Jump to content

Whacked -Out Wild Weasel 1/72 F-100F


Recommended Posts

Hello again!

 

Having slightly healed from my previous incursions into the modeling arena, I shall once again throw my body into the breach, too see whether I have yet bitten off more than I can chew!

 

My efforts this time will center upon flailing away at the 1/72 Trumpeter F-100F offering, trying both to make it look a little more accurate, and at the same time, trying to alter it into something resembling an F-100F "Wild Weasel" version of Vietnam War vintage. There are several items involving these two goals; some of which I will treat, and -- as is my custom -- others, which I will ignore.  That being said, here goes...

 

To begin, a little comparison is in order; primarily some comparison between the Trumpeter kit and the Esci kit, which has a long and oft' renamed history. Since I had both laying about, these were my only choices.

 

Side-by-side, the Trumpeter kit is a bit long in the cockpit area:

 

Comp01-vi.jpg

 

In the above photo, the Esci kit behind, the Trumpeter kit in front.  Next, a better angle on the problem:

 

Comp02-vi.jpg

 

Next, comparison to drawings; the Detail and Scale offering is what I had lying about. First, the Esci kit:

 

ESCIF100F-vi.jpg

 

As you can see, the Esci kit isn't bad, most notably a disagreement about the fuse depth, as well as the tail height.

 

Next, the Trumpeter kit, same drawing:

 

TRUMPF100F-vi.jpg

 

Here, the fuse depth is right on, but the cockpit is way too long. The tail is about the same as Esci's. The red line indicates where the rear edge of the nose intake cone should line up. From above:

 

BTW, the comparison of the two kits' wing can be found on the WIP for my F-100C.HERE

 

TRUMPF100F02-vi.jpg

 

Yup, the cockpit length is definitely a problem, so let's get started trying to fix that little puppy!

 

First, let me state that either kit option required a new canopy. The Esci has the bogus center frame at the third forward, vs correct center point of the cockpit. The Trumpeter canopy (and kit) are much too narrow. I have ordered a Rob Taurus, and I sure hope that it's the same length as the ESCI, caused that's what I used to determine the cutting points!

 

After a lot of study and burnt offerings,  I finally decided that the best place that would let me remove the excess length, and damage everything else as little  as possible, would be along the slanted panel line thoughtfully provided by Trumpeter, and show here enhanced by a marker:

 

F100F001-vi.jpg

 

I determined that a piece about 21 scale inches or 8mm would need to be removed -- MEASURED ALONG THE HORIZONTAL DATUM LINE, NOT PERPENDICULAR TO THE CUT LINES!

 

F100F002-vi.jpg

 

Next, showing the left fuse pieces joined, and the amount that needs to be removed (along with the location of same) on the intake trunk:

 

F100F003-vi.jpg

 

In the pic above, "A" denotes the part to be removed from the intake; "B" shows where the intake mounting lugs need to be shortened on each side, to fit the shortened fuse halves; and "C" shows that the bottom of the nose no longer aligns with the rest of the fuse, and will have to be filed, later.

 

F100F004-vi.jpg

 

In the above pic, the right fuse side nose end has not yet been cut off to fit the Esci intake copy that I will use, but the right side has been cut and shortened like the left side. HOWEVER, you will note that I screwed up when cutting the left side and had made the cut poorly. This resulted in the left nose half being too short at the top (near the cockpit), which resulted in the whole left nose half being rotated upward, and to be short. The fix was to re-open the left side seam and insert a wedge of kit sprue, to fill the gap as well as align the nose halves properly:

 

F100F005-vi.jpg

 

When cleaned up later, this will fix the problem.

 

Next is shown the completed right half, with the nose part joined and the resultant shortening of the intake trunk mounting lug holes, marked "A", and the shortened mounting lugs, marked "B". Also not the shortened intake trunk assembly, itself.

 

F100F006-vi.jpg

 

Next, we move on to the cockpit itself. Let me state here that the single largest problem in trying to depict an accurate F-100F Wild Weasel aircraft is that there seems to be zero, zip, nada available on what the Weasel cockpit looks like. Many searches on other forums, etc has been fruitless. If ANYONE has a copy of an original Weasel manual, or photos of the real deal, please chip in. (Of course, they're very likely still Classified, and for good reason!)

