F3H Demon by Clarence Wentzel | |
Brand: | Emhar |
Scale: | 1/72 |
Modeler: | Clarence Wentzel |
AddOns: |
Airwaves set AC72-60 |
The F3H Demon is one of a group of lesser-known
aircraft designs that started production in the mid ‘50s and were a
link between the aircraft of the Korean War and those of the Century
Series era. The Demon was probably more famous or infamous for the
failure of it’s initial engine than for it’s subsequent successes.
The Navy had directed that the Demon be designed around the
Westinghouse J-40 engine which was supposed to double the thrust of
then available engines. Unfortunately the J-40 did not come close to
delivering the promised power plus it was very unreliable. This
problem adversely affected not only the Demon program but also
others such as the F4D Skyray, A3D Sky Warrior, the B-52 and the
F-102. In the case of the Demon, the Allison J-71 engine was made
available. This was not an optimum solution but did provide the
Demon with an acceptable powerplant. The first twenty-one aircraft
produced for the Westinghouse engine could not be retrofitted and
were subsequently towed through St. Lewis and barged down the river
to Memphis for use as instructional airframes. This generated a
congressional investigation but the Demon remained in production.
The Emhar kit has been around since 1991. It has a basic cockpit, but is accurate in size and shape and has recessed panel lines that are somewhat crude by current standards. The kit comes with two external fuel tanks, four missiles and an alternate load of four rocket pods. The bolt-on refueling probe is also included. The nose section is assembled as a separate unit and then assembled into the fuselage. The unique air intakes of the Demon mesh well with the nose section to provide a realistic looking assembly. An all-flying stabilizer can be assembled at any angle chosen by the modeler. The trailing edges of the wings and rudder are very thick and can benefit from judicious sanding and filing. The decals are accurate but very thick. The kit has the feel of the old Frog kits with recessed panel lines that are somewhat thick but not as bad as the old Matchbox kits. No resin or photo-etched parts are included but I used Airwaves set AC72-60 for the Demon to improve the level of detail of the model.
I had no major problems with the assembly of the kit. The parts fit together well without the need for major amounts of filler. No flash was apparent and the parts cleaned up well except for the mentioned thick trailing edges of the wings and rudder. The only areas where some filler was needed was with part 44, the curved panel behind the exhaust and below the fuselage and the top edge of the nose where it connects to the fuselage. Starting with the cockpit, the kit comes with a good representation of the McDonnell ejection seat. The Airwaves set provides belts, footrests and the face shield grab handle to dress this up. The cockpit tub has the consoles molded in the correct place but they have no details or decals. The same goes for the instrument panel. Again, the Airwaves set provides parts that either replace or supplement these areas. Before permanently affixing the ejection seat in place, the modeler should trial fit the nose to the fuselage. I found that I needed to shim the ejection seat up about 1/16-inch in order for the upper portion of the seat to be properly visible. When finally gluing the nose to the fuselage, be sure to check the alignment of the parts. My parts fit well together but any misalignment in this area would make the model look strange. I ended up with a small opening between the nose and the fuselage at the top of the air intake. This was closed with some super glue and painted.
I chose to build
the model in the markings of VF-61 because I liked the skull and
crossbones marking and the black and yellow tail markings. A color
photo of the aircraft with the kit markings was included in the
Ginter book. Great - yes? No! The markings on the tail were “AJ”.
This would be appropriate for a Demon in the November 1957 timeframe
but Demon aircraft were updated in late 1956 with an upper wing
mounted spoiler. This is very visible but is not included with the
kit or the Airwaves set. I could try to simulate the spoiler by
scribing or adding a metal or plastic part but instead, I decided to
backdate the markings. In the 1956/57 timeframe, VF-61 featured an
“E” on the tail - note the photos on the cover of the Ginter book
and page 3 of the Squadron book. This also allowed me to use the
early Sparrow I missiles, which were painted blue.
II was pleased with the final product. I made the
model because I wanted to add the Demon to my collection and this
was the only available kit except for the Rareplanes version. I had
expected the kit to be crude but ended up impressed with its
accuracy and good fit. It really was an easy model to complete.
Note, in checking a June, 1992 review of the kit in SAM, I found
that Emhar produced two versions. Kit no. 3001 depicts the later
F3H-2 and does include the spoilers for people who are not as anal
as your author. This model provides a good representation of this
important airplane that could have been much more well known if it
had had a better engine.
References:
Photos and text © 2006 by Clarence Wentzel April 26, 2007 |