The Anigrand XF-90 kit had just a basic interior so I decided to supplement it with bits from an Aries F-100 cockpit set. This is a really nice kit in itself and I hated to just rob some parts and abandon the rest. Just the same, the F-90 looks better for its sacrifice.
The F-100 seat was way too wide to be used and very different from the Lockheed seat so I used the Anigrand seat with the F-100 belts. The F-100 instrument panel was used but narrowed by cutting away the outboard portions. It looks pretty nice - the pictures had to be lightened to see it at all. With all of that black in there its hard to see anything.
Behind the seat the area was enhanced with the F-100 part, once again severely narrowed. The same with the panel on top of the instrument panel.
The canopy is now glued on using Elmer’s School Glue which is a type of white glue that dries perfectly clear. I had a bottle cap with water & a Q-tip handy to wipe up any excess.
Masking was modified from a couple of Eduard sets for the T-33 & F-104. The kit pitot tube was resin and I wasn’t even sure which part it was as it looked just like the 3D attachment points. I made one out of brass rod. The bottom of the nose chipped off when trying to bore a hole for the rod so it has been puttied up after gluing.
Great subject and a real thrill when it was first unveiled. I saw one parked at an airshow away from the crowd and under close guard by sentries armed with loaded (I asked) shotguns.
The Anigrand F-90 was shot with Tamiya’s AS12 bare Aluminum and came out pretty well. It had been primed and then polished with a sanding cloth to make sure it would be as smooth as possible.
Next came the decals. Anigrand provided two copies of the same sheet. The national marking were the right size for the fuselage but undersized for the wings. There were no red stripes for the wings nor any red circles for the fuel caps on top of the wings. I found some stripes from another kit and applied them. While pushing the decal down, there was a crunch and the right tip tank and wing tip had parted company. I know this material is brittle but I got careless and suffered the consequences. I quickly glued it back together and set the project aside for a week.
The decals themselves did not look good on the sheet but went on to the model easily and settled down with Micro Set. They actually turned out to be pretty nice.
The sheet had buzz numbers and USAF decals which do not appear to have ever been on either of the two F-90s. I left them off.
After a clear semi-gloss coat & a bit of detailing it was time to add the landing gear & doors. Looking good until the next day when the model was set on it’s gear. Yup, it’s a tailsitter!
The Anigrand kit is not terribly well detailed, many 1/144 scale kits are better. What is good is the shape. It looks like an F-90 and nothing about it irritates my eye. Considering what it is, I’m pleased. It’s a plane I have long wanted to model and this effort fills in that blank.
Yes, war certainly accelerates the pace of development. The other thing was the demands of commercial aviation, the need to move people & things and make a profit. The difference between the 1929 Ford & the post war aircraft would have been just as dramatic had it been parked next to a Super Constellation, DC-7 or Stratocruiser.
It was certainly an enjoyable build and the problems encountered just served to keep it interesting. I have been eying another Anigrand kit, the XB-43 which has similar issues. That one will be for the X plane campaign coming up.
I have plenty more Lockheed projects just busting to get built. Which one first . . .
I’m so glad to hear that folks enjoyed the build. It looks great sitting out on top of the display cabinet and it will be sad to move it into the display case where it will be hard to view.
It’s been very slow around here, and I’ve accomplished very little on the F-104. General painting is done and now I’ve got to do detail painting (tires, intakes, canopy, etc.). Everything’s together except for the wing tanks. I went ahead and did the detailing on the wings separately. It made doing them much easier with their three colors. It’s not an example of the modeling art, but it’s coming along and that’s good enough for me.
