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We;;, here I go again. I usually don't have much luck on these Group Builds, as something always seems to come up to get in the way. However, this time, it's one of those that I've been wanting in the collection, so we'll see. I seem to recall that Linbergh or someone had done one of these in a larger scale, back in the late 50's, but I'm not certain. I was originally intending to build a YF-100, but then I ran into JohnR's beautiful build HERE and I was a little bit intimidated. So, I decided instead to build another seldom-seen model, the short-tailed version of the first few F-100A's. The YF-100 had a taller tail, but when the F-100A went into production, they thought that shortening the height of the tail would enable it to go faster. Don't know how that worked out, but they created deadly handling problems! Eventually, the tall tail was brought back, and one foot of extra length was added to each wing tip. This solved the handling problem, and became standard on the later "A" models, as well as the rest of the later F-100's. As usual, I decided to use the Trumpeter kit, in this case the "C" model. Accompanying the kit will be a Rob Taurus F-100D canopy, intended for the Italieri kit, plus an Aires F-100D cockpit set: As with my other F-100 builds, there will be a lot of kit carving and grinding, so here goes! First up, the proverbial incorrect nose. Laying the model atop the drawing in the "F-100 Super Sabre In Detail and Scale Part 1", by Bert Kinzey, I determined where to cut the kit so that adding my resin copy of the Esci F-100 nose would end up leaving the model at the correct length. I then made the cut(s): First the nose, then the tail: *** EDIT *** Further down this build article, I discovered that I cut off the top of the tail on my model, way too much. The correct dimension should be measured along rear edge of the rudder/vertical stabilizer, and should be 28mm overall. You can see where I added the length back with plastic card: Remember, it should be 28mm ALONG the read edge, NOT vertically as shown here. (Couldn't figure out how to get Photoshop to dimension along the angled line!) Therefore, the next several pictures that show the tail end will feature the incorrect, way-to-short vertical stab. They will be corrected later in the article. *** END EDIT *** Don't get relaxed yet folks -- the carnage is far from over! Next up, a few more things on the fuselage: The "L" depicts a piece of lead added to the nose, perhaps a quarter ounce. Next, the arrow on the left shows the area on the cockpit side that has to be thinned, to get the Aires cockpit to tuck in under the sill. The next arrow, simply reminds one to select the air brake innards with the narrower gap. The one in the kit with the wider opening was used on later variants, when they added a center-line bomb rack. The arrow at the back end shows where I removed the rearmost molded ring, designed to hold the jet exhaust assembly into place, but removing this ring now allows the entire assembly to be added later, a great boon to painting! Now, I'll separate the Rob Taurus canopy from it's backing, using a scriber first, then a few thin cuts with a number #11 X-Acto blade. I find the PE parts scissors very useful on canopies sometimes, because the blades are thicker and don't deflect as much. The very thin razor saw also make life easier: The sides are best scored and the flexed back and forth to remove, while the waste between the front windscreen and the rear canopy is best sawn apart. This canopy was designed to be built opened, so you don't have much choice! Next, the sanding block is carefully removed from the Aires cockpit tub, after which the tub is assembled, up through adding the instrument panel back piece, and the cockpit sides. The "X"'s show where the cockpit tub has to be sanded to fit the fuselage, as well as slide under the canopy sills: Care must be taken not to over-sand here however, as the ultimate goal is to precisely make the taped-together fuselage halves the exact same width as the Rob Taurus windscreen (windscreen show here slightly askew for the purpose of illustration). The arrow (above right), shows where the cockpit tub fits under the cockpit sill. The width at the rear of the cockpit will be address later. Also note, above left, the the instrument panel back piece sits BEHIND the vertical wall edges on the tub, and atop the center console. The instructions are not real clear here. Well, that's enough for a start. More mayhem to follow, anon... Ed

Whilst building an Otaki F-100D (awful kit, but I'm getting there) I bought a pre-painted 1:144 F-100D made by a company called F-Toys for the drop tanks, refuelling probe and pitot tube. I was looking at it one day and thought that it was too much of a waste to bin it and that I'd put it to some use, so I decided to convert it to the early production F-100A with the short tail. I had to trim the wing to remove the flaps and scribe the panel lines in that area, I also separated and opened up the canopy and detailed the cockpit. The tail was cut down and reprofiled, the intake was opened up and a new pitot made. After I sprayed the primer, I painted random panels in various colours. The slightly changed the tone of the silver, easy to see in daylight but the camera didn't pick it up until I used the flash. Once I had stripped the paint off it was easy to disassemble as it's basically a snap fit model. I had fun making this one and can't wait until I finish the 100D (in RDAF markings) to display them side by side.