Sword 1/72 EF-10B Skyknight
By J.D. Miller
History
The F3D was not intended to be a sleek and nimble dogfighter, but a stable stand off night fighter with a powerful radar system, four 20mm cannons, and a second crewmember to operate the radar. The Douglas team designed around the bulky air intercept radar systems of the day, producing an aircraft with a large, roomy fuselage that earned it the nickname "Willie the Whale." The first flight of the XF3D-1 was on 23 March 1948.
Beginning in September 1952, the F3D-2 Skyknight was deployed to Korea by the USMC land based squadrons. Surprisingly, the rather tubby F3D could turn inside a MiG-15, and by the wars end shot down more enemy aircraft than any other single type of naval aircraft. The first victory occurred on the night of November 2, 1952 by an F3D-2 of VMF(N)-51 "Flying Nightmares". This was the first successful night radar interception of a jet by a jet. The Skyknight set another record in December of 1952 when an F3D shot down a Polikarpov Po-2 without making visual contact relying instead on radar track and lock-on. In January of 1953 24 USMC Skyknights began escorting B-29 Superfortresses on night bombing missions. By the end of the war, Skyknights had claimed one Polikarpov Po-2, one Yakovlev Yak-15 (identity unconfirmed) and four MiG-15s.
The Skyknight was the only Korean War jet fighter that also saw service in Vietnam. From 1965 to 1969, Skyknights (now called the EF-10B) served in the electronic warfare role, jamming the tracking and guidance systems of Soviet SA-2 surface-to-air missiles. No more than 10 EF-10Bs were in Vietnam at one time. Though few in number, the Skyknight once again made history when EF-10Bs conducted the first USMC airborne radar jamming mission on April 29, 1965 in support of a USAF strike mission. As the war progressed their mission was taken over by the more capable Grumman A-6 Intruder. The U.S. Marine Corps retired its last EF-10B's in May 1970 although some aircraft continued flying as testbeds for Raytheon until the early 1980s.
Introduction
The F3D Skyknight is not an aircraft that's received a lot of attention through the years. It is not a handsome design by any means although it does have a certain charm to those of us bitten by the wingnut bug. To my knowledge it has only been kitted previously in 1/72 by Matchbox; a kit that is now out-of-production and difficult to find. (It was also the subject of a 1/72 Rareplanes vacuform kit. Ed.) Although overshadowed by newer designs, the Skyknight played a crucial role in the development of nighttime radar interception methods and provided much needed electronic warfare countermeasures in Viet Nam. Considering the important contributions and sacrifices made by the Skyknight and her crews in both Korea and Viet Nam, this new kit by Sword serves as a small tribute to this important, but overlooked nocturnal warbird. Let's take a look inside the box.
The Kit
I am a fan of Sword models and many of their kits adorn the shelves of my workshop. Having collected Sword kits for years, I have seen a definite improvement in the fidelity of casting and overall fit. This kit is one of the nicest Sword offerings to date and begs to be built right out of the box. That said, it is still a limited-run kit and will require experience and patience to get the best result.
The kit is packaged in a side-opening box with a nice depiction of an EF-10B in flight on the top and the five schemes covered by the kit decals on the bottom. It is composed of 60 light grey styrene parts and 3 clear parts that come in their own protective bags. No photo-etch parts are included. The instructions are comprised of a small black and white booklet typical of Sword kits. The sprue attach points are somewhat thick and would be best dealt with using a razor saw. Flash is minimal occurring only on a few of the smaller parts. The inscribed panel lines are a little lax in some areas but nicely rendered overall.
Assembly begins (as usual) with the cockpit that is composed of 13 parts each nicely detailed with little flash. Being a night fighter, the instructions call out for most cockpit parts to be painted interior black so not a lot will be seen with the canopy in place. The side consoles and instrument panel are a little soft in detail but will benefit from careful painting and the inclusion of some scratch-built levers, knobs, and trim wheels. The instructions suggest the placement of weight in the nose although an exact amount is not provided. I suspect this will be a tail-sitter so I intend to cram in a fair amount. The assembled cockpit and a nicely detailed nose-wheel bay are then captured between the fuselage halves.
The horizontal stabilizer is provided as a single piece and although I like this kind of engineering, the one-piece stabilizer will add to the tail weight. Did I mention to use a lot of lead in the nose? The intakes are provided as multi-piece assemblies complete with nicely detailed inserts for the compressor blades and jet exhausts. The wings are engineered so as to have boxed in main wheel wells when the upper and lower halves are joined--nice. The rest of the build is quite conventional featuring nicely detailed landing gear assemblies with one-piece wheels obviating pesky mid-tire glue lines—nice again.
One peeve I sometimes have with limited run kits is the absence of detail on the inner (and sometimes outer) aspect of wheel well doors. Sword have thought ahead here and included some very nice details on the inner portions of the nose and main gear doors that should look very convincing after a post-paint wash.
The last step of the assembly involves the attachment of the canopy. This is the only aspect of the kit that is a little disappointing. The rather large canopy is composed of three separate clear pieces that will require some very careful handling during assembly to keep from turning it into a gluey, bloody mess. That said the canopy pieces are very clear with slightly raised muntins that should make masking and painting easy. Care will have to be taken though so go slow and don't have too much coffee beforehand. Attachment of hard points (one per wing) with nicely rendered sway braces and a nicely cast pitot tube directly in front of the wind screen complete what should be an enjoyable build.
Decals and Schemes
The decal sheet is printed by Eduard and features crisp detail in good register with appropriate color shades. Having used Eduard decals many times, I anticipate no problems. Decals are provided for five aircraft:
- EF-10B Skyknight, VMCJ-1, 1969.
Gray over white with Snoopy on vertical stab. - EF-10B Skyknight, VMCJ-1 Da Nang, 1965.
Gray over white with green decal chevron. - EF-10B Skyknight, VMCJ-1.
Same A/C as #2 with mission markings after returning from Viet Nam. - F3D-2T2 Skyknight VMFT(N)-20 Key West, 1959.
Gray over white with green chevrons on nose. Note: the wingtips and rudder will have to be painted green to match the chevron decal. - F-10B Skyknight, China Lake Navy Weapons Test Center, 1961.
White with red panels on nose and tail.
Conclusion
All in all a very nice kit and one that I'm about to delve into as soon as this review is over. The kit features nice detail and a low parts count which should provide for an enjoyable build. The only concern is the multi-piece canopy but with a little patience and care I suspect it will not be a problem for most modelers with a little experience. I highly recommend this kit! Kudos to Sword for providing us with a nicely detailed model of this forgotten Viet Nam workhorse. Thanks to the evil owner of Skyway Models, Seattle and my wallet for the review sample.