I just had another box of resin arrive at my door. Right on the heels of Robert Royces's earlier F-102 post comes this Deuce conversion. It is also at the other of the difficulty spectrum from the HPH B-52.
The kit has all you need to convert Monogram's F-102 into the two seat trainer nicknamed "The Tub". The parts are molded from resin, but not placed in a vacuum chamber so there are a few pin holes to contend with. Also, although the nose is hollow it will take quite a bit of prep work to get the interior to fit.
Cygnus gives you two options with the decals which are very nicely printed. One uses the case X wing, the other the case XX. The big difference is seen at the trailing edge. The case X has a flat trailing edge while the case XX has the conical camber wing as seen on the F-106 and B-58. Attention needs to be paid as to which kit you buy. The Pro-Modeller kit uses the case X wing.
The kit then needs to have the appropriate surgery done to mate the forward and aft fuselage sections. This is a cut/fit/repeat exercise that tries ones patience. This is why I would recommend an HPH kit to a first time resin builder. (I've also heard Fisher kits are quite nice, but he's not doing business right now having lost his home and shop in the California wildfires. I did really want his 1/32 Christen Eagle and F7U Cutlass kits.) Despite the number of parts, most of the prep work is done and they don't use the massive pour blocks that sometimes causes part breakage. Frustration of a newcomer is what leads to them saying "never again" and then one misses out on other offerings when resin kits or conversions are the only game in town.
15 attached images. Click to enlarge.
