3D Printed McDonnell RF-101A/C Voodoo WIP

[alaninaustria]

Really amazing build and designing! 

I love it!

Cheers

Alan

[scjh]

On July 3, 2019, I visited the Aviation Education Exhibition Hall in Taiwan.  Part of the mission was to photograph RF-101A Block 25 54-1506/5658, one of the three remaining ROCAF RF-101As.  I did a photogrammetry run on my laptop the night after the museum visit, and discovered visually the differences between RF-101A and RF-101C intakes (based on Akira Watanabe's photos of 56-0214 from Pima), at least for a geeky modeler.

 

Most books and articles described the the RF-101A and RF-101C as externally similar, and some have called out the various intake types (Type II, IIa, IIb, etc.), but I have not come across one that described the actual difference in look and dimension between Type IIa (production RF-101A) and Type IIb (RF-101C).  Ron Easley's book described the Type II Intake as 11 inches longer than Type I on the early F-101As with an extended wing fillet added.  I believe Type IIa is similar in length as Type II without the extended wing fillet (and with the extended splitter plate below the intake lip and an inward camber just like the IIb), and Type IIb is a few inches longer than that.  On the question of how perpendicular the top of the intake lip is to the airflow, there seems to be some debate on the various drawings.  Is it completely perpendicular, or is there a slight angle.  The answer is yes and yes.  I believe the top lip of Type IIa (similar to Type II) is almost perpendicular to the airflow, while there is a more pronounced angle to the Type IIb.  This may be obivious to Voodoo experts, but I was very excited to discover this for myself.  The key is Door 70, more on that later...

 

SC

 

AEEH

 

Photogrammetry of the Pima RF-101C 56-0214 with Akira Watanabe's photos

 

Photogrammetry of RF-101A 54-1506/5658

 

RF-101C Type IIb intake on the left, RF-101A Type IIa intake on the right

 

[scjh]

I plan to paint these two schemes: RF-101C 60166 and RF-101A 41499/5654.

 

 

Stencils, this is going to take a while.  I would appreciate help on what stencils look like on the fuselage bottom and under the wings, especially Door 104 (viewfinder).

 

 

 

[scjh]

Thank you Rob and Alan!  Not sure when I'll get to them, but here are some inspirations for fans of the fighters and two seaters (especially for our Canadian friends).

 

 

Edited July 5, 2024 by scjh

[alaninaustria]

Awesome! Love the Canadian 2 seater!

Cheers

Alan

[David Hansen]

Not a Voodoo expert, but i always liked the plane.

 

It seems that until the release of the 48th scale Kitty Hawk F-101 kits nobody was paying any attention to the intake configurations, but of course all hell broke loose (metaphorically speaking) when somebody spoke up and then it seems like rivet counters descended on the kit with a microscope.

 

Personally, i found this an interesting revelation, but not a surprising one. McDonnell tried and tried and tried to make the Voodoo go faster, but its hands were tied by going with a fixed inlet. I heard the problem was not with the Voodoo's engines getting enough air; it was a problem with them getting too much.

[Oldbaldguy]

While I don’t know for certain, I tend to think that airplanes like the F-101 were produced, not because they were really good, but because the USAF needed to hedge their bets that the F-100 and F-102 were good enough to get the job done at a time when that was important.  So what did the Voodoo bring to the fight?  It was big, had big motors, small tanks and tiny wings.  My assumption is it was pretty fast in a straight line and McDonnell needed the business to keep the doors open before fielding the Phantom so the USAF bought some.  It was certainly a different airplane for a different time and looks good, so that’s good enough for me regardless of what the intakes looked like.  Very much looking forward to seeing this in 1/32.

[scjh]

Another round of painting.  I thought Tamiya AS-18 was a close match to ADC Gray for the RF-101A in the back.  What do you think?

 

 

[scjh]

Mock-up of decals.

 

 

[themongoose]

I don’t anything about colors but i think they’re looking sharp!

[Oldbaldguy]

The only one of these I saw painted gray was on a stick at Peterson AFB.  The airplane was, of course, outside and in natural light.  I saw it every day in all sorts of weather and it seemed to me to be a grayer gray than your color choice.  Same tonal value but with less green in it.  The difference may be that your models are inside under artificial light.

[Serkan Sen]

I have no experience with the Voodoos but they look awesome.

Serkan

[scjh]

Thank you themongoose, Oldbaldguy and Serkan.  All the credits to the look of the Voodoo goes to the original McAir designers.  As mentioned before, it definitely has a very strong family resemblence to the Phantom II that came a few years later.

 

I have a bottle of Model Master ADC Gray FS16473, and used that as a reference in a very non-scientific way.  :-)  After trying Tamiya's AS-26 Light Ghost Gray, which seemed too blue and saturated, I picked out a few other rattle cans in the AS line to try (AS-5, AS-16, and AS-18).  If these didn't work, I was going to try Light Gull Gray next.  I didn't get into mixing or scale color effects.  AS-18 seemed close enough.  It does seem to have a green tint.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2024 by scjh

[Derek B]

Awesome work! 

 

Derek

[Rafael Winter]

Awesome!!!!!