SPA Modeler

I seem to be stuck in 1/72 lately. This is a well cast kit by Whirleybirds, who unfortunately have recently closed shop due to the owner's retirement. It went together well, though there were some challenges because of my clumsiness and the fragility of some of the parts. The decals were very nice. Paint is Alclad II of various shades with SNJ powder rubbed in here and there. I'm working on doing all the Convair deltas in 1/72. Maybe by the time I get to the B-58 there will be a replacement for the Italeri kit.

The head on view shows the lack of area ruling on the YF-102, which caused it's high speed performance to fall well below predictions. Dr. Richard Whitcomb had done research on transonic drag and his theories were applied to the F-102, resulting in the F-102A and later the F-106. Dr. Whitcomb also developed the winglets we see so often now on airliners and business jets.

Oh nice!!

That is a beauty!

Very nice!

Very sharp looking build John! I forgot how tubby the prototype was compared to the production F-102.

Man that really looks cool!

Thanks, everyone.
Carlos, it is quite a large airplane in fuselage cross section. I put a partly built Hasegawa F-106 next to it and the difference is quite marked. Not a pretty airplane! The birdcage canopy did it no favors in the looks department either. Just one of those airplanes that had to be built so they could develop the knowledge to get it right later on.

I like this. Can definitely see the lineage from the F-92 up through changing the fuselage to the coke bottle on the production F-102

Excellent build!

To bad that Whirleybird joins the ranks of defunct cottage manufacturers due to retirement. Several other have (or are going to) close shop recently such as PJ Productions, Heritage Aviation and Vami. So you got to grab those kits if you see them. I want to build a Grob Twin Astir/Viking, and Heritage and Vami both had a kit of that glider…. Now that is going to be a long search.