Flying Dagger

Historical Background

On 8 October 1948, the board of senior USAF officers recommended that their parent service organised a competition for what was dubbed the '1954 Ultimate Interceptor' (as the new design was scheduled to enter service in 1954). On 4 February 1949, the USAF approved the recommendation and prepared to hold the competition in 1950. In November 1949, it was decided that the new aircraft would be built around a fire-control system; therefore the system would have to be developed first. In January 1950 the USAF Material Command issued a request for proposals to 50 companies, of which 18 responded. A board at the US Department of Defense reviewed the proposals before narrowing it down to two contenders: Hughes Aircraft and North American Aviation. The former was chosen as the winner on 2 October 1950. Proposals for the airframe was issued on 18 June 1950 and six companies responded in January 1951. On 2 July, Convair, Lockheed and Republic were invited to build the mockup. Convair, having experimented with delta-winged test aircraft, submitted its best design. The Convair design was eventually declared the winner using the designation XF-102.

To speed up development, the prototypes and pre-production aircraft was engined with the less powerful Westinghouse J40 turbojet. However, continued delays with the J67 engine and the MA-1 FCS led to the decision to place an interim aircraft powered by the J40 and using a simpler E-9 FCS into production as the F-102A. The J40 proved to be a failure and was replaced with Pratt & Whitney J57. The F-102A was considered to be a temporary design pending the development of the F-102B powered by the J67, essentially a licensed derivative of the Bristol-Siddeley Olympus engine (The F-102B eventually entered service as the F-106, thus becoming the 'Ultimate Interceptor'). The YF-102 prototype first flew on 24 October 1953 but was lost in an accident nine days later. The second prototype flew on 11 January 1954. It showed a dismal performance, being limited to Mach 0.98 and a ceiling of 48,000 feet, far below the official requirements. A higher than expected transonic drag was found to be the cause of the problem.  To solve this problem, Convair embarked on a major redesign, incorporating the recently discovered area rule effect. The fuselage was lengthened by 11 ft (3.35m) with the midsection 'pinched' at the midsection, creating the so-called 'Coke bottle shape' while two bulged fairings (dubbed 'Marilyn Monroes') were fitted on either side of the exhaust nozzle. The intakes were revised and a narrower canopy was fitted. The structure was lightened while a more powerful version of the J57 was fitted.

The revised aircraft, designated YF-102A first flew on 20 December 1954. It demonstrated a speed of Mach 1.22 and a ceiling of 53,000 feet. These figures are enough for the USAF to allow production and a new contract was signed in March 1955. The F-102A entered service in April 1956 with the 327th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at George AFB, California. The type was given the official name of Delta Dagger, although it was not commonly used; it was known as the 'Deuce' instead. Production F-102 had the Hughes MG-3 FCS, which was later upgraded to MG-10. The weapons were carried in a three-segment internal weapons bay underneath the fuselage. The weapons were initially GAR-1/-2/-3/-4 (later redesignated AIM-4) Falcon missiles in both semi-active radar homing and infra-red guided variants. The doors for two forward bays had launch tubes for 12 (for a total of 24) 51 mm (later 70 mm) folding fin aerial rockets (FFAR). The F-102 was later upgraded to fire the AIM-26 Nuclear Falcon from the centre bay. The larger size of AIM-26 require the deletion of the central door-mounted rocket tubes. A MB-1 Genie nuclear rocket was test-launched in May 1956 but the weapon was not adopted by the fleet. To train the pilots, a trainer version, the TF-102, was developed. It featured a side-by-side seating arrangement, necessitating a redesign of the forward fuselage and earning it the nickname of 'The Tub'.

F-102As served Vietnam where they were first deployed to bases in Thailand and South Vietnam in 1962 after it was feared that North Vietnam would use its Ilyushin Il-28 bombers against its southern neighbour. Afterwards it was used to escort B-52 bombers in their Arc Light raids. It was during one of these missions that a F-102A was lost to enemy MiG-21s. An AA-2 Atoll missile fired by one of the MiGs lodged itself  at the rear end of the aircraft, only to explode later destroying the aircraft. Falcons fired by the Deuces against the retreating MiGs missed. F-102As, from the 509th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, was also used against the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a misuse of the aircraft's IRST tracker ball and the IR version of the Falcon missile. The tracker and missile seeker head was used to detect heat from enemy activities and attack was made using the FFAR tubes on the doors. Success was very limited as neither the aircraft nor the pilots were trained for that role. The TF-102, because of its two seats and better view from the cockpit plus the door-mounted rockets, was used as fast forward air control aircraft. The F-102As' tour of duty ended in 1968 when all aircraft returned to the United States. A total of  12 F-102As were lost due to enemy action (mostly ground fire and during attacks on airbases ) and accidents.  

