Whenever I’m in Greece I try to visit at least one scale model shop, if only to get some decal sheets for greek subjects that are hard to find in Belgium. Among the ones I found and purchased this past summer was a set for Greek F-102s. I did not have a model to go with them but I thought to get the decals while I could and worry about the kit later.
As luck would have it, I did find a suitable model soon afterwards, when I visited the “Air Terre Mer 2023” expo in Mons. I found a 1/48 Revell F-102A in mint condition, for a faire price.
The Revell kit is a 2004 rebox of a kit released in 1990 by Monogram. The kit is nice for a ’90s kit. It includes nice details in the landing gear and weapons bays. The cockpit is mediocre as is the intake and exhaust. The surface details are nice BUT they are raised. Unfortunately it is the only choice for a 1/48 scale F-102.
As usually, I checked to see what extras I could find to improve the cockpit. The only one I found was a resin cockpit from Aires, so I bought it. It was nice but it required a lot of sanding of the kit fuselage to make it fit. The age of the molds was apparent in most of the small parts requiring cleaning of the flash and mold lines.
Other than that, the fit of the parts was ok (not bad, not perfect). Filler and sanding was required. In turn, this meant that some of the raised details was also sanded away. I did not feel comfortable to sand off all the details and re-scribe them, so I just re-applied the ones that were gone, using stretched sprue.
The F-102s were delivered to Greece using the original USAF paint scheme (overall ADC grey). The “USAF” logos and american roundels were painted over with grey paint and the greek roundels were applied over them. A few years later they were re-painted using the South-East Asia green/brown paint sceme. The decal sheet from Icarus provides markings for both. I was going to do the grey scheme but I changed my mind at the last moment.
I used MRP paint to recreate the SEA camouflage. I have found them very easy to work with. The exact codes were:
- MRP-101 Dark Green – FS 34079
- MRP-102 Green – FS 34102
- MRP-103 Brown – FS 30219
- MRP-104 Light Grey – FS 36622
After the decals and a semi-gloss varnish, I did some weathering using Flory Clay Washes.
The work in progress
The finished model
Products Used
| Kit | Box | Scale | Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revell Convair F-102A Delta Dagger |  | 1/48 | 04586 |
| Aires F-102A Delta Dagger – Cockpit Set for Monogram |  | 1/48 | 4474 |
| Master Model F-102 Delta Dagger – Pitot Tube |  | 1/48 | AM-48-043 |
| Icarus Productions Hellenic Daggers (F/TF-102A) |  | 1/48 | 48009 |
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