Zen's PoAF F-80 >> Finished <<

[Zen]

Thanks, guys!

Indeed, the Shooting Star is a simple but beautiful design, one of my favorite early jets for sure. That's why i think the Portuguese air force should have it, even if just on my display shelf.

Well, yesterday i took care of the most critical issue of this kit, the intakes. After a lot of scrapping with the x-acto blade on the mating surfaces, this is how these babies fit...





Here you can also see the gap on the aft wing/fuselage joint and if you look into the front gear bay, you can see the bit left after i snapped it off...



Tried to save as much of the raised detail as i could by covering adjacent areas with tape, before PSR...



After all the seams were cleaned up and putty sanded down...







The tape had to come off to get everything flush so obviously, some lines were sanded away. I was expecting that but, i'd rather have a good shape and surface than panel lines. Today i'll mask the canopy and if that's quick, give it a coat of primer, to check all the seams.

[celt]

Nice work Zen,the beautiful shape of the P-80 is beginning to appear.

[Zen]

Nice work Zen,the beautiful shape of the P-80 is beginning to appear.

Thanks, mate!

It had some primer and then the XF-16 matte aluminum and it's waiting for the rest of the scheme.

[celt]

Looking good,Zen.

[general rocket]

The elegance takes shape.

[Zen]

Thanks, guys. I've been working on it but haven't taken pics yet. It's a rainy day here in Portugal, as i work outdoors, i'm thinking of taking the day off and get the rest of the work done today.. If i do, you'll get pics later in the day.

[celt]

Raining in Portugal,never.

[Zen]

Raining in Portugal,never.

Although some people hate it, we need it very much. I'm one of the people who likes it, means that i get to take a day or two off work.

Well, about the F-80, it's almost done, just have to get the landing gear on and a few bits of detail painting, which will be done tonight, before final coats of varnish that will go on tomorrow for the pics.
The decals were quite a chore, the kit's decals were severely yellowed and the walk lines looked horrible, so i dug through the spares bag and quickly found what seemed to be a good alternative.
The Monogram F8F Bearcat sheet had some stripes that were exactly the right width and length to replace the original ones, but i would have to cut them out from the middle of the white stripes next to it...



Luckily it all went well and i managed to cut everything perfect!!



In the pic above you can see the only yellowed decals i used from the original sheet, the circles of the fuel tank lids, imagine how the rest of them would look like... Anyway, it will be finished in time after all!

[celt]

In the Bible it states it will rain for forty days and nights,here in Wales,that was the best summer we have ever had. Your P-80 is coming along lovely.

[Martin R]

Looking good, Zen!

Regards

Martin

[Zen]

Ok, guys, here you go!

"In 1949, Portugal was invited to become one of the founding members of NATO and, as a consequence, restructuring and modernization of it's armed forces was to follow.
The Portuguese Air Force Generals were to choose the new aircraft to equip it's squadrons, and obviously they were interested in having jet aircraft in the PoAF, so they chose the DeHavilland Vampire as trainer and the Lockheed F-80C as the first jet fighter in Portuguese service.





Stationed at BA3 Tancos air base, the first squadron to transition from the Vampire to the F-80 was the newly formed 1st Fighter Squadron, called "Galgos", which is the symbol of the Base itself, and used on every aircraft of the squadron.





The F-80 flew with the PoAF from February, 1953, and were retired from active duty in 1959, although some were kept in flying condition and were later reactivated and deployed in the Colonial war theater of Guinea-Bissau in 1963, along with F-86E and F, received by the PoAF 5 years earlier. The war was short for PoAF's fighter jets because of pressure by NATO countries, who ordered the Portuguese government to retire the fighters, as it was equipment obtained under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program, and there wasn't any support for the Portuguese military action in it's colonies.





The F-80 was completely retired from service on the 15th of December, 1964, after it performed it's last flight over it's home base of Tancos. Although most of the 58 units were scrapped, about a dozen were stored and prepared to be taken to museums and to be placed on stands and become monuments in several locations around the country."







I have to say, it was a fun build and i'm happy with the simple result...
Thank you all for the support, hope you like it!

[fredk]

yup. we like it.
Nicely finished

[Zen]

yup. we like it.
Nicely finished

Thank you, Fred! I've only noticed that i forgot a bit of masking tape on the canopy after i uploaded the pics..
I'll try to get a few better pics with natural sunlight tomorrow... without the tape!

[iggie]

Very nice indeed; the nmf is very natural

[Old_Tonto]

Really great build and back story. Well done.