Convair F-102A Delta Dagger (Case X) Turkish Airforce
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In March-May 1991, I did my military service in Burdur/Turkey. On the way to the brigade's training area, there was a warplane in a miserable condition. At that time, although we were told that this was an aircraft that was penalized for failing to take off from the runway during the 1974 Cyprus landing, I was informed that the Turkish Air Force had actually sent this aircraft to be exhibited there for examination. I wanted to build this plane since many years, but of course I wanted to do it not in its disgraced state (for those who are wondering, the photos of this bad condition of the plane are available in Levent Başara's book), but in the state when it was flying. For this, I benefited from the book I mentioned above, the photos in it and Özkan Türker's drawings. I had to use two different sets of decals to put together the tail number of the plane and use square force. (Small criticism to Hobbytime, they forgot the white of the crescent and star in the Turkish Flag, when I realized it was too late to put white paint underneath. The Turkish flag in Caracal was also smaller than it should have been, but I had to use it. I wanted to make the kit very nice and as you can see I didn't spare any expense. But I really regret not getting a metal landing gear, because the landing gear that comes out of the kit is really, really thin and consequently flimsy. I can't keep the front wheel upright at all, it rolls over to the side. I plan to purchase the SAC metal landing gear and a new resin wheel set in the coming days. One criticism is for the bomb compartment cover. I tried hard to put it in place, but after a while I had to give up or I would damage the plane. A note for the paint: the color (FS16473) is ADC Gray from Testors Acrylic. This gray is is rather bluish, unlike the usual grays.
