F-89 D Scorpion
![Album image #1 Album image #1](/albums/img/7/3/5/1107735-46074-66-720.jpg)
Starting the build.
![Album image #2 Album image #2](/albums/img/2/5/0/1108250-46074-15-720.jpg)
Hollowed out the air intakes and glued them on.
![Album image #3 Album image #3](/albums/img/3/1/3/1108313-46074-20-720.jpg)
Primed.
![Album image #4 Album image #4](/albums/img/5/3/8/1108538-46074-46-720.jpg)
A bit of scratch building, for the cockpit. Keeping it simple though since the canopy will be closed.
![Album image #5 Album image #5](/albums/img/5/3/9/1108539-46074-40-720.jpg)
A bit of scratch building, for the cockpit. Keeping it simple though since the canopy will be closed.
![Album image #6 Album image #6](/albums/img/5/4/2/1108542-46074-13-720.jpg)
Cockpit inserted
![Album image #7 Album image #7](/albums/img/7/2/4/1108724-46074-31-720.jpg)
Engines attached. The way the kit required the back of the engines to be attached was pretty poor.
![Album image #8 Album image #8](/albums/img/0/1/9/1109019-46074-54-720.jpg)
I had to do a lot of filling and sanding at the back of the engines to get them to work. I also did a bit of sanding in other areas.
![Album image #9 Album image #9](/albums/img/1/8/6/1111186-46074-14-720.jpg)
Wings attached
![Album image #10 Album image #10](/albums/img/4/1/6/1112416-46074-39-720.jpg)
Drop tanks required some filler at the wing attachments. Cleaning up this area was a bit delicate.
![Album image #11 Album image #11](/albums/img/1/3/9/1113139-46074-81-720.jpg)
I had to cut the nose off and reattach the weights that came unstuck inside with CA glue.
![Album image #12 Album image #12](/albums/img/7/3/7/1116737-46074-14-720.jpg)
More polishing and reshaping of rough areas in order to lay down a decent metallic finish.
![Album image #13 Album image #13](/albums/img/0/5/0/1117050-46074-80-720.jpg)
Even more seam sealing, sanding and polishing.
![Album image #14 Album image #14](/albums/img/6/8/1/1117681-46074-71-720.jpg)
Today I focused on making sure all of the round surfaces were the correct shape, smooth and without seams
![Album image #15 Album image #15](/albums/img/9/1/0/1118910-46074-85-720.jpg)
Most of the problem areas have been worked out. On to the tape!
![Album image #16 Album image #16](/albums/img/9/7/9/1118979-46074-68-720.jpg)
White underpainting for the red complete.
![Album image #17 Album image #17](/albums/img/9/8/0/1118980-46074-82-720.jpg)
Yellow undertones for the red, which will go on top of the yellow.
![Album image #18 Album image #18](/albums/img/5/7/6/1120576-46074-13-720.jpg)
OK, so I found some spots that were bothering me and needed some additional sanding.
![Album image #19 Album image #19](/albums/img/5/7/7/1120577-46074-27-720.jpg)
Better. The surface is much improved.
![Album image #20 Album image #20](/albums/img/5/8/1/1120581-46074-72-720.jpg)
A few highlights added to the underpainting.
![Album image #21 Album image #21](/albums/img/5/8/3/1120583-46074-93-720.jpg)
Red over painting applied.
![Album image #22 Album image #22](/albums/img/2/3/7/1121237-46074-98-720.jpg)
The first layer of tape removed.
![Album image #23 Album image #23](/albums/img/3/0/8/1121308-46074-77-720.jpg)
Do to poor engineering the back control panel and the pilot seat broke off and somehow have to be remounted.
![Album image #24 Album image #24](/albums/img/3/1/1/1121311-46074-92-720.jpg)
A plate had to be added to the bottom of the seat in order to increase the connection surface.
![Album image #25 Album image #25](/albums/img/3/1/2/1121312-46074-12-720.jpg)
Everything remounted, hopefully for the last time.
![Album image #26 Album image #26](/albums/img/3/3/6/1121336-46074-22-720.jpg)
There is a difference in the height between the clear plastic canopy and the back of the canopy, as well as a large gap that needs to be corrected.
![Album image #27 Album image #27](/albums/img/3/6/2/1121362-46074-24-720.jpg)
A piece of styrene was added to fill the gap and the back was scraped down to a better height.
![Album image #28 Album image #28](/albums/img/0/3/4/1123034-46074-40-720.jpg)
Grey for the interior of the cockpit applied. A few more adjustments due to seam lines made.
