1/72 Sword T-38

Gallery Article by Douglas Conrady on Feb 19 2018

 

      

The T-38 and I go way back. Or at least I like to think so. I used to live in Enid, OK where Vance AFB is located. The T-38's are/were always flying around. Where I work and live now is out in the country in the flight paths of Vance's T-38s. Its not a normal day if I don't see at least one.

The T-38 has been covered by other much better researchers...... Onto the model.

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The Sword kit gets a lot of complaints. They're right. However, its the only game in town. Plus it came with Oklahoma markings to boot. Always a plus for me. After working up the cockpit (nicely detailed) it was time for the airframe. The 2 body halves went together nicely, but the resin piece that has the wheel wells did not line up all that great. So, much putty and sanding was applied. There were no locating marks for any of the flight surfaces, which would have been nice. I skipped installing the canopies until after the painting. The painting steps were quite normal. Gunship grey for the dark and cammo grey for the light. After the paining, came the canopy. Most of the pieces did not fit. I glued them on as best I could and fill the gaps with clear glue. Since this was a quick build, I wasn't concerned with getting everything extra perfect. Decals were last and they went on without a hitch. Lastly, a coat of gloss to seal and I could stick a fork in it. A devil of a kit, but it came out OK......

Please email me if you've got any questions or comments.

Thanks for looking and don't throw rotten tomatoes!

Douglas Conrady

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Photos and text © by Douglas Conrady