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MONOGRAM 1:48 F-80C SHOOTING STAR
Reviewer:
Michael Johnson
(rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted:
9 January 2002
The Lockheed F-80C “Shooting Star” was the USAF’s first jet fighter and was introduced in 1945. The final production version was the F-80C powered by the 5400 lb’s. t. Allison J33-A-35 engine and was armed with 6 M3 50 cal machine guns, making it heavier and more powerful than previous versions. Some 800 were delivered to the USAF by the start of the Korean War. In 1948 the P-80C was renamed to F-80C.
The F-80C bore the brunt of Shooting Star combat in Korea, most of the F-80As and B's either remaining stateside or going on duty in Europe. In service, many F-80C aircraft were fitted with two additional wing pylons, and provision for the mounting of sixteen 5-inch rockets were made. Service modifications included the use of either 265 US gallon under-tip tanks (sometimes named "Misawa" tanks after the air base in Japan where they were first introduced) or 230 US-gallon centerline tip tanks.
I must be honest with you…I love Monogram jet kits! The 1:48 F-80C Shooting Star is no exception. I received this kit from a modeling friend in Los Angeles, I believe he picked it up for about $4 at a second hand stand during one of those big modeling expos that only the United States seem to have. The box cover has a colour photo of a built up kit, with garish shades of interior green screaming from opened under-carriage doors, airbrakes and the gun bay. Other features include variable position canopy and “detachable” rear fuselage revealing the Allison J33-A-35 engine. The rear fuselage could then also be displayed separately on a trolley.
The kit contains 2 dull silver plastic sprues plus 1 clear. Age has not been kind to the moulds with most of the parts suffering from ejector pin marks and flash. The biggest problem was the fuselage with various sinkholes evident at points along each fuselage half. This was a kit that would require work!
This
was the boxart for the reissue of the kit in 1995 (#5428)
My thanks to George Crozier who photographed and scanned this and above boxart
for SMAKR
Typically enough, construction begun with the cockpit, which was painted Humbrol interior green, washed carefully with oil paints and dry brushed a lighter shade of interior green. The pilot’s seat was similarly treated. Instrument panels were painted black and dry brushed light grey to bring out the moulded detail. The instrument dials were filled in with gloss varnish to impart a glass look to the dials. While the assembled “office” assembly was drying I assembled the Jet engine and since I was not going to display the engine painted only the visible jet exhaust.
I then turned my attention to fixing the shrinkage and sink holes around the fuselage. At this time I had not been introduced to Gunze Sangyo “Mr Surfacer” and spend some time using conventional model filler to rectify the problem areas. This took some time and was at times very frustrating. I also repeated the performance on each wing top and the one piece bottom wing half.
I elected at this time to display the model with the gun bay cover off, so I spent time carefully painting the three visible M3 50 cal machine guns and the bay interior. The gun bay cover was tacked into place using a little maskol to protect the interior from over spray while the exterior painting was being done.
By now the fuselage halves could be finally glued together with all interior components sandwiched between. There is very little room to weight the nose, so be careful that you add enough. Now the real sanding commenced, with steps in the joins removed, gaps filled and final polishing to finish. The wing was offered up to the fuselage revealing a nice tight wing root join, a welcome change from all the sanding required on the fuselage.
The optional dropped flaps were left off until final assembly, painting them at the same time as the rest of the model. Final polishing of the whole airframe was done using bare metal polish. It is necessary to polish out any scratches and imperfections on a natural metal aircraft as natural metal paint is extremely thin and thus reveals every fault left uncorrected. After securing the masked canopy and windshield, the model was ready to paint.
Being a late forties/early fifties fighter, the F-80C was left “natural” with an olive green anti dazzle panel on the nose. My natural metal paint of choice is Tamiya AS12 spray can paint. I applied this over the model in three thin coats, 20 minutes apart. After a further 20 minutes I polished out various panels with SnJ polishing powder.
I then masked and sprayed the anti dazzle panel and nose olive drab and neutral grey respectively. Now the model was ready for decaling.
The kit’s decals were just passable, typical monogram, thick and apt to give up milky decal residue, which takes sometime to dry and hence disappear. So after a couple of quick requests on Rec.models.scale I received an old Scalemaster decal sheet. Unfortunately I still had to use the kit decals national insignia and stencils data. In the end all decals bedded down nicely using Aeromaster Aerosol II. After the decals had dried for 24 hours I brushed a thin coat of Johnson’s “Super Stride” Floor Polish to seal off the decals.
Comparison of the two decal sheets issued in the Monogram kits for the F-80.
The Original 1977 release (left) are Matt whereas the 1995 reissued kit with
update decals (Right) are Gloss
My
thanks to George Crozier who contributed these to SMAKR
At last the F-80C was ready to have undercarriage etc added. I decided to use the kit supplied bombs, which were painted olive drab which white fuse caps. These were added to the wing hard points. The dropped flaps were also attached to the wings.
The undercarriage fitted positively along with hassle free installation of the undercarriage bay doors and lowered airbrakes. I then removed the masking from the canopy and the F-80C was complete.
©
Michael Johnson 2002
This kit is certainly not a trouble free build or a “shake and bake” Tamigawa offering, however it is a fun kit to build and is that not what modeling all about? After I had finished the kit, I went and tracked down another F-80C (second hand stall at Wasmex 2001) and purchased 2 Hobbycraft twin seat T-33 trainers.
F-80/T-33 in action Squadron/Signal books
Special thanks to Rec.model.scalers who kindly sent me images of the 1:1 version
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