 

F100F007-vi.jpg

 

In the pic above, "A" denotes where the front of the cockpit assembly sets too low, and "B", where it sets too high. The solution for me was to saw off the upsweep at the rear of the intake trunking, and to sand the bottom of the cockpit, to allow everything to sit flat. Results are shown below:

 

F100F008-vi.jpg

Next, we start installing parts into the fuse halves, starting with some lead in front, atop the intake trunking. Then the tailpipe (painted inside) was installed into the tail. Note also the wedges of plastic card inserted into the edges at the front of the intake trunk, to cause the trunk to better fit the Esci intake front that I'll be using, as per my F-100C build.

 

F100F009-vi.jpg

 

In the above photo, I take special care to see that the two mating surfaces pointed to by the arrow are flush with each other.

 

Well, at least that's a start, and, as promised, it is a bit "whacked-up"! If you're interested so far, please feel free to tag along.

 

Later,

 

Ed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by TheRealMrEd
Added link, typo
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ed!

 

There is a lot of good work there, and the comparison illustrations are just perfect. My F-model is coming along, having followed the same principle as I did with my C. I am going to live with the error in the canopy. 

 

Again I am going to follow your progress eagerly.

 

Martin

Edited by RidgeRunner
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, Martin.

 

Now to continue with a brief update... There are several things that needed to be added to the F-100F to make it a Wild Weasel variant, shown in the next photo. This photo is available on-line, but in a smaller, hard-to-read size. I can't remember where I found this larger one, so I will post it rather than a link. I will also take it down, if anyone objects. I would suggest that to those who want it, grab it now!

 

F100FWWdetails-vi.jpg

 

The first thing that I'll add before closing the fuse is the  cooling intake for the Doppler Nav, located on the rear fin. I began by using a tiny flat file to file small openings at the correct location, on both vertical stabilizer (fin) halves:

 

F100F010-vi.jpg

 

In the above pic, "A" represents the filed openings, and "B" represents the small pieces of 5 thou card that will be used to make the outsides of the intake.

 

In the next pic, "A" shows one of these pieces glued into place, while "B" shows a part positioned near it's final resting place:

 

F100F011-vi.jpg

 

Then, the next pic shows it's result as the fins are glued together:

 

F100F012-vi.jpg

 

I'll try to remember to post a side shot of this area later on, as I forgot to shoot a pic before this update.

 

That's all for now, more next time.

 

Ed

 

 

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all,

 

Been very busy, not much time for modeling last couple of weeks, but here is a brief update.

 

After gluing the the fuse halves together, and when trying on the Esci intake copy for fit, I found that the angle was a little of on the intake trunk, which in turn, forced the intake itself to sit higher than desired. To solve this, I installed a small wedge of plastic scrap between the upper fuse and the intake trunk, to force the trunk downward a bit:

 

F100F013-vi.jpg

 

When dry, I trimmed off the excess part of the plastic wedge.

 

F100F014-vi.jpg

 

Next a view showing the intake in place (some filling required), as well as the doppler cooling intake, at "B".

 

F100F015-vi.jpg

 

Next, I began shimming the upper fuse seam to fit the width of the Esci/Rob Tauras canopy, as I did for my earlier-built "C" model.

 

F100F016-vi.jpg

 

I have actually made a little more progress than this, but haven't had time to process the photos.Have also been researching the "Wild Weasel" F-100F variant, and was surprised to find that only seven aircraft were purpose-built for this mission. No wonder photos and cockpit details are scarce!

 

More coming soon.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

ED

 

 

Edited by TheRealMrEd
added photo
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ed!

 

I think you can see - and I'm sure you've encountered it now - that the aperture for he canopy is longer than your Taurus vacform. Do you have a plan to fix that yet?

 

Martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Roger!

 

Here I am, chipping away...

