1/72 Vacuform Eagles Talon TT-1

by Tommy Thomason

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The Temco TT-1 was evaluated by the Navy circa 1959 as a jet primary trainer to replace the T-34, which easily survived the challenge and soldiered on for many more years.

Originally produced by Eagles Talon in the early 80's, this vacuform kit is currently available on line at Don's Model Works. Don's version is a bit more complete and to be preferred - it comes with two vacuform canopies and a rudimentary landing gear, whereas the original had only one canopy, marred by a few molding dimples along the top, and no landing gear, only vacuform wheel halves. Neither version contains any decals.

That said, the basic airframe parts are still vacuform state-of-the-art even after 20 years. The plastic is thick and workable without being too soft. There are straight, finely engraved panel and control surface lines. The fit of the halves and the wings to the fuselage is excellent after the usual preparation. The wing span is spot on 1/72nd.

During construction, you might be better off simply filling the other side of one of the horizontal stabilizer halves with a thin piece of plastic since you're going to pretty much eradicate the engraved lines anyway while sanding the assembly to a suitable size and shape. The separate landing gear doors are a nice thought but too thick - it's easier to cut them out of thinner sheet plastic. The only notable error is that the correct flap line on the upper surface of the wing should be closer to the trailing edge than the aileron by about the same amount that it is farther away on the lower surface.

The interior isn't as well provided for. There is a front bulkhead which fits pretty well, a floor that is too wide, and an aft bulkhead that isn't deep enough. Only the front instrument panel and glare shield are supplied but they don't match in shape. Life is too short to try to build the ejection seats from the kit's details. However, there's enough sheet plastic in the kit to make side consoles, instrument panels and another glare shield and I just modified the headrests on a couple of aftermarket resin Escapacs to provide seats. A bit of wire for the control sticks is all that had to be found to complete the interior.

The same can be said for the landing gear. Although the simple resin struts and wheels provided in Don's version of the kit are useable and one step closer to a reasonable representation than contained in the original issue, a lot of bits and pieces need to be added to achieve one along with the addition of mounting points.

The instruction sheet isn't particularly accurate or useful in terms of markings and configuration. However, Steve Ginter will publish a TT-1 book later this year in his Naval Fighters series that will provide all of detail you could want, including coverage of the Super Pinto. 

Tommy

Photos and text © by Tommy Thomason