F-100 Super Sabre Guide

[Ben Brown]

Since Trumpeter’s F-100s are starting to hit the streets, I thought I’d put out a few notes for those folks who are building them, or who might have one of the older kits in the stash. I'm basing this on Jay Chladek's F-4 Guide. Most of the info below comes from my pestering the gentlemen who flew and maintained the F-100. There is a lot more, but I just thought I’d hit the highlights. Feel free to add to or correct anything you see here.

Ben Brown

YF-100 - Pre-production F-100 (there was no prototype). Two built. Had a larger tail, but shorter wing span than the initial batch of F-100As. Differences in the shape of the intake lip and exhaust. Lindberg’s 1/48 kit represents the YF-100.

F-100A - Initially fitted with a short tail, later modified with a taller tail and extended wing tips (1 ft) in an attempt to fix stability problems after a series of fatal accidents. Did not have a wet wing (fuel cells in the wing), single-point refueling, or inflight refueling. THE WINGS DID NOT HAVE TRAILING EDGE FLAPS. No pylon stations other than the drop tanks. Later modified to carry Sidewinder missiles inboard while serving with the Air National Guard. Initially had a single landing light just aft of the pitot probe, but later fitted with the standard two lights forward of the speed brake. Jets sent to Taiwan were modified with F-100D tails.

RF-100A - Six F-100As were pulled off of the assembly line and modified for reconnaissance. Two camera fairings were added under the fuselage, on both sides of the nose gear well, and the fuselage sides were bulged out at the ammunition bays. All six had the extended wings and larger tail mods. Often seen with 200-gal drop tanks on the inboard pylons.

F-100C - From a modeler’s point of view, externally identical to the F-100A. Again, note that this version DID NOT have trailing edge flaps. I’m emphasizing this because Trumpeter’s two-piece ailerons can be mistaken for an aileron and a flap. The F-100C had a wet wing and single-point fueling. An extra wing hardpoint was added outboard of the drop tanks. When the pylons were installed, they had triangular sway braces attached. Could not carry a centerline store. Later modified for inflight refueling.

F-100D - Optimized for ground attack. Trailing edge flaps were added. Tail size was increased in both height and chord, and the rudder was increased in size. Fuel tank vent fairing on tail was enlarged to house a tail warning radar, and was later widened on some aircraft to house radar warning receiver (RHAWS) antennae. An additional antenna fairing was added under intake and an azimuth display and warning lights were added in place of the drop tank fuel quantity gauges on top of the instrument panel glare shield (the Monogram kit has RHAWS but is missing the antenna fairing under the nose). Only F-100Ds and Fs serving in SEA