Vintage: Lindberg 1/51 F-94 Demonstrator (1954)
This is an oldie and dates back to early 1950s. Heck it's older than I am. It does not look like much in the box but I thought lets build it anyway. The only thing holding me back were markings. Due to the scale finding decals were a no-go and the kit decals were not really that interesting. While looking online I found a color photo of the Lockheed L-188 demonstrator. The aircraft was bought by the USAF and a huge probe was added to the nose. So here is the Lindberg kit out of the box (except for blanking off the intakes and exhaust). I used a lot of putty and it is painted with Tamiya paints. As with most of my models it is built out of the box.
An awesome result on this oldie, David @thevid
Really love this scheme.
1/51 is indeed a very odd scale, didn't know that it existed.
Hi John,
Thank you very much. Yes the scale is what is known as box scale, meaning the model was designed to fit a standard box. I think all manufacturers did the same thing, especially Revell. This was before standard scales were adopted and I think Airfix made 1/72 scale the standard by continuing to use the scale used for WWII ID models, which were molded in black
Looks good David, nice to see the old girl built into something that looks that nice. Trust you had some fun with this project.
Hi Tom,
Yes indeed. I guess at one point there only some much sanding I could do. Then the masking!
Thank you very much!
Great to see this oldie of a kit put together so nicely, David!
Looks beautiful in flight status!
Hi Spiros,
Thank you! I wanted to keep it simple. Also there were no wheel wells, just holes on the bottom for the landing struts and covers.
Takes me back a fair way Tom. I'd guess about 15 parts in the kit? You've made her look really good. I can understand & sympathize with all the sanding, but worth the effort I think.
Yes the parts count is low. I had to use epoxy putty to close the open nose rocket fairings. Thanks.
@thevid, that's a handsome model David! I really admire your final results and it's always cool to see a retro build like this one. I guess Lindberg kind of "rounded down" the true scale to 1/48 on the box top. 🙂 And I note the box also warns that the kit is "more challenging"...I'd say you were certainly up to that challenge! Also, I'm starting to have the urge to build a plane "in flight" too. I haven't done that since I was just a kid. It's high time to try another! 🙂
Thank you Gary. Yeah model companies are sometimes loose with the scale of their kits.
fun project for such an old classic kit. Well done!
thank you!
David...you've done wonders completing a silk purse out of a pig. Super job.
Gotta wonder what the kit cost new in the 1950,s.
Thank you! The probably cost 98 cents or so, maybe less.
Looks great! Excellent work on the scheme.
Thank you! There are different schemes to the original without the long probe on the nose. Here are some of the variations used on the real aircraft.
3 attached images. Click to enlarge.
They should have hired you to do the box art!
Great job!
LOL! Yeah I think Lindberg shows their models in a way that will make kids think, "I can do better", so they will buy it. One thing I can say about Lindberg kits is that the parts fit and the clear parts are in perfect condition. Someone has cared for these molds very well.
Nice job on your build, I like the way you cleaned it all up. It looks great sitting on that old Frog stand….
Hey Bob,
Thanks! Yeah I wanted a contrasting color to the orange scheme and the green stand was perfect.