T06 Northrop T-38 Talon (1973-1982)

Harald Besold
Great project! The Talon looks extremely good in the Thunderbirds colors. I really hope that the T-38 will come onto the market as a new kit in 1/72 at some point. In my opinion there is a real gap in the market. The few old kits are very difficult to obtain. Congratulations on the project.

Dave Burgess
Yeah,I don't even HAVE this model anymore. Got crushed when a couple of my display case shelves collapsed a few years ago (support pins worked themselves loose). I'm working on doing the TBirds collection in 1:72 because I need less display space. I've found a t-38 kit, but as yet, no decals. I believe Warbirds does a 1:48 sheet, but not a 1:72 sheet.

Dave Burgess
The above kit that I found on E-Bay (Hasegawa #00012) just arrived, and it turns out it has decals (albeit minimal) to do the Thunderbirds. You have to paint on all of the stripes by hand, but the decal sheet provides lettering, the TBirds logo and the tail flash for #2 bird, plus the rectangle of flags. I can live with that.

Dave Burgess
Found a full 1:72 decal set (Microscale 72-138) for the T-38 on EBay. So it's full speed ahead now!

Robert Podkoński
Great!

Harald Besold
I'm already looking forward to the result. This will be a unique model in 1:72. Good luck!

Ekki
Watching

Dave Burgess
Continuing the build, while I wait for the decals to arrive. It's at the painting stage now. I still have to mask the canopy.

Dave Burgess
First problem: Got the white base coat down, and started to apply the decals. Unfortunately, the Microscale decal sheet is so old that it's dried out and the first decal completely fractured when I tried to apply it. So before doing any more, I need to trip down to the local hobby shop and get some decal fixer. I've also scanned the decal sheet, and in the event that the decal sheet can't be used, I'll print another. That's plan B, because the pale blue colour of the backing paper means you have to colour adjust the scanned image to remove the blue background, and the dark blue of the decals comes out more black. Kinda ruined my day!

Dave Burgess
So there it is folks! After putting aside the T-38 to work on the other 3 (F-100, F-105, and F-4), I finally went back to the T-38. With another Microscale decal sheet in hand (#72-138), I brushed on 2 thick coats of Testors lacquer thinner before starting. Had to use some sticky tape to remove the bits of shattered decal from the plane. The lacquer coat did the trick, holding the decals together. Not the greatest job, but the worst side is the bottom (which I don't have to look at too much), and it turned out pretty well

Dave Burgess
So the collection is now complete. There's just one more model to do, but it's a what-if project because the T-Birds never flew the P-51 Mustang. There's a nice decal set for it, and I have the P-51 kit, but with the Canada Post strike on at the moment, not much point ordering it. I'll probably do it in January, Just one more thing to do - take a 'family' photo, and change the collection banner.

Mr D
Very nice... Very smart scheme 👍👍