Very shiny.  And nicely done.  The F-89 is an interesting airplane, in that it is a big brute of a plane, but is an intercepter.  You did a great job capturing the brute.  Thanks for sharing.

John

That...... Is........ Awesome!

Nice! Never thought of the F-89 as all that attractive an aircraft but that's some beautiful work. 

An absolutely beautiful finish!

Toshi

Nice Eric, The finish is great and overall a really nice model. Good to hear someone can still run a paint brush! OK, what's ELO?

Max

Nice job Eric. That is a beautiful bird.

Eric, I wouldn't sweat the C-J canopy as it's sister ship, 49-2457, flew with a C-J canopy.  That is what it had on its final flight in 1959 when it flew 20 miles to its final resting place in Lakeview Park, Nampa, Idaho.  And according to Detail & Scale, the stars were yellow:

http://www.boxartden.com/gallery/index.php/Profiles/Detail-Scale/41-Northrop-F-89-Scorpion/41-F-89-Scorpion_Page_24-960

Amazing NMF!!  Looks like you sheeted (sheathed?) it in aluminum sheet.

Another item for the B models is that when they were reassigned to the ANG squadrons, they had been retrofitted with the fuel tank winglets.

Very nice!

richs26

And according to Detail & Scale, the stars were yellow:

That's one thing that was always perplexing me.  I have the D&S book along with an "F-89 Scorpion in Action" book.  The artist's rendering on the back of the book shows it with yellow stars as well.  Here's the part that bugs me:  I did see somewhere (but for the life of me I can't remember where) where the stars were shown as white.  The decal sheet only provided the white stars.  When I saw that one picture of the plane with white stars, the question was raised about whether or not it was a squadron color thing.  

Deep down inside, I feel that the yellow stars are the correct depiction while the white stars might be conjecture.  I'd still like to do some more digging into this.  Who knows.  Maybe if I can make a sheet of yellow stars, I'll use them to cover up the white ones.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words!

Eric

Very nice work there, Eric. Thanks for taking to time to explain some of hte process. Interesting stuff.

Very nice work!!! I see the F-89 in Lakeview Park in Nampa, Idaho almost every day, as it is only about a mile from my home. Recently, they went through and painted the canopy a light blue color. I thought it looked better as a natural canopy; however, the pigeons in the area had started to take up residence. The engines have been removed and they left the exhaust and intakes open, this made a nice place for the birds to get out of the weather. They have now covered these with homemade FOD covers. I still love the Idaho F-89 with the stars, and yes, they are yellow on the plane in the park. Originally, the stars and the stripes on the rear of the fuselage were a neon-light green color.

jelliott523

Very nice work!!! I see the F-89 in Lakeview Park in Nampa, Idaho almost every day, as it is only about a mile from my home. Recently, they went through and painted the canopy a light blue color. I thought it looked better as a natural canopy; however, the pigeons in the area had started to take up residence. The engines have been removed and they left the exhaust and intakes open, this made a nice place for the birds to get out of the weather. They have now covered these with homemade FOD covers. I still love the Idaho F-89 with the stars, and yes, they are yellow on the plane in the park. Originally, the stars and the stripes on the rear of the fuselage were a neon-light green color.

 

They paint the canopies blue to preserve them from the elements as there are no more unless one is custom made which means $$$,$$$.  The green color stripes and stars must have been its last markings in use when it was declared surplus in 1958.  The original canopy was replaced with one from a C-J model as it has the brace.  It is goofy since they left out the last number of the serial when it was repainted after 2004.  I remember them from field trips taken to see it in the '60's from Lakeview/Parkview.  My cousin got to sit in it in 1959 on a 2nd grade field trip before it got hoisted up on the pylons.  My brother knows the ANG pilot who flew in to the Nampa airport from Gowen Field in 1959.  Here is more info:  

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/jetregistry/f89-492457.html

Rich, thank you for the great insight into that particular plane.  For me, I found it extra fascinating when I read that it served some time at Hamilton AFB in the early '50s.  Back when he was a kid, my dad lived with his family on Hamilton AFB in Novato, CA.  My Grandfather was a machinist on base.  My dad tells me stories about seeing the F-89s on base and, who knows!, maybe he even saw this very aircraft!

Thanks for the link!

Eric

Beautiful work on that natural metal finish! 

Eric, here is another shot of ID ANG F-89's.  If you save the photo and expand it in size, it does show yellow for the stars and stripes.  The yellow is kind of washed out due to the sunlight in the photo.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Military-Aviation-14/Northrop-F-89-Scorpion-Air/i-cbrqBzv/0/O/F-89ANG%2000039%20A%20static%20Northrop%20F-89%20Scorpion%20Idaho%20ANG%2092446%201968%20military%20airplane%20picture%20by%20Clay%20Jansson.jpg

Notice that these were USAF Arctic birds originally stationed probably at E.F. Harmon AFB in Newfoundland or Goose Bay, Labrador.  Notice that the red wasn't easy to remove from the fuel tanks. 

richs26

Eric, here is another shot of ID ANG F-89's.  If you save the photo and expand it in size, it does show yellow for the stars and stripes.  The yellow is kind of washed out due to the sunlight in the photo.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Military-Aviation-14/Northrop-F-89-Scorpion-Air/i-cbrqBzv/0/O/F-89ANG%2000039%20A%20static%20Northrop%20F-89%20Scorpion%20Idaho%20ANG%2092446%201968%20military%20airplane%20picture%20by%20Clay%20Jansson.jpg

Notice that these were USAF Arctic birds originally stationed probably at E.F. Harmon AFB in Newfoundland or Goose Bay, Labrador.  Notice that the red wasn't easy to remove from the fuel tanks. 

 

Thank you for that awesome picture, Rich!  I've seen that pic before but always as a quite small, low-rez picture.  This was the first time I've see it in that larger, more clear format.  What's funny (and I know this is of my own brain playing tricks on me) is that I can see the yellowish tint on the stripes and stars but, at the same time, I can also convince myself that they're really white.  So, depending on what my brain is telling me, my model could be either right or wrong.  So as not to reduce my feelings of self-worth with micro-aggression, I'm going to retreat to my safe space and tell myself that my model is correct.  LOL!  

Eric

Don't worry about it, Eric.  I picked up two 1/72 Special Hobby A and B models about two months ago so I can do 49-2457 in service and later on the pylons in its green phase as I remember it during the 60's-90's.  Here is soem more info on the disposition of the various serial numbers.  It has more information than Joe Baugher's lists.

http://www.millionmonkeytheater.com/F-89.html