 

When last we visited, I had posted a photo showing some of the plastic shims used to widen the fuse -- at the top seam only--as the bottom seam was glued up "stock". Here is the result of that effort:

 

F100F017-vi.jpg

 

Note that a piece of plastic card has been added to blank out the rear cockpit opening of the fuselage, and that another strip has been added to the top of the nose, to sort of emphasize the fairing a little. Not shown here is the plastic card added to the bottom of the fuse nose, to allow the nose to fair into the fuse st the point where the fuse was sawn in half.

 

I found this photo on line, of some needed mods for the F-100F Wild Weasel mods. It was also posted somewhere here on Britmodeler a while back, but when I just went to point to it, I couldn't find it. Is there any "universal" website search for Britmodeler? I have a lot of time going back and finding things I read earlier, but can't remember where, looking forum by forum. Anyone with better search ideas, please help.

 

ALSO, anyone with F-100F either standard, Misty Fac or Wild Weasel builds, feel free to post a link here, so that folks can readily find the info they need to build the aircraft. One of the things I try to do, in my limited way, is to assemble ALL the salient info on a certain craft, so that the next builder can just build, rather than have to hunt for info for months or years like I did. That being said, they would still have to research individual markings, load-out, etc.

 

F100FWWdetails-vi.jpg

 

However, in the above photo, I'm not real certain that they didn't just "make up" the rear APR-26 mount on the tail fairing. Mostly, I've only found two types, the first type (shown below) seems to be the earlier type, and the type flown on Wild Weasel F-100F's:

 

F100FTailAnt-vi.jpgtailantenna02-vi.jpg

 

Note that in the right side photo (above) the little circles of the actual antenna are staggered; that is, the left-side circle is  higher up than the right-side circle. This is also true of the nose-mounted APR-25 antenna.

 

This style of antenna mount was used because apparently, the original aircraft had a rather thin tail fairing, and the APR-26 mount  needed two tapered side panels added to the original fairing, to make the whole thing wide enough to mount the APR-26. The later type antenna mount occurred because the original fairing by that time (mostly on "D" models) was already wide enough, and the just stuck the antenna on the back of what was already there.

 

The later type is shown on this  Air Guard F-100D :

 

laterAnt-vi.jpg

 

I began by cutting out two pieces of perhaps 20 thou card to this shape. It matched the front of the existing fairing, is s little shorter in height, and curves at the bottom, as shown:

 

F100F018-vi.jpgF100F019-vi.jpg

 

One piece was glued to each side of the existing tail fairing, aligned at the front and top edges.

 

Next, masking tape was added in front of the fairing, to help protect against excess sanding damage:F100F020-vi.jpg

 

Next is shown the left side sanded to a taper at the front:

 

F100F021-vi.jpg

 

Then (I forgot to take pictures), I added  a small square of card the the rear of the three sanded fairing part, The edge of the card were sanded to a taper toward the rear. Then, a final piece  (sort of an elongated pyramid) was added for the antenna itself. When I get around to sanding the hand-brushed Mr Surfacer 500, it will look better.

 

F100F022-vi.jpg

 

Next, comes the nose-mounted APR-25 antenna. It looks like this:

 

F100FNose-vi.jpgF100FNoseAnt02-vi.jpg

 

I started by laminating three small strips of card together. I used three vs. one solid piece, to provide a better center line, to help keep the shaping even on both sides.

 

F100F023-vi.jpgF100F024-vi.jpg

 

It looks more or less like this. (Just realized it's mounted too far back. Should be right at the edge of the intake). Again, please disregard Mr Surfacer 500 globs. It all looks better than this in real life!

 

Next, taking an advance look at the fit of the Rob Taurus canopy, I found that either I cut/sanded the front windscreen part a little to much, or the part -- intended to fit the Italieri/Esci/whatever F-100F, didn't fit the Trumpeter model exactly. How unkind of Rob Taurus not to see into the future and realize that I would need to use their canopy this way. Such inconsideration!

