TheRealMrEd

Thanks Roger, The only thing that made doing this Trumpeter kit vs the ESCI was the great level off added detail that Trumpeter provided. A darned shame they didn't get the nose and cockpit area right, as they would have undoubtedly become the "standard" for these kits in this scale. That being said, the "pain" was worth it, as it "looks right" in the end. Someone who paints better than I could make this a show-stopper! I, alas, remain a better mechanic than artist Thanks for tagging along, Ed.

Hi Martin, Yes, glad to be done. Taking a week or so off. Have many aircraft in the partially completed stage, so I may just do some RFI's, but I do have several candidates for next WIP -- just haven't decided yet. You know how it is, you start something, then get lured away by something else. I have the Trumpeter F-100D build-up yet to go, but probably not as a full-blown WIP, and probably not for a while. Yes, celt -- just some dust and grime; not sure how bird that was flown hard, but only for 4 months should look. Just a guess, so I left off the paint chipping/peeling/burning. Ed

As tated in the build thread, here are some hastily-taken, and not very good photos of my "Whacked Out Wild Weasel" build. So named because of the plastic mayhem needed to make a good kit out of the Trumpeter F-100 offering. In fact, the fact that it's the Trumpete kit is probably the only thing that sets if off from other builds of the F-100F -- that and the fact that most of the pics have disappeared from most of the other builds on-line! Without further ado, the pics: Anyway, it's the last on of THESE I'll ever build! Hope you find them interesting. Here is the link to the build thread: Linky Ed

Hello everyone, After finding out that I had to go out of town again in the very near future, I decided to dedicate myself to getting this rascal done beforehand, so I concentrated on completing the build, rather than many more detail pictrures -- most of which were assembling kit parts anyway. I finally finished up the gloss topcoat using Model Master Acryl, no problems. Then got on with final paint and assembly. I did want to post a couple more build pics -- the first showing the petals on the stock afterburner can being masked off (the triangular-shaped petals are a lighter color than the rectangular ones, do I masked over the darker color that had already been painted: Next, I wanted to show a new (for me at least) method of masking oddball shaped wheel well cutouts. Here, the bottom of the wing has been painted the grey color used under the Viet camo jets. After drying, I laid a piece of clear cello tape over the wheel wells and pressed it down firmly, last, I covered the outer part of the clear tape with masking tape, to help keep the clear tape from shifting. Then I cut out the wheel well using a sharp #$11 blade, cutting through the clear tape only. When done, I was able to spray the desired wheel bay color, while everything else was masked. Looks sort of like this: Lastly, I wanted to show the kits' weapons pylons, after each had been drilled to accept fine music wire mounting pins. Since the chosen weapons (LAU-3 rocket pods and BLU-27 Napalm tanks) were taken from the Hasegawa Aircraft Weapons Set #1, they had no mounting lugs to corresponding holes in the Trumpeter pylons. After drilling properly spaced holes in the weapons to line up with the added mounting wires, this allows for the new weapons to be securely mounted. Another bonus is that while the mounting adjusting screw bits on the pylons were a bear to glue on (very tiny), the finished weapons sit a bit "proud" of the pylons, instead of fitting tightly across their whole length. Very scale-like! This photo shows all the weapons pylons fitted out and the white-painted LAU-3 pods in the background (not yet mounted): To see them all mounted in place you'll have to check the pics below, or the final RFI pics I'll try and post later on today. One note on the pylons -- research seems to show that in general, on camo F-100's, only the fuel tank pylons were painted camo, while the weapons pylons were generally left bare metal. (Exceptions existed, probably more so toward the end on the Hun's involvement). Also I looked high and low, looking for examples of the Wild Weasels' F-100F's flying with the 450 gallon ferry tanks, vs the usual 335 gallon tanks as provided in the kit, I could not find any so on went the kit's 335 gallon tanks. Oh, another thing -- on the F-100 D and F models, the main gear doors were of two pieces, hinged together to enable center-line stores, iif used. While I forgot to take detailed pics of the, I cut the door parts apart, and re-glued them at the correct "droopier" angle, and re-positioned the actuating hydraulic cylinder on the door in the corrected spot. This can be seen somewhat in the next picture. A couple of teaser pics for now: A little Doc O'brien's Weathering Powder finishes her up. I was trying to show some signs of in-country use, but 58-1221 arrived on 27 November 1965, and was lost due to engine malfunction on 13 March 1966, so I don't think it had time to get very beaten up. That being said, the four surviving Wild Weasel F-100F's were worn out and went home by July 1966, replaced by F-105F's in the WW mission. Since I couldn't find any pictures of 58-1221, we may never know... More pics in RFI Thanks for watching, Ed

Hi all, Martin, what decals do you need? Something u.s. i might have, none U.S. less probably. Thanks, Woody37. At this point I have her all painted up in Model Masters enamels (flats). I've since added a couple of coats of new (for me) Alclad II ALC-310, a gloss clear that's supposed to be for glossing over flat coats to prep them for decals, but in my case, it's gonna take at least one or two more coats more coats, and the stuff is not drying quickly for me. Second coat, after nearly 24 hours, is still a little tacky. This stage may take forever. However, if the next coat doesn't behave better, I may go back to my Model Master Acryls and see if they do better. Meanwhile, I've been working away at the weapons and pylons, as well as building a master to cast some resin 450-gallon ferry tanks> May not use them on this build, but will certainly use them on an upcoming Trumpeter 1/72 F-100D. Hopefully, will post some more pic in a couple of days. Ed

