Lindberg F-94 C Starfire

Reader Reviews
I like '50s era jets. The F-94C served with the USAF through the 1950s. It had an early computer system that was designed to fired a savo of 2.75 inch rockets at an attacking bomber. Generally, the aircraft was a fair flying jet, with afterburner it could go faster than supersonic in a dive, and patrolled the American skies during the Cold War. A nice overview on the aircraft is in this book P-80 / T-33 / F-94 Shooting Star in Action - Aircraft No. 40Do I like this kit? No.First, it's not 1/48 scale, it's closer to 1/55th. Second, there are some real inaccuracies with the kit. A big problem is the rocket pods are way under scale. The other problem is there is nothing inside the aircraft past the intakes.Now, the kit comes to a builder in an oversized box that hides an undersized model. The kit is molded in all white plastic that was state-of-the-art in 1955. I had to scratch build the jet intakes. In my spare parts box I cut a lenght of tube and mounted it in the kit to simulate the jet afterburner. Even at 1/55th scale you should be able to see down the intakes to the engine. Additioally, I scratch build a cockpit for the pilots. Personally, I like aircraft with pilots but some people hate that. If so then you'll have to scratch build control dashboards. My advice is to get a spare decal for an 1/48 jet dashboard and shrink it down with a copier to 1/55th scale.The F-94C is molded with its front rocket launcher doors open. These were never left open unless being loaded or fired. So, I filled them in and sanded them smooth. However, there are no wheel wells. Due to the thin wing I just gave up modeling them. Note, the model is tail heavy so you'll need weight in the nose.This is not a good kit. The surface detail is too high, there are raised markings where the decals need to go, and there are large gaps between the wings and the horizontal stabilizer. You'll have to do a lot of sanding and filling to make a fair kit.Still, this is about the only kit in a larger scale one can buy unless you surf to Ebay and get the out-of-production F-94 A or B (the fuel tanks were different) or the very expensive and rare out-of-production F-94C by Collectair Hobbies.If you gotta have an F-94 then this is the kit. You better get a hobby knife, some references, and get ready to do a lot of work.