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F-100 Super Sabres in 1/72


Mario

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Hello everybody,
the series ends with the first of the century fighters, the F-100 Super Sabre. This aircraft belongs, as the Russian Mig 19 to the first generation of supersonic fighters, but fast technological progress soon outclassed the F-100 in the fighter role. Nevertheless it played an important role as a fighterbomber. During the early years of the Vietnam war, D-model Super Sabres flew the majority of missions in the “in-country” war, which means operations in South Vietnam. Some of the two seaters were used as FACs in North Vietnam during Rolling Thunder and some of these F-models were modified to become the first Wild Weasels in the conflict.
The Hasegawa F-100 was one of the first models I ever built and the Esci kit impressed me very much when it came out in the eighties. I thought the Revell/Italeri Sabres were a direct re-release from the Esci moulds, but had to find out, that the canopies were wrong. Their kits also had different weapons and wing tanks (as Super Sabres used different tanks, I think both versions are correct).
The first Hun in this post was built mainly out of the box of the Revell kit. I didn´t dare to sand and polish the canopy, but extended the air intake to give it more depth. The decals were very good and colorful representing an aircraft from George AFB California during a special gunnery meet in 1958.
The camouflaged D- and F- models were made from the equal Italeri kit. This time I did not only the extend the air intakes, but also modified the canopies. Colors used were Revell and Model Master enamels. Only light weathering was applied consisting of black wash and some gunsmoke straining with pastel chalk. For the heat effect at the rear, I sprayed a solid metalizer first and brushpainted some stripes of Maskol on it before I sprayed the camo. The decals of both models came from the spare box or were home printed. The name on the single seater was applied letter by letter from a HO-Truckline decal sheet. I used four of Hasegawa´s Mk117 750 pounders for the D-model and Shrikes and rocket pods for the Weasel. These early Weasels often operated with F-105s over North Vietnam, marking SAM sites for them.
The last Super Sabre is a very old Esci model for comparison. It´s from the early stages of the Vietnam war, carrying the optically tracked AGM-12 Bullpup air to ground missle. For my research work, I relied mostly on Squadron´s F-100 Super Sabre in colour, their “Wild Weasel” book and different issues of Aircraft and Aeroplane magazines as well as internet sources for the newer builds.
Best regards,
Mario

IMG_1897_zpse21b7248.jpgIMG_1935_zps902bcb96.jpgIMG_1946_zps5e932eb2.jpgIMG_1412_zpse2c7b381.jpgIMG_1420_zps4cd39ba1.jpgIMG_1996_zps12701a35.jpg

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Hi Mario!!!!

I have been thinking about you as you were the one out of the screen those days....

I have been looking at your work and everytime i watch a pic I find interesting tings to learn about modeling, as the tutorials you publish are very interesting and more important, very instructive.

Those huns you have here are wonderful masterworks, I liked a lot the finish in all the aircraft and the details you incorporat ein every work are fantastic. The one I liked of all???....ALL!!! every plane here has his own charm and personality. And BTW, I have the very very old In Action book, really a gem of pics for reference to all Vietnam interested fan or enthusiast, and have found a part complete and Very Old Revell F 100 C to finish in turkish colours, but have a little trouble with the tanks as those in the kit are a little big.....

Thank you very much for sharing,

Cheers,

Luis Alfonso

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Superb Huns, Mario. The only disappointing thing is you haven't done a 20th. TFW machine ( Only joking ! )

These are some of the best F-100's I've seen , and I really like the F-101's and F-105's as well. Thanks for sharing. :goodjob::cheers:

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  • 2 months later...

Mario just found this posting whilst checking out F100s and these are excellent builds you have a fantastic Nam collection.

Thank you Peter for all your kind comments. Vietnam era aircraft are my main interest. But there are still a lot of missing links. At the moment I´m converting an Airfix Invader into an aircraft of the "Farmgate Program".

Cheers,

Mario

Edited by Mario
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Sounds interesting, please post when done, saw some decals advertised for a farmgate invader the other day.

Thanks for your interest!

Didn´t know there are aftermarket decals for that in 1/72. Thought I would build something unique and plan to use the leftover VNAF insignia from my Royal Lao T-28 and some self-printed tail-numbers.

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One of the very best books about the Hun and it's pilots is "Bury Us Upside Down". It deals with the Misty pilots, their airplanes and their missions over Viet Nam. Talk about a crew of pilots with major "cojones"!

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Nice job with the SEA camo! I especially like the aft end exhaust area treatment- it turned out very convincing. The bullpup was an awesome looking A2G missle- pretty penny is a pretty lethal gal!

Edited by jbpruitt
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Gotta love the Hun and that set is just awsome.

Merci beaucoup mon général!

They are just superb! The camouflage looks very convincing! :thumbsup:

Nice job with the SEA camo! I especially like the aft end exhaust area treatment- it turned out very convincing. The bullpup was an awesome looking A2G missle- pretty penny is a pretty lethal gal!

Thank you very much for the kind comments!

One of the very best books about the Hun and it's pilots is "Bury Us Upside Down". It deals with the Misty pilots, their airplanes and their missions over Viet Nam. Talk about a crew of pilots with major "cojones"!

Thanks for the reading suggestion!

I have googled that book and it appears to be really interesting.

Cheers,

Mario

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