Hasegawa 1/72 F-106A Delta Dart

The Convair F-106 Delta Dart was the primary all-weather interceptor aircraft of the United States Air Force from the 1960s through the 1980s. Designed as the so-called "Ultimate Interceptor", it proved to be the last dedicated interceptor in U.S. Air Force service to date. It was gradually retired during the 1980s, with the QF-106 drone conversions of the aircraft being used until 1998 under the Pacer Six Program.

This is one of Hasegawa's initial batch of kits that was around when I was in Japan in the early 1970s. As such, the kit has minimal detailing, relatively thick plastic and the then-popular raised panel lines for most of the external details.

Hasegawa also chose to model the very first F-106s when they still had wing fences. Later these were removed and slots were cut into the wing as they were shown to be more effective. After a decade or so, Hasegawa also followed suit and redid the wings to show this feature. But not in this boxing.

The kit includes a very minimal cockpit which is basically a ban seat shape, a tub and a pilot to place on it. There is a two piece burner can and the intakes are single pieces. The nose cone in separate. The most complex construction is the weapons bay that includes several extended trapezes. This is installed once you attach the wings to the fuselage. There are four Falcon shapes to fit on the four trapezes and these are best replaced.

You cannot model the kit with the weapons bay doors closed without some work as it simply is not designed in that way. There are a pair of speed brakes included as well as the small panel that fits atop the instrument hood. A very thick one piece canopy is provided. Landing gear have retraction struts on the main gear and the wheels are separate. The inner doors are shown open though were often seen closed on the ground. A pair of fuel tanks were nearly always carried and are supplied.

Instructions are completely in Japanese as this is a home boxing. I am sure color info is provided, but I cannot read it. Markings are for two planes, one is the box art plane from the 94th FIS and the other is for the 95th FIS. There are a lot of aftermarket sheets for this plane, and for true accuracy you'll want to remove the wing fences and cut slots in the wing. I do not think any 'fenced' planes saw squadron service, but would welcome information to the contrary. The decal sheet is nicely done, but I doubt if it is still viable.

One would think that after all these decades we would have a new tool 1/72 F-106, but it has not yet happened. The shape of this one is fine and there have been some upgrade bits developed for it over the years, though availability is questionable. Most of us will simply do the best with what has been offered until something new comes around.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_F-106_Delta_Dart

November 2015

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Thanks to me for picking this one up.

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