F-100F - the Super Sabre goes "Wild"***FINISHED***

[Chrisj2003]

Light weathering because it’s recently out of the paint shop. Nice. 

 

Chris 

[modelling minion]

I think your back end looks pretty good Pete, and the Hun doesn't look bad either.😁

[stevehnz]

Looking good there Peter, you've done well with the scorched metal/degraded paint effect. That'll come up well.

Steve.

[SoftScience]

I think your paint job is a good start. Maybe some dark pastels (dark reddish browns and black mixed and applied over the panel lines near the engine area would give everything that smoked fish look, and also tie together the painted and natural metal sections. Worth a try. If you don't like it, you can wipe it off with a damp cloth. If you do like it, mist on some clear coat to seal. Drybrushing some oils mixed with a little enamel would give you a similar effect. 

[PeterB]

Hi SS,

 

I dare say you are right but I am not really into weathering and so have no weathering powders or washes, pastels nor oils, so it will probably stay as it is.

 

Pete

[PeterB]

So after a short break to work on a couple of other kits, I have put the decs on.

The glare from the gloss finish is hiding the 4 under the cockpit, and there are still 8 small "no step" ones to go on the slats, but at least there are quite a few spares for those which is a plus for Trumpeter. However, it seems they have made a mistake on the instruction sheet decal pic though.  Placement of national markings on swept wings can be a bit problematic as there are 3 alignment options - parallel to the leading edge, parallel to the centreline, or in the direction of travel. To the best of my knowledge US "Stars and Bars" are aligned on the centreline as shown above, but Trumpeter, having got it correct on the upper Port wing, show the one under the Starboard wing rotated througn 180^o so that it points "backwards"! The decs went on well, but they float off the backing paper within seconds so care was needed.

 

Once the decs are dry I will start working on the underside, fitting the undercarriage and weapons pylons, and drill the holes for the extra aerials.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited September 19, 2020 by PeterB

[Triet Cam]

It's shaping up nicely!

[modelling minion]

Good to see the decals going on Pete, and  well done for not following Trumpeter's instructions and putting the underwing star on backwards!

[PeterB]

Quite a bit of progress today.

In this pic you can see the "blister" aerial for the AN/APR 25/26 receiver I fitted under the nose - some later F-100D also had them as well. The gear, pylons and canopy are on, and in the next pic I have almost finished,

The tanks and LAU-3 rocket pods are on the pylons - I painted them OD though they might have been white or perhaps silver. The pitot tube and the 3 aerials under the nose are also on, though from this angle you can't see the blade aerial for the WR-300 equipment just in front of the nose gear well. In fact, the only thing left to fit is the refuelling probe which on this machine was the cranked type, but that will be left off until I have put the "No Step" decs on the slots, which I have fixed slightly open as seen in photos of Huns on the ground.

 

Nearly there - and once I have finished the decs, stuck the IFR probe on, and done a little touching up it will be ready for the spray booth.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

[modelling minion]

She is looking great Pete, and very close to the finish line.

[PeterB]

Thanks Craig,

 

All the bits are on now and it is a good job I only lowered the slats a little - it appears to me that Trumpeter have not allowed enough clearance for the refuelling probe if they were fully open. I will delay spraying the varnish coat for a day or two so I can do it together with my Stukas! Not sure what the timescale was for the straight vs bent probes, but it does look better than the straight one I put on my old Hasegawa F-100D and it must have made coupling a lot easier for the pilot, as the tip was at eye-level instead of several feet lower down.

 

So I have modified the kit so it is actually in Weasel configuration as Trumpeter sort of claimed but did not deliver. I am tempted to use up some of the left over bits to refurb my old Hasegawa F-100D kit in Vietnam markings as the existing NMF finish has faded badly - I did my first one of that kit in SEA colours but eventually replaced it with the more colourful pre-war version. "What goes around, comes around" as the saying goes!

 

Pete

Edited September 20, 2020 by PeterB

[PeterB]

The sun has finally showed itself so I have taken the final pics and will post in the gallery later. Here are a couple of tasters-

Here it is with my ancient and well discoloured Hasegawa F-100D, and below I have taken a shot of the underside,

To turn it into a Weasel I added an aerial fairing under the nose but the probe hides it. I also added 3 small aerials between the nose and the wheel well, and modified the tail RHAW fairing - that's about the best I can do as Trumpeter forgot to include the bits needed to go with the decals!

 

Generally it was a good kit fit wise, though the instructions were vague at times, and of course there are supposedly serious length issues, but it looks good to me.

 

Thanks for watching.

 

Pete

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Well done Weasel. 

[modelling minion]

Well done Pete, a great model of a very important part of the Wild Weasel history.

With your F-105G coming along nicely too you just need to add an EF-4C  to complete your early Vietnam Weasels.

[stevehnz]

20 hours ago, PeterB said:

it looks good to me.

It looks good to me too, nicely done Peter. I'll pick up on some of your tips for a future build one day.

Steve.