102nd Fighter Wing

Massachusetts Air National Guard Legacy Project 

 Part 2

by Ken Middleton

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Here is part 2 of a 3-part article on the 102nd FW Legacy Project I recently completed. Some of the decals were available in commercial form, and some I had to create. All models are 1/48th scale, and will be donated to the unit for display at Otis Air National Guard Base.
F-84F
For the F-84F, I used Monograms’ P-84F kit. For the kit’s age, I was really impressed with it. I made the numbers and letters on the computer and printed them, and once again, had a bit of a silvering problem. To make the clover leaf trim fuel tank markings, I painted them white, and then used Microscale’s green trim film and clover leafs from an F-4J Eagle Strike sheet that included VMFA-333. They are a bit oversized, but acceptable.

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F-100D
The unit only flew the F-100D for a couple of years before switching to the F-106. The markings I chose are worn by a plane on a pole at Otis, and I don’t think one was ever marked this way operationally. I used the Monogram kit, and made the tail band with Microscale green trim film. I covered it with Future to seal it, because I would be applying the letter decals to the band before placing on the kit. It was easier to work with it on a flat surface, and needed to protect the green band from the water on the letter decals. Other markings were from spare decals, and thanks to Dave aka “The Phantom Two”.

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F-106
The Monogram F-106, using Experts Choice decals, was done completely out of the box. To prevent a tail-sitter, I inserted quite a lot of fishing weights in the forward fuselage; I don’t know how much, but it is very heavy.

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T-33
I used the Testors T-33 kit and Experts Choice 1/72nd F-106 decals for the markings. Also, thanks to “breadboard” and “Trigger” for extra T-33 decals that were used as well. The tail markings were a bit tricky, and not 100% the same as the real plane, but close enough.
 

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F-15A Old School
For the F-15A Old School (ghost grey scheme), I used the Academy F-15C backdated to an A, and the Experts Choice decals for the unit. I had to change the wheels, and after some dilemma of which gear parts to use from the kit and the Monogram F-15 kit, I decided to use the kit’s main gear, back wheels and the Monogram front wheel and hub. The Monogram gear was much different, and this was the best solution as a solid gear connection was critical. I also dropped the ailerons.

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Part 3 will be a single model article…an F-15 depicting its launch on 11 September 2001 .

Ken

Click here for Part 1 of this article

Click here for Part 3 of this article

Photos and text © by Ken Middleton