The F-102A received several major modifications during its service including IRST systems, radar warning receivers, transponders, backup artificial horizon and improved FCS. Also, several new wing designs with increasing conical camber was tested with a view to increase elevon area, reduce takeoff and landing speeds, improve supersonic L/D ratio and increased ceiling. The wing modifications were known as Case X and XX wings. The F-102 remained in operational service with the USAF Air Defence Command and Air National Guard units until 1976. The target drone version, QF-102, converted from retired airframes, was fully expended by 1986. 1,000 airframes were built, of which 24 were later sold to Greece and 50 to Turkey. Both countries used their Deuces in combat during the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Both countries retired their F-102s in 1979. Meanwhile, the F-102B underwent so many aerodynamic changes, making it effectively a new aircraft with designation F-106 Delta Dart.

The Kit

In 2012, Meng Model, then a relatively new player in aircraft scale modelling released a new-tool F-102A as the third kit in their 1/72 'Dimorphodon' (Meng named their scale classes after prehistoric creatures) series. The first F-102 kit was of the 'Case X' wing type. This was followed by a 'special boxing' of the kit (featuring a Deuce piloted by President George W. Bush during his ANG days). The Case X Deuce was followed by this kit in 2013, featuring the Case XX wing. The kit comprised of 95 light grey parts and five clear parts spread between seven sprues, plus the usual decal and instruction sheets (the only difference between this kit and the earlier kit was the shape of the wing tips). The parts feature finely engraved and raised details (where appropriate) and are well-moulded. Components such as the airbrakes and the weapons bay doors can be posed open and that there are options for retracted of extended weapons trapeze. Since there are two weapon sprues and that the Deuce only carry six Falcons, there are six of them for the spares box.  In general, Meng's Deuce is way ahead of the ancient Hasegawa kit.

The kit provide markings for three aircraft:

1. 56-1436, 509th FIS, Udorn RTAFB, Thailand 1969

2. O-61363, 196th FIS, California ANG, 1968

3. O-61488, 179th FIS, Minnesota ANG, late 1960s

The decals are thin and well-printed. The only gripe was that the 'US Air Force' titles should be in Insignia Blue rather than Black, although it was not really noticeable at this scale (and to these tired eyes).

Construction

Well, almost inevitably, construction started at the cockpit. It was a rather simple affair with just a tub, a control stick, the instrument panel and a three-piece seat. The seat could do with some aftermarket seat belts (or better yet, replaced entirely). The cockpit assembly was painted the same colour as the the rest of the aircraft, that is ADC Grey while the instrument face is represented by a piece of decal. The second step in the instructions have you assemble the landing gears but I skipped it and proceeded to assemble the jet exhaust pipe. The cockpit assembly was then cemented to the nose wheel well  and together with the exhaust pipe, were then cemented to the right side of the fuselage. Before joining the fuselage, a hole was drilled on the nose (to accommodate the IRST later on). The fit is good although I'm a bit concerned about the tail fin. Meng have the right side moulded partway with the rest being moulded together with the left -hand surface. While it was made on the actual panel line, the is quite a gap which require a bit of filling and rescribing (which of course, I didn't do as it looked quite OK in the end).

While the instructions have you assemble the wings at Step 5, I continued with the fuselage assembly. The intakes were assembled and putty was needed here to close the gap on each intake. The airbrake was assembled in the closed position. There weren't any locating pins so I used superglue for a stronger bond. The main landing gear well was then fitted and only then I turned my attention towards the wing assembly.The weapons bay was cemented to the one-piece lower wing and this was followed by the two upper wing halves. The wing tips are separate pieces so that Meng can build both Case X and Case XX-winged models while using just one main wing mould. However, there was this problem of too large a gap between the upper and lower wings and also between the fuselage and the wing assembly. The next steps are concerned with the landing gear assembly which I hold until after painting has been done. Interestingly, the landing gear doors can be fixed in the closed position so a modeller can display their finished F-102 in flying pose.