![Album image #29 Album image #29](/albums/img/4/7/2/1123472-46074-77-720.jpg)
Smooth as silk
![Album image #30 Album image #30](/albums/img/1/7/0/1124170-46074-12-720.jpg)
A few wires added to the front landing gear
![Album image #31 Album image #31](/albums/img/7/6/3/1135763-46074-93-720.jpg)
More landing gear wiring.
Komentarzy
33 10 November 2021, 22:18
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My... I didn't expect so much interest in this plane. So far the kit is decent.
11 November 2021, 21:04
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Welcome everyone. I've been having fun with this one, except for both of my airbrushes messing with me. I needed to do a lot of cleaning and adjusting to get them to work properly again.
12 November 2021, 00:21
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I got the wings on after a lot of reshaping of the fuselage around the engines.
16 November 2021, 23:16
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Slow and steady, a very good sign I'd say. The surface of a starfighter I built years ago was not processed well enough, and it looked pretty messy. (And it was left dying peacefully in the graveyard since then.)
17 November 2021, 04:33
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It's always a challenge to get the surface correct, especially when you have to reshape things before applying metallic paint. I find it is a lot easier to work these issues out before and during the primer phase than afterwards. That being said I have yet to get it perfect.
17 November 2021, 17:38
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Love the scorpion, there's just something about it's profile that is so sexy.
26 November 2021, 20:15
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Welcome everyone. I'm working slowly but surely, trying to get the surface as perfect as I can. We will see.
27 November 2021, 00:40
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Today I focused on making sure all of the round surfaces were the correct shape, smooth and without seams
28 November 2021, 00:23
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Does anyone have any idea what the correct colors are for this plane? I have seen pure red and orange-red. Are the landing gear wells green or grey?
28 November 2021, 00:27
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A question that caught my pure curiosity. cybermodeler.com/aircraft/f-89/f-89_to.shtml Found this on cybermodeler, but I am not sure if it fits the scheme you're going for.
28 November 2021, 09:02
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Max, I saw that too, thanks. I'm not sure if international orange is correct. The f-89J at the Air Force museum in Dayton is red. [img1]
Other photos show f-89D planes having a bleached out red. I find it all confusing.
28 November 2021, 22:33
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So the restoration is red, the live photos are faded red and reference images are orange-red. Any clues?
28 November 2021, 22:57
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Based on the searching I did when building this, I think the specific color varies both by squadron and batch of paint, especially considering it was the 50s and 60s.
Here's another scorpion with more of a burgundy color
[img1]
28 November 2021, 23:38
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mewreckchasers.com/Chapmanf89d.html
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_orange
I am not a Dr. scorpion, but the 'engineering' one looks to match the reddish color on the D variant (also based at presque AFB) salvaged at the crash site I think. I am not certain about the color of the J variant for now, supposedly, the difference is limited to the scheme, again, I am not 100% sure about it.
29 November 2021, 02:49
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Thanks guys for all the input. I think I will just have to eyeball a nice red that is close enough. Now another question. Does anyone know what color the wheel wells are? I think they are silver but I'm not sure.
29 November 2021, 04:50
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I don't think the Int Orange is a good match, on my Agusta it looks much brighter.
29 November 2021, 09:05
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Youtube Video
Youtube Video
colorserver.net/showcolor.asp?fs=12197
Just found three of those too. May it help.
![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Pjoi_u3E9DA/maxresdefault.jpg)
![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RFk159x1pFY/maxresdefault.jpg)
P.S. It is always too hard to be sure of colors from recovered footage, neither an image nor a film. The saturation is not enough; the color tone is biased; lighting varies, etc. Even with the same color, it can be different depending on manufacturers, batches, w&t, etc. I think I will do it with a red-orange like said above on my Acadamy J variant in the future, but IMHO. It will be just fine with most unpure red colors on a base that is not too cold (eg. cold white, black, green, blue).
29 November 2021, 13:11
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Looking good. From what I could find the wheel wells appear to be silver.I found one photo where the inner part of the main wheel wells were ZC green and the outer part was silver. Except for maintance the inner main gear doors were usually closed when the gear was down.
1 December 2021, 01:27
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Thank you Clifford. Any chance you could link the photo here with the zc green?
1 December 2021, 02:53
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I will try if I can find it again, and figure out how to link it. I'm computer stupid.
2 December 2021, 01:35
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Nice work. I remember leaving the main doors down on my 1:48 build only because there was so much detail in the wells it would have been a shame to close it all up. 😁
7 December 2021, 20:05
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They were down usually during maint. or they would sometimes come down if hydralic pressure bled off. My next one will also have them down, for the same reason the nice detail.
8 December 2021, 02:20
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Note: The instructions for this kit have the landing gear on the wings backwards. They should be curved inward not outward.
9 December 2021, 17:05