 

Anyway, I added a couple of plastic strips where shown at "A", which also helps keep the vacuform canopy aligned on the fuse. The area marked "B" shown where to fill the two vents, not needed on the Wild Weasel variant:

 

F100F025-vi.jpgF100F026-vi.jpg

 

Note that the strips are back from the outer edge of the fuse. Either the canopy will fit to the outside of the strips, or atop these strips, where filler will be added to blend them in,. We'll see.

 

And as to your inquiry Martin, I assume you mean the space marked "A" on the next photo:

 

F100F027jpg-vi.jpg

 

I will just fill this in with plastic card and sand. My biggest disappointment is actually at the rear, marked "B", where the correct amount of space is no longer available!

 

There was just no place to shorten the kit cockpit, and still fit all the parts (seats, I.P., etc.), so these two areas are where I shall have to fake it. There are no aftermarket parts in this scale, and I was too lazy to scratch build and seats, etc. particularly given the fact that NO ONE apparently has photos of the back seat area of the WW F-100F's. So, I went with the kit stuff all the way.

 

My quandary now is to decide whether to model the canopy opened or closed. It would be simpler in most respects to close it, but I could hide the rear discrepancy by modeling it open. On the other hand, I had fits with the P2V-2 Neptune and the F-100C with getting the vac formed canopies to stay in lace despite using CA, etc., and I'll confess, I'm a little gun-shy!

 

This is my current hold-up. While I'm making this decision, and until next time, comments and opinions are welcome, as well as  hints, tips and donations...?

 

Later,

 

Ed

 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Martin,

 

Got it to a point where I was ready to paint. Ordered some paint from an on-line hobby store. Over two weeks, still hasn't shipped. Opened a dispute via PayPal today, and have ordered the paint from another source. Hopefully, will post up some more pics in a week or so.

 

Been a tough couple of weeks!  Even a couple of other projects I'm playing with are fighting me!

 

Later,

 

Ed

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, fingers crossed it'll come together soon, Ed. to be honest I've stalled too due to holidays and work commitments.. The F model is sitting ready to take the Taurus canopy which I've struggled with :(. The D is in the weathering stage now...... 

 

All the best, 

 

Martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ed!

 

I hope that paint arrived!!!

 

I'm finally getting back to the F. My D is just about done now and so it'll be F all the way now in between everything else that life demands of me! ;). Here she is today:

 

F100Fprogress4

 

Taurus canopy eventually wrestled in to shape and fitted. Wings completed (apart from slats) and a Primer coat.....

 

Martin

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

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:

 

F100F017-vi.jpg

 

F100F028jpg-vi.jpg

 

F100F029jpg-vi.jpg

 

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.

 

F100F030jpg-vi.jpg

 

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:

 

F100F031jpg-vi.jpg

 

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!

 

F100F032jpg-vi.jpg

 

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

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are getting there, Ed. the final furlong! I am currently waiting for the gloss coat to cure before taking Flory dirt to the panels and then Tamiya Weathering powders. After that it is u/c on and final coats of satin and gloss. This F-100 set has taken me too long. I have F-80 and T-33 "in the jigs" now. Something different :).

 

Martin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh dear! Today is weathering day, Ed, and I have just shredded some critical and irreplaceable decals. It was not completely my fault as they were sub-standard, flaky and simply cracked as I applied them. I thought I'd got past the point of potentially damaging them after a good glosscote but no! :(.....   When she gets to RFI she wont be as I intended, sadly :(.

 

Martin

Edited by RidgeRunner
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Ed,

 

I have used 310 and as far as I can tell it never stops being tacky and is also sensitive to decal solvents. I have applied decals to it and it is usually OK and then I would coat it with their 314 flat and the tackiness goes away, but I found that if I leave MicroSol on it too long it will blister. I stopped using it.

 

Good luck

 

Howard

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

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:

 

2v2uciaT8xfzdhW.jpg

 

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:

 

2v2uciaC2xfzdhW.jpg

 

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):

 

2v2uciaG9xfzdhW.jpg

 

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:

 

2v2uciay2xfzdhW.jpg

 

2v2ucieZvxfzdhW.jpg

 

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

Edited by TheRealMrEd
Added link
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...