After all the fuselage has been closed up, the wings attached to the fuselage and seams cleaned up, it suddenly struck my mind that Meng did not suggest placing weights in the nose. Maybe they feel that the F-102 model doesn't need one but based on experience, there might the need for them. With the fuselage complete and no ball bearing in sight, I drilled open the the nose and crammed as much plasticine as I can; I also added more plasticine into the nose cone. As for the weapons bay, I decided to have them in the open position with a few of the missile launching trapeze in the deployed position. The trapezes were placed inside the weapons bay, glued lightly should I change my mind and have all of them extended. In any case, the extended ones would have to wait until the landing gears have been attached. The choice of marking scheme would have to be made before painting as the second option has some details on the spine removed. I decided to do the California ANG machine.

Painting and Decalling

I started by painting the interior parts. Although Meng used Vallejo paints as reference, it was quite easy to convert them into the Tamiya equivalents. Those marked 'Interior Yellow' was painted XF-4 Yellow Green while 'Interior Green' was concocted using 3 parts XF-5 Flat Green with 2 parts XF-3 Flat Yellow. For the main colour, ADC Grey (FS 16473), after looking around the internet, I settled for a 7:2:1 mix of XF-2 Flat White, XF-66 Light Grey and XF-23 Light Blue. This end up having a matt finish so a layer of X-22 Clear was applied (BTW, the instructions have you mix 80% Vallejo White to 20% Vallejo Black). The nose and the anti-glare panel was painted XF-69 NATO Black while the intake splitter plates were painted Gunze 8 Silver. The rear fuselage was painted a mixture of Silver and Burnt Iron. The instructions have you painted the wing fences 'Ferrari Red', which I don't have. So, I mixed Tamiya X-7 Red with a bit of XF-3 Flat Yellow until the mixture looks 'Ferrari-ish'.

As mentioned before, I decided to finish the kit in the California ANG markings. The decals behave beautifully and responded well to decal setting solutions. I did however manage to goof up on the 'U.S. Air Force' decal on the left side by not placing it in parallel with the fuselage axis. After the decals have cured from the application of Mr Mark Softer, I proceeded to highlight the panel lines using AK Interactive Paneliner for grey and blue camouflage solution.

Finishing

As usual, this stage started with the landing gear. There is one great problem which somehow escaped my attention - the nose landing gear was either broken or short-shot (probably the latter as I couldn't find evidence of it being broken). I can write to Meng for replacement but feeling that it might take several more weeks, I decided to improvise, even when the end result would be inferior, not to mention inaccurate. The wheel mount was cut off and I used a scrap plastic piece (flat in nature, rather than tubular as the actual strut should be) to replace the part. The linkage on the main gear struts are also fiddly to assemble (in fact they went flying off the tweezers twice!) Once that was done, the rest of the remaining parts followed. Being the innermost parts, the missiles were cemented into place, along with the weapons bay doors. Although not mentioned in the instructions, I placed 'Warning' decals on the inside face of the doors after seeing photos on the internet. Two of the missile trapezes were in the lowered position to show off the Falcon missiles.

The two external fuel tanks were then attached with one of them having a less than perfect fit. It required a simple solution - just enlarge the location holes! The stripes on the nose probe and airfield emergency hook need to be painted and as usual with me, they are uneven! During all these handling, the aerial on the spine broke and an emergency operation had to be done (and that's why I hate moulded-on details). The last items were the nose probe, tailhook and the cockpit transparencies. The stripes on the first two items need to be painted and in my case, in ended up uneven! The Delta Daggers, because of the gloss paint used in service, were shinier than other USAF tactical aircraft of the era so to replicate it, the model was finished with a spray of Tamiya TS-13 (Gloss) Clear. The masks were removed, finishing the build.

Conclusion

Meng is already a household name in armour models (and I have two of them waiting their turn) and I think it would be the same with aircraft kits. The kit came together relatively easy, the parts are well-moulded (except for the nose landing gear in my case) and basically way better than the ancient Hasegawa kit. It also came at a good price (RM119.00) for a relatively large aircraft (at first I thought the Deuce was of roughly the same size as a Mirage 2000). There was also the alternative display option thrown in and I think the only tue shortcoming of the kit was the lack of a seat belt.Oh, the marking schemes provided are also very nice OOB although you can always look for aftermarket decal should you fancy other units operating the F-102.