Trumpeter 1/32 F-100D

[Lee_K]

. So, when the Trump tanks come out within a few mm of what scaled-up Monogram tanks would be, Dave ran down to the USAF Museum and measured the real thing. Turns out, his comment in Detail & Scale 20 years ago that the Monogram tanks were too short was wrong, and that Monogram had actually got them right!

So the point is that the Monogram kit tanks are right in size for the smaller 275 gallon version, while F-100s in SEA had a larger 335 gallon tank?  Do I have that right?

Lee K

[BenB]

I got to see a lot of F-100Cs and the Thunderbirds at McConnell AFB when I was a kid. I'll bring the Hun in next month. I got some paint on it yestserday, so I'm a bit less frustrated with it, now.  

Got the Alclad on the aft fuselage. I need to put one more layer of a lighter color on the sides, but I'm taking a break while I figure out what to mix to get the look I want. I'm going to hold off spraying the Tamiya Smoke, clear red, & clear blue until after I finish the camouflage. I'm afraid the tape might pull the clear off of the Alclad, and it will be easier to touch up camouflage than "burned" metal.



You can sort of see the structure I added to the lower aft fuselage here:

I'll have to do the same thing to the 1/48 kit.

Now to camouflage this sucker. Here's what I hope it will look like some day:


Ben

[MKopack]

Can't wait to see this bird!  Back in the late 70's I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days on the ramp with the CT and MA ANG Huns just before they were retired - including standing out at EOR when an entire squadron 'elephant walked', launching out everything at minimum interval with every acft doing a vertical departure after the end of the runway... Amazing aircraft.

Mike

[BenB]

You're probably right. I've spent too much time reading about Huns and collecting manuals.

I'm not sure lack of access is the problem. A guy here in the US had asked me to help with some of the F-100 stuff, and he was passing what I sent him (photos, scans of manuals, etc.) directly to one of the kit designers (Mr. Gao, or something like that). Dave Roof is currently helping them with Harrier stuff. Granted, some of the info they needed took a lot of digging to find out, like the true dimentions of the F-100C tail, but there's no excuse for the cockpit or repeating the errors from the 1/32 kit. At least they seem to be trying with the Jaguar kits. I do think they need to fire their canopy designers. Maybe they're too reliant on CAD and don't bother to hold a photo up next to their computer screen every now and then.

Funny thing about the Monogram drop tanks. Back when I first got my Hunzilla, I was corresponding with Dave Menard and we were comparing it to the Monogram kit to see if they had based their kit on it (I wish they had!). So, when the Trump tanks come out within a few mm of what scaled-up Monogram tanks would be, Dave ran down to the USAF Museum and measured the real thing. Turns out, his comment in Detail & Scale 20 years ago that the Monogram tanks were too short was wrong, and that Monogram had actually got them right! He's been over the Monogram kit and the real plane with calipers (literally), and the Monogram kit is still the Gold Standard F-100 in all scales.

Speaking of F-100s, I'm off to spray some Alclad, now.

Cheers!

Ben

[Lee_K]

The fundamental problem is that you have too much knowledge about the jet.  Most of us will innocently build it mostly out of the box, unaware of things that obviously drive you bonkers.  Sometime, ignorance is bliss.

I finally figured out why Trumpeter gets things wrong in strange ways.  It has to do with access.  Since Internet access is restricted by the government, as is travel to museums around the world to actually measure things (like Tamiya does), the kit designers at Trumpeter and Hobby Boss have to rely on plans and reference material that they can scrounge up.  As we know, plans can be wrong and making three-dimensional shapes from photographs can be a difficult thing.  Canopies seem to be particularly hard for them to get right, and they often mess up the ejection seat.  They also perpetuate issues from other kits, like copying Monogram's boo-boo with the too short fuel tanks in their 1/48 scale kit.

Lee K

[BenB]

Thanks. This one very rapidly became a chore. I'm so fed up with it that I'm about ready to shelve it for a while and build something easier, like a Dynavector Sea Vixen. 

Cheers!

Ben

[Lee_K]

That looks great, Ben.  After all this is over, you will forget the torture and be proud of what you have accomplished.  The model will be an impressive addition to your collection.

Lee K

[BenB]

I've been holding off painting the Hunzilla until I got the drop tanks finished. Plus, my work bench in the garage was covered with a microwave and other debris from the kitchen for over a month while we remodeled. So, lately, I've finally got some free time to work on the tanks. I've built whole kits in less time than I've spent fixing these &^%*&^%*s! Can't wait to get this one off of my bench!

Trumpeter only provides pre-1964 275-gal drop tanks, and I'm building a later, ANG jet, so I had to add the 28" plugs to convert them to 335s. The shapes of the noses and fins were all wrong, so I fixed them by reshaping some AMS Resin noses and using Apoxie Sculpt to blend them in with some resin plugs from a friend (they fit better than the AMS ones). The pylons are from AMS, and the new fins are styrene, based on tracings of the real thing. Just have to fine tune them, now. Trumpeter still got the tanks too fat, too, but there's no way to fix that. The new tanks are almost 9 1/2" long, now. Note how forward the CG is on these things, due to all of the resin up front!



The profile photo makes it look like the tank is hump-backed, but its not.

The 1/48 Trump Huns should be a lot easier to fix, since most of what's wrong can be replaced with Monogram F-100 parts.

Ben

[BenB]

I sanded all of the ribbing down, then replaced it after I dealt with the seam with half-round strip from Tom's Trains. Not really accurate, but it looks busy. Probably more trouble than it was worth, since the nozzle opening on the F-102 nozzle is pretty small.

Ben

[Lee_K]

Thanks.  I figured a smooth inside rather than the ribbing towards the end with impossible seams to fill was the only rational tradeoff.

Lee K

[BenB]

Thanks, guys!

I used rolled-up styrene inside the afterburner nozzle, too. One seam is a lot easier to deal with than four and a couple dozen ejector pin marks! Or, you could just take out a second mortgage and get Aires' afterburner. 

Ben

[Bill L.]

Nice work with the Piot tube, I'll have to remember that when I get around to building mine.

One step closer to the finish line.

Bill L.

[Lee_K]

Hey Ben, what did you do with the seam inside the exhaust?  I have the same engine in the F-8E kit and ultimately rolled up a piece of .05 sheet styrene and filled the resulting seam, which I placed at the top.  I wondered how you dealt with it.

Lee K

[BenB]

Well, I finally got some primer on the Hunzilla. I had to fix the too-tall wing fences, redo the fuselage band-aids (not really happy with how that turned out), and replaced the pitot tube with one that's 1/32 cale in diameter instead of 1/24. I used Tamiya's grey primer overall, with Tamiya white primer on the aft fuselage. I tend to get a better finish with Alclad over the white primer, but I didn't have enough to spray the whole model. Once I clean up some spots, I'll paint the tip of the tail yellow, then camouflage the model with Xtracrylix paint.




I am so ready to finish this thing so I can get started on my F-100C.

Ben

[Bill L.]

OVER ALL ALUMINUM!!!  Stop waffling

Viggie - Vigggie -Viggie !!  (OK, the chant is over now)

Bill L.