Work in progress vol.24: North American F100D Super Sabre - READY!

Subject:	North American F100D Super Sabre
Scale:	1/32
Manufacturer:	Trumpeter
Price	US$ 150,00 plus shipping
Description	Injected plastic model, with metal landing gear, photo etched metal parts and waterslide decals.
Comments	This is trumpeters 1/32 scale F100D Super Sabre on the workbench. I decided to add a few extra parts. I got AMS F.O.D. cover and Aires exhaust detail set. Bellow you see some comments of the work done on this beautiful kit.

 Here you see Aires Set for the engine exhaust

AMS Resin F.O.D. cover.

Lets get started:

First i decided to repair the ladder. I found easier to get all three parts together to make a sort of a gig to get all aligned. 

Here you have the ladder completed and painted with a primer coat of dark grey. It will be weathered latter.

AMS resin F.O.D. is a nice piece, but my sample was a little bit soft and i got worried that painting and decal application would give me some troubles, so i made a resin copy of the part. 

Did i mentioned that i hate vinyl tires? In my tropical environment, these parts start to melt and eventually they destroy the plastic around them. So i made resin copies of the kit's wheels and tires.

Here are the completed set of wheels for the F100, with the hub already painted in aluminium and weathered with black.

Here are the main wheels painted an lightly weathered.

Step 1 of the construction is the ejection seat. Although there are some really nice resin replacements, i decided to go on with the kit part. Careful construction and painting resulted in a nicely detailed piece for the model.  

Trumpeter did a terrific job on the cockpit. Overall detail is fantastic an fit is nearly perfect!

Here you see the finished cockpit. No aftermarket stuff! Simple modelling with Vallejo acrylics and 3-0 paint brush.

I decided to display the engine outside of the kit. So i made a resin copy of the afterburner section with a FOD cover applied to it. This part will be placed on the plane so i can have a completed engine to put on a stand. 

Here you see my basic material for detailing. As usual, i highlight the details with the 0.3mm pencil and then i paint them with a variety of colors from the Vallejo acrylics line.

Here is the final result under a coat of future. A matt coat will be added later in the construction.

Another weathering process is a pin wash. After highlighting the details with my 0.3mm pencil, i use a dark wash from the Mig range of modeling materials.

Here you se the wash applied to the speed brake. I applied the paint over the rivets and on the panel lines.

What i like about these Mig products is that you don't need to use solvent to remove the excess of paint. Just a cotton stick rubbed over the paint is enough to get the final result.

I use interior green for the wheel wells doors. Not sure if that is correct. Bert Kinsley's F100 detail and scale monograph indicates that several planes have these doors in plain aluminium. 

Here are the gun covers and the ammunition belts also weathered.

The ammunition belts placed inside the fuselage. These will be left open on the finished kit.

Here is one of the wings ready. It is a masterpiece of modeling engineering. Fit is fantastic! All the flight controls move and the detail on the leading edge slat is really nice. 

The instrument compartment in front of the cockpit is designed to hold the nose weight so the plane wont be a tail seater. However, the fit of the door is not very good. So i decided to increase the level of detail of my kit by leaving it open. So i scratch built several instruments to improve the final look of this compartment.

Some styrene strips were also used. 

Several parts finished and weathered.

The level of detail of trumpeter's parts is very nice!

The finished airframe

A coat of aluminium was laid down and masked for a darker shade of metal cote.

The finished metallic paint work

A blue strip was added to the nose. It was very difficult to match the shade of blue with the decals. 

Now it is time to place the decals. The problem is that i decided to leave all the panels open showing the details inside. The decals however were not trimmed to fit between these compartments. So i made a copy of the decal sheet as a mold for the decal placement on the kit. 

Here the USAF logo cut to fit on the kit. I opened a small hole were the rescue porthole could be seen as a reference for placing the decal 

Here the log is placed on the fuselage, the rescue porthole is seen in the middle of the insignia and the marking is trimmed around the ammo loading panel.

The same is being done on the tail markings

Seeing from the opposite side the excess of the tail markings could be marked for latter cutting.

Here the marking is already cut and in place

The opposite side of the fuselage with the same job ready.

Here are the decals cut to fit on the fuselage. The pieces were cut and the small parts were preserved so i can place them in the panels left out of the plane.

The hard work paid out: the decals fit nicely.