John R Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 (edited) North American YF-100 Super Sabre prototype I had hoped to have this finished by now but somehow life got in the way! It started life as a partially built ESCI F100D left at the club last month Modifications include : Re-profiled fin with a strange, and so far unidentified, thing on top Removal of the inner wing extensions and flap lines and re-scribing ailerons Removal of what looked like strengthening plates under the wing Addition of the upper nose probe. Reduction of the wingspan The extreme rear end is also significantly different to production types and requires fabrication of a new exhaust ring. The worst moment came quite late on when the forward undercarriage bay became loose and fell inside the fuselage. Fortunately the fuselage was sufficiently empty to enable it to be extracted via the hole for the afterburner ring. After cleaning up it was possible to re-insert via the gear bay hole but holding it in place whilst re-glueing provided some considerable amusement! One interesting item is that this kit, by ESCI, is supposed to be one of the most accurate but the intake shape is wrong. It appears to be a perfect ellipse whereas the actual shape is not. I do not feel up to trying to correct it. I am wondering what paint to use for the upper surface panels of the wing which are not polished metal. Any advice would be appreciated. I wondered if the YF-100 logo appeared on both sides of the nose but all the photos I have seen show it on only the right side. Some photos show FW 754 on the left but a poor quality first flight photo appears to show neither. Ah, the joys of research! John Rieley Edited September 27, 2011 by John R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 John, nice choice of subject...I would use Alclads throughout as they provide the tones you require, as for the upper surfaces of the wing, slooking at this photo I would use Alclads semi matt aluminium which gives a nice grey/silver finish surrounded by their chrome or stainless steel , (undercoated in gloss black), or even kitchen fioil or if you can afford it Bare Metal foil which is what I tend to use for these areas. It seems that the prototype had several variants of the nose pitot fitted, one above, one below or as in this shot with one short above and long below....it all depends on what period of the aircrafts development you intend to model, Hope this helps, Cheers, Melchie... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John R Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share Posted September 3, 2011 Thanks Melchie. I was aiming for 'first flight' standard for which, as far as I can determine, the lower nose probe was used . John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjhm Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Hi John It would have been built at least 26 years ago (the original builder, my dad, died in '85) and was gathering dust in my mums loft. Glad to see you making good use of it, sure beats binning it All the best Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John R Posted September 18, 2011 Author Share Posted September 18, 2011 (edited) Progress - but slow and now I need more help - please I was about to add the 'USAF' decals supplied with the kit but realised that they used a different font so it looks as if they will have to be home made. Does anybody know what colour was used - black or dark blue (Insignia blue)? The same goes for the colours of all the other markings. Also the top of the fin appears to be a lighter colour. Was it a different shade of metal or was it some kind of resin like they used on radomes? John Edited September 18, 2011 by John R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phat trev Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 That is a good looking airplane! I am looking to convert (revert?) an Italeri 1/72 F-100D into an F-100A so I too will need to alter the tail height and wings. May be a silly question but how did you shorten the wingspan and tail and by how much? I am guessing that the A version had the same wings as the YF-100 but i hope some one here may know more details? I love the look of your metal skinning!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John R Posted October 8, 2011 Author Share Posted October 8, 2011 The wingspan for the YF 100 is given as 36ft 7in which translates to 6.1in at 1/72 so I shortened the wings to this. The only data I could find about the fin was this photo from X-fighters by Steve Pace. I also used it to make the YF 100 decal What I found was that all I needed to do was remove the rudder of the F100D and carve the fin to make it an aerodynamic section. I think the height needed adjustment and the 'thing' ( fuel vent?) on top needed adding. The length of the nose probe was estimated from another photo The final result is here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=78710 Hope this helps and let me know if you need more. Have fun! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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