
tection.) When I had the rough opening,
23, I sanded for the final fit.
Next came the smaller, outboard wells,
24. Not trusting the Aires instructions, I
test-fitted repeatedly, removing material bit
by bit. To avoid wearing through the wing,
stop frequently and hold the part up to
your workbench light. Areas that are thin­
ner than their surroundings will look
lighter, 25. When it gets really light, it's
time to quit!
Once I had a good fit, I held the part in
place, looking at the other side to check
position. Then I marked the location on the
working side so I would know I had it right
before applying super glue. (Check twice,
super glue once.) I repeated the sanding
and fitting on the other side, then super
glued all three resin parts, 26.
Before joining the wing halves, I had to
open the holes for the pylons. I replaced the

April2010 www.nneScale.coan 27
... but Leon had to shave away Layers of super glue, accelerator, Leon used more sheet styrene to restore the areas around the new cockpit.
more of the fuselage for the wings and more super glue restored a
and wheel well to fit. broken wingtip. .

Finishing the fiddly bits before the main paint job lets Leon Parafilm M strekhes and clings like food wrap, providing a mask that follows contours
save them for last. but doesn't pull up paint when removed.

A mix of metol shades plus blue- and smoke-colored transparent paint rep- Leon skipped masking and spraying to brush-paint the wheel wells.
licated metal tinted by heat.

AGM-12 Bullpups for the inboard stations
with better ones from Trumpeter's F -105
Thud. The middle stations would hold the
drop tanks; I left the outer stations faired
over.
Then I joined the wing halves and
smoothed their seams. To finish seams, I
dry-sanded with 400 grit, then wet-sanded
with 1000, filled imperfections with super
glue, then resanded. Since this would be a
natural-metal finish, I also polished gently
with a flannel wheel in the motor tool­
because any scratches or dings would show
up like crazy.
Mter fixing fuselage seams the same
way, it was time to test-fit the wings. cockpit, 29, I used .020" sheet styrene for
Wouldn't you know it - the resin wheel blanking plates on the rear bulkhead, the
well kept the ~ing from fitting. Instead of deck behind the seat, and the area under
risking the resin piece, I shaved plastic from the coaming. Then I attached the resin
the underside of the fuselage, 27. cockpit parts, sanding a little to allow the
After rescribing missing or sanded-out canopy to close. I brush-painted everything
panel lines, I fixed the chip on the under­ with my interior gray and flat black. I cut
side of the starboard wing, 28, building up and mounted a tiny piece of clear fUm for
layers of super glue and zapping them with the gunsight, slid the seat carefully into
accelerator until a solid mass filled the void .. place, and checked its height under the
Then I sanded away the excess, polished, canopy.
and scribed the missing panel lines. When everything was in place (except
the gear and underwing stores), I reviewed
Back to the cockpit the entire model, fixed remaining imperfec­
To finish scratchbuilding repairs to ~he tions, and prepared to paint.

Z8 FineScaJe Modeler April 2010

And there you have it - Col. Tolliver's
Triple Zilch F·l00D, circa 19S8.l.eon's
perseverance produced a dazzling model
that redlly is a Super Sabre!
Painting and finishing
Before painting the main part of the model,
I like to build and paint the landing gear,
ordnance, and other fiddly bits so I can
install them last.
I painted the Bullpup missiles white and
detailed them with a sharp technical pencil.
I finished the landing gear with bits of fine
copper wire for brake lines, and painted and
inked the gear doors, 30.
A flat black undercoat prepared the
model for Alclad airframe aluminum. I
didn't vary the paneling much except for
heat discoloration around the engine.
For masking metallic finishes, I always
use Parafilrm M, a waxy, stretchable film
used to seal laboratory vials. It takes a bit of
practice, but it never lifts paint when
removed. I covered the area, then carefully
scored around panel lines and bared the
area to be painted, 31 .
I put down a base coat of dark alumi­
num for contrast, then went over it with a
thinned mix of dark aluminum and steel,
concentrating on edges and panel lines.
Then, a thinned mixture of transparent
blue and smoke gave me the desired tint,
32.
Masking and spraying bays and wheel
wells can be a real pain, so I brush-painted
them dark green, then dry-brushed with
interior green followed by green zinc chro­
mate to pop the detail a little, 33. A wash
of black acrylic paint and water accented all
the panel lines; I applied it precisely with a
10/0 liner brush, flowing it only into the
lines.
With this finish, no gloss coat was
needed for decals; in fact, it would have
ruined the paint's reflectivity. I applied an
out-of-production Microscale decal sheet,
No. 72-97. Mter a few nights of careful
work and a bit of red on the wing and tail
tips, I found myself looking down at Col.
Tolliver's Triple Zilch from 1958.
What had started as a damaged castoff
and some old, unwanted decals had some­
how found its way to me. I think with
more-valuable old junk it's called prove­
nance. I call it pretty cool! FSM
REFERENCES
F·l00 Super Sabre in Color, Robert
Robinson and David Menard,
Squadron, ISBN 978-0-89747-284-5
F·l00 Super Sabre Detail & Scale,
Bert Kinzey, Squadron, ISBN 978-0­
8306-8044-3
Meet Leon Simpson
LEON, 39, OF RED
OAK, TEXAS, built his
first model when he
was 6 - and if it were
still around, its paint
might stili be tacky.
"My father took me to
a hobby shop some·
where in downtown
Dallas," Leon recalls. " I remember [the
model] was a Do 335. I painted it
gloss blue with a brush and a little
square bottle of Testors paint. It never
really dried - stayed sticky until it
became a BB gun target."
Leon credits a couple of years in art
school and a lifelong interest in read·
ing military aviation history for his
modeling. He says he got hooked on
FSM about 1Q years ago. "A whole
new world opened up," he says. He
started entering contests about five
years ago and has since won more
than 30 trophies. In addition, Leon
enjoys building guitars and playing
them with his nephew.
April2010 www.FineScale.coft1. 29