Okay, Jamie Placing my order now via U.S. seller. Thanks! Ed

For those who may be interested, here is a screen grab from Fotki.com, a photo storing/selling service. They offer assistance in recovering your photos from Photobucket. I have used them for 2 years with no issues. I signed up for for storing 300GB of photos for 5 years for a total of $185.00 US. It isn't free, but it works with no gimmicks. I have no commercial or emotional interest in Foiki -- I'd just love to see all the old pics restored to their proper articles!!! I don't care whether you use this or not -- JUST RESTORE YOUR PHOTOS! Ed

Thanks, Michael, the F-100F Wild Weasel is slowing coming together over on WIP. Ed

Thanks tomprobert, appreciate the input--- Jamie, thanks for the reminder. I thought of White Ensign, but figured they didn't have the color range. Have never used Colourcoats. Would you say they perform the same as /equal to the White Ensign types? (Or are they now the SAME paints?) Ed

Hello all. For many years (long ago) I used only Humbrol paints. Then, they became hard to get in the U.S>, so I switched to Model Master. I recently dug out some of my now 20 - 30 or more year-old Humbrol paints, and I still marvel over the super tiny pigments. My questions: Does Humbrol still make enamel paints with the very tiny pigment. ( I read a few years back that their supplier in China had dried up)? How do they cover whether air or brush painting? Is there anything else out there with a super fine pigment, that is airbrush ready (particularly in U.S. colors, since that is what I build, mostly)? I am mostly interested in Humbrol enamels and comparing old-time to newer, but would also appreciate opionions about other types (ie acrylics) it they were more or less problem free in a .2mm airbrush. Thanks for any comments, ED

Hi Martin, As a follow-up to the F-100F thread, thought I'd mention that I finished up the Hun with a 20 - 30 year old tin of Humbrol, shown below: An even older modeler than me told me, decades ago, that the secret to preserving Humbrol in the tins was to carefully wipe all the paint off the lid and around the tin opening, before reinstalling the lid. I use a small tack hammer to insure that the tin lid is properly seated. As you can see, the results speak for themselves. In addition, when I open the tin, I stir everything with a small flat screwdriver, just to break up the chunks, drop in a couple of little stainless steel ball bearings (BB's will work, but the copper will corrode and they'll rust over time if you leave them in), reseal the lid, and then give the whole shebang about three minutes ob my Robart Hobby Paint Shaker. I use ONLY Model Master paint thinner to thin the Humbrol, and if a tin has thickened up a bit, I add a little at a time and keep shaking. I have recovered some pretty far gone tins that way. Any tins that have every dried out on me were strictly due to my not having properly cleaned the tinlet lids and openings, before sealing. I suspect that other good "hot" thinners would work, but I have had more than one tin go "rubbery" after using other thinners. Just my personal experience. Ed

Hello Martin et al! Finally, after trails, tribulations and much aggravation, I am starting to get back on track. I have blended the cockpit into the fuse and got it faired in pretty well: For the (hopefully) final round of filling, I used 3m spotting putty, overlaid with CA glue, to harden up the surface for final sanding. Next I played around with the discolored metal on the rear end, of which the paint demarcation on these birds differed from the F-100C's and D's, in that it didn't have time to get as burned, nor was there time for a lot of the paint burned through. A couple of these birds only lasted a few weeks and all seven of them were only in-country, for about a year, I am told, being replaced by the F=100F and G's. Here is how she sits today, after much fiddling with old paint, and orvercoming the fact that I'd forgotten how to set up the airbrush for camo demarcation: By saying "old paint" , notice the price stickers on some of the old jars ($1.29 - $1.39) vs the $2.99 for the fairly new bottle. I ran out of the darkest green, and had to dig out an even older tin of Humbrol, which saved the day! It is somewhere between 20 and 30 years old, and only half a tin at that! After all this paint dries overnight, I'll touch up the grey undersides, and when that's dry, gloss topcoat and decals. It will be a few more days until that point, so tune in later for the next update. Hopefully, it will NOT be as long as the last.... Ed

Good job, Martin! Looks like a keeper! I finally got the paint supply/bad hobby shop deal sorted, but am leaving tomorrow for a few days' holiday. Hope to get back to posting an update on my F-100F "Wild Weasel" build by the first of August.... Ed

I'd go with IG overall, with black console tops and IP, certainly for the P-80 A and B, and most of the "C" Models. Some of the later "C" models may have had black above the console tops. Ed

For the FS number, the first digit denotes level of gloss, ie. 3xxxx = flat, 2xxxx = semi-gloss and 1xxxxx = glossy. For example 15042 is glossy, while 35042 is flat, but they are both Dark Navy Blue. Ed