phat trev Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Looking for answers concerning the F-100D as flown by the USAF Thunderbirds. 1/ Would the jets have been covered in stencils much like the 'service' jets? ''no step'' etc... (Service jets look to be festooned with them) 2/ Would the Thunderbirds have had drop tanks (or ferry tanks) fitted ever? if so what type? hope answers can be found, cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 I don't think they had stencils, but I'm sure someone may be able to confirm this. I do, however have a Replica In Scale publication on the Thunderbirds, and it has a photo of an F-100C with the 275 gal. tanks fitted. The booklet says that these were fitted for ferry flights, possibly to Europe, etc. If you PM me I can scan the photo for you, and also the excellent three view drawings of the F-100's colour schemes, crew names, etc. HTH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Cornes Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 (edited) I don't know how much you trust Trumpeter but I can tell you that the 1/32nd Thunderbirds kit has no drop tanks - but I bet they were fitted between displays because they had IFR probes and squadron jets never went anywhere without overload tanks. The Trumpeter ones are the supersonic tanks, bent like a banana and with cruciform tail fins. Regardings stencils, well the Trumpeter kit has nowhere near as many as their squadron jet boxing so I hope that sheds a bit of light? Simon Edited February 22, 2013 by Simon Cornes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennings Heilig Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 No stencils to speak of. Tanks were regularly used for long range ferry flights to/from shows. Just standard F-100 tanks. When it comes to all things F-100, put ******zero****** faith in Trumpeter. Some of the worst kits ever foisted off on the unsuspecting public, in all scales. Just awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Brown Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 The only stencils I've found on the Ds were the red outline around the refueling door under the trailing edge of the left wing. The Cs originally had some remnants of the aircraft data panel under the left side of the windscreen, but it seems to have disappeared pretty early in the C's career. The T-Birds used the standard 275-gal drop tanks included in the Trump & Monogram kits, probably until 1964, when the USAF started modifying them to the 335-gal variety by inserting a 28" plug into the tanks. I haven't found any photos of the T-Birds using the 450-gal ferry tanks. +1 on what Jennings says about the Trump kits. They're good kits, just not good kits of the F-100. The decals in both issues of the 1/32 D are best used to line the bottom of a bird cage. If you want reasonably accurate T-Birds decals, try CAM Decals. They're pretty good. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camper1 Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 The one in the Air Force Museum has no stencils at all,mail me off the forum if you would like a picture Ian The one in the Air Force Museum has no stencils at all,mail me off the forum if you would like a picture Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ubique QPD Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 (edited) It's a bit poignant reading this thread today with the news that the Tbirds and Blue Angels are both scrapping their show season this year :-( I'll be looking forward to seeing the finished kits! Edited March 2, 2013 by Ubique QPD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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