Life magazine
featured a cover with 94th squadron P-80B's in the 1948 to 1951 era, and I fell
in love with them then. In fact, the first model I ever tried to build was a
carve and sand it yourself wooden kit of a P-80, possibly by Strombecker.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The Sword F-80C kit
is a nice one with plastic and resin parts. As has been reviewed elsewhere, the
fit of the wing with the resin undercarriage block is very tight. A lot of
trimming and test fitting will be needed.
The only thing
needed to convert the model to a P-80B was to add the pitot tube to the leading
edge of the vertical stabilizer; add the whip antenna ahead of the speed brakes,
and remove the canopy extractor ridge from the aft end of the canopy. Also, use
the early, 6-spoked wheel vs, the later, multi-spoked one.
Alclad II and Testor's Model
Master enamels were used throughout. Decals were from an old Microscale sheet I
laying about from yesteryear.
I hope you enjoy the model. I had
fun building it.
Ed Ellickson aka TheRealMrEd
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