On 24th April 1953,
the YF-100 made its successful maiden flight. On this flight, test pilot George
Welch broke the sound barrier successfully what brought him in two beers he had
bet for! The first Version of F-100, the F-100A then soon went to serial
production and was transferred to the 479th day fighter wing as the first
operational unit using the F-100. The F-100 was further improved and the more
advanced versions C, D and F came into existence. The F-100B takes a role of its
own in being bound to become the F-107 in the future.
Probably the most important version has been the F-100D. Without losing its
ability to conduct aerial combat this version was specialized in being a fighter
bomber.
The F-100D was used intensively in Vietnam in the roles of tactical air support
and high altitude coverage. 3rd, 31st, 35th and 37th wings alone flew more
sorties than the 15.000 P-51 “Mustangs” used in World War II together!
The F-100D also flew some of the first “Wild Weasel” missions against radar
sites and airdefense positions. All this did not go without losses though –
altogether about 238 F-100 of all versions were lost.
Beginning in 1970 the F-100s were rapidly replaced by the Phantom and the F-111.
Some ANG units used this aircraft till 1980 though. The foreign users were,
amongst others, Turkey, Denmark, France and Taiwan.
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I had already built
the F-100D out of box several years ago using the Revell/Italeri kit. (see “Modellgallerie”)
The Kit uses the molds of the old ESCI kit. Although being relatively old this
kit has to be described as very good, due to its clean lines and the crisp,
finely engraved panel lines. Further pro’s of this kit are the airbrake which
can be positioned in the extended position and the very well done landing gears.
Corresponding to the original release date the cockpit is rather spartan.
Unfortunately a error has crept in in the re-relase by Revell/Italeri: the rear
strutting on the canopy is just plain wrong – it never existed on the real
aircraft. Now I wanted to build this model again. This time I planned to build a
F-100D as it was used in Vietnam from the begin on though: camouflaged and
fairly well weathered. For better detailing I used a cockpit set and resin wheel
wells from Aires. The canopy was cut in two to depict it opened. The moveable
part of the canopy was detailed with wire and plastic parts and a rear-view
mirror from Reheat was added.
Most changes were connected with the extended slats I wanted to depict though. I
needed several tries to achieve a result that satisfied me.
Further detailing was done on the
nose gear and on the main wheel well covers. In retrospect I’ve got to say
that using resin gear bays isn’t really necessary: one hardly can perceive the
effort going into them. The model was painted with colors from Xtracolor. A
special challenge for me was the correct depiction of the burned paint on the
tail section. Weathering was done with a brush and watercolors. The typical
paint chippings were applied using aluminium-color and a brush again. The decals
are a mixture of kit decals and an Aeromaster decal sheet. The model with this
markings represents the F-100D-80-N-H with the serial number 56-3369, belonging
to 309th TFS of 31st TFW as it was based at Tuy Hoa airbase.
A detailed construction feature can be found on this website at “Baubericht”
Arne
Arne's
Modellbauseite FFMC
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