Esci 1/48 F100 in French colours - Finished

[Marklo]

Beating the fuselage into submission, the engineering isn’t great hence the copious amount of tape and the bits of sprue etc…

 

I also noticed that there is a French option in the kit as well as a Dutch scheme, so I’ll only need to organise the shark mouth.

[Wez]

12 hours ago, Marklo said:

I also noticed that there is a French option in the kit as well as a Dutch scheme, so I’ll only need to organise the shark mouth.

 

I think you mean Danish, the Dutch never operated the Hun.

 

I've found this which I did for an earlier thread on camouflaged French F-100's, ans is based upontranslating from the EM-37 book:

 

"The idea to camouflage the Armée de l’Air’s (AdlA) F-100’s first appeared in 1971, the option chosen is to adopt the camouflage scheme in use with the USAF.

The plan (65J40 367), providing the information of American F-100’s was given to Aérospatiale to (the responsible maintenance organisation for French F-100’s), to bring it in line with French specifications.

The EMAA (General Staff of the AdlA), had been giving some consideration as whether to paint the rear section of the fuselage where paint adhesion was affected by the high temperatures in that area (this can be seen on camouflaged USAF F-100’s).

 

On 21st January 1972 the EMAA directed that the current markings must be retained but their dimensions should be reduced in line with the standard adopted for camouflaged aircraft:

1.  Height of numbers or letters – 24cm (reduced from 36cm).

2.  Width of numbers or letters – 16cm (reduced from 24cm).

3.  Line thickness – 4cm (reduced from 6cm).

4.  Space between individual numbers and letters – 4cm (reduced from 6cm).

5.  Width of the gap between features (e.g. the gaps between things like the codes 3 – IS for instance) – 8cm (reduced from 12cm).

6.  The diameter of the roundels shall not exceed 36cm (yellow band not included).

7.  Squadron insignia can be maintained if their maximum dimensions do not exceed 30cm.

 

Aérospatiale at Bourges-Châteauroux proposed adopting the American camouflage scheme from 2nd March 1972 with the following exceptions:

1.  The American paints are replaced by Celomar manufactured paints.

2.  Door e.g access panel, security, instructions or special markings will be in the same dimensions as in the “normal” version and in English language (e.g. all of the stencils were the same size and type as those used on NMF aircraft and in English).

3.  The markings will be applied as per the EMAA directive.

4.  The titanium hot areas on the rear fuselage would not be painted.

Aérospatiale estimated that painting each individual aircraft would take about a week.

 

On 17th April 1972 it was ordered that all aircraft entering modification and IRAN programmes should also be painted in parallel, SNIAS (aka Aérospatiale), were directed to begin with aircraft No.160 which was obviously in the maintenance lines and that aircraft No.162 which was lingering from the 1971 IRAN programme all also be painted post incorporation of a technical order.

The colours specified followed the American standards:

Camouflage European 1:

FS.34079 Forest Green

FS.34102 Medium Green

FS.36081 Dark Grey

Notice, there is no underside colour mentioned here so I’m assuming it was intended they would retain NMF here.

Camouflage South East Asia:

FS.34079 Forest Green

FS.34102 Medium Green

FS.34219 Tan (I think this is a typo and should be FS.30219)

FS.36622 Very Pale Grey"

 

These shades are exactly the same as the USAF SEA scheme, I’ve never seen a camouflaged French F-100 in the European 1 scheme, only the SEA scheme, I would be fascinated to see one in the Euro 1 scheme if it did exist and if it didn’t, it would make a good WHIF.

I think the important thing we should take from this is the paints were manufactured by Celomar in France and would have a different formulation than the US paints, therefore, as others have already stated, they are likely to weather differently and have a different appearance to their US counterparts.

There is no mention of a pale blue grey undersides however, Modeldecal Sheet 69 which includes French F-100’s, gives the camouflage colours for Djibouti based aircraft as above for the upper surfaces but states the undersides are in a pale blue grey.  Modeldecal were always meticulous in their research and had the assistance of some well-known French enthusiasts including Model Art Decal’s Jean-Pierre Desperez.  A quick Google search reveals plenty of French F-100’s with blue-grey undersides (and also some with their hot parts painted).  It makes sense to me that those aircraft operating in African skies had blue undersides to better blend in.

 

In summary, French F-100’s began to receive camouflage as they went through IRAN maintenance and/or modification so it was a gradual process.

They were camouflaged to the US pattern with exactly the same shades as specified in the US SEA scheme however, the paints were manufactured in France by Celomer and would have a different composition to the US paints so will have weathered differently.

When the camouflage was applied the other marking were reduced in size and spacing but were generally retained in similar locations to previously.  The stencil markings were retained in the same size and stile as those used on NMF aircraft and were in English language.

At some point, F-100’s received a pale blue grey underside, this shade is not specified but can be seen in many photos.

 

So the colours were based upon the USAF colours but the Djibouti based aircraft used a blue which we decided was very similar to RLM78 for their undersides.

 

Google should be able to help you with pictures of how the French aircraft weathered differently.

[modelling minion]

Great info Wez, thanks for sharing it with us.👍

 

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[Marklo]

Wings assembled and sanded and a coat of primer to see where I am and to have a better surface to scribe on. Needs a bit of polishing down first.

 

It’s a funny kit it’s pretty much the right shape but the engineering is awful snd the plastic is very thin. I am beginning to understand why I remember building one as a kid but don’t remember finishing it…

[modelling minion]

Coming together nicely, looking forward to the scribing.

 

🇺🇦

[Marklo]

2 hours ago, modelling minion said:

looking forward to the scribing.

Just you then, I'm dreading it

[Marklo]

I was going to cut out the bulkhead in the kit and mold a new interior, but found this in the internet. Some handles, edging and the bulge and I have a FOD cover, and much easier to model.

[Marklo]

Rubbed down with a fine grit sanding pad. I’ll add some nose weight and the rest of the panels before scribing.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Marklo

[Ghostbase]

On 6/18/2022 at 5:34 PM, Marklo said:

Wings assembled and sanded and a coat of primer to see where I am and to have a better surface to scribe on. Needs a bit of polishing down first.

 

It’s a funny kit it’s pretty much the right shape but the engineering is awful snd the plastic is very thin. I am beginning to understand why I remember building one as a kid but don’t remember finishing it…

Yes that is exactly as I remember it many years ago, the fit of the nose section was just awful! You're doing well 👍

 

Michael

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

3 hours ago, Marklo said:

I was going to cut out the bulkhead in the kit and mold a new interior, but found this in the internet. Some handles, edging and the bulge and I have a FOD cover, and much easier to model.

Thanks been trying to decide what to do with a similar intake on the AMT Two seater. 

[Sam]

13 hours ago, Marklo said:

I was going to cut out the bulkhead in the kit and mold a new interior, but found this in the internet. Some handles, edging and the bulge and I have a FOD cover, and much easier to model.

Nice move!

 

[Marklo]

Added in a large chunk of lead (possibly to make sure it sinks if I throw it into deep water) closed up the fuselage panels and applied a little filler, I have to keep telling myself there’s an F100 in there somewhere  

Edited July 23, 2022 by Marklo

[modelling minion]

A LITTLE Filler? Looks like you have been practicing icing a cake on it!

 

🇺🇦

[Marklo]

49 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

A LITTLE Filler?

No actually I’m practicing NLP on myself  

[Marklo]

 Actually in my world this is a lot of filler ( I think I used a full pack of milliput on this one)

 

But it turned out ok at the end  

[modelling minion]

Turned out very nice I would say.👍

 

🇺🇦

[Dansk]

i think mark is sponsored by some filler manufacturer craig 🤣

[Marklo]

11 hours ago, Dansk said:

i think mark is sponsored by some filler manufacturer craig 🤣

Indeed I never say no to free stuff  

Edited July 25, 2022 by Marklo

[Marklo]

Masking tape applied to the Fuselage and the datum line and half the outline drawn.

 

Transferred to the cutting mat, the grid gives me an approximate size. Then loaded into Amadine and used as a drawing guide.

 

That’s the eyes and mouth ready to print.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Marklo

[Marklo]

test print, not bad at all.

 

[modelling minion]

Looks very good to me.

 

🇺🇦

[Marklo]

My version of the FOD cover. Anyone with a weak constitution should turn away now….

 

A bucket of filler needed to blend the intake in…..

 

 

[modelling minion]

That really is quite a lot of filler isn't it, though I am well aware that the nose on this kit can be a poor fit.

 

🇺🇦

[Marklo]

48 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

That really is quite a lot of filler isn't it, though I am well aware that the nose on this kit can be a poor fit.

Definitely headed there. I’m not entirely sure I won’t need more…

[Marklo]

More sanding, it’s smooth but the profiles not quite right, I’m also in danger of sanding through the front section, so more layers of filler needed. 
 

If I were doing this again I’d shim out the main fuselage sections to meet the nose piece.

Edited August 6, 2022 by Marklo