1:48 F-101 A/C Voodoo BASIC kabuki masks

A supersonic escort that turned into an attacker

The fighter from McDonnell with two jet engines first flew in 1954 and was originally meant to escort bombers on long-range routes. Before it entered service the priorities changed, and the A and C versions became tactical carriers of a nuclear bomb for low-altitude delivery. A pair of engines with afterburners drove the aircraft to a speed of around 1800 km/h, and the high-set tail gave it a silhouette that cannot be mistaken for anything else.

The reputation of a double-edged design

The layout of the tail caused a sharp pitch-up at high angles of attack that crews had to learn to allow for. Even so the type lasted long in service; the reconnaissance versions flew over Cuba and in Southeast Asia, and their photographs rank among the most valuable material of that time.

Paper templates and what sets them apart

The carrier is thin Japanese paper, which adapts to curvature and at the same time holds the cut edge. Unlike stiff film it follows the doubly curved surfaces of a canopy without creases and leaves no glossy imprint on the paint once lifted. The tack is deliberately low, so a piece can be lifted once and moved. This set is the basic one of several levels of extent that the brand offers for the type, and it is therefore the smallest option for a modeler whose main concern is clean glazing. Before applying it, it is advisable to degrease the surface and let it dry, because paper does not hold all the way around on greasy paint and the color gets under the edge exactly where the boundary is supposed to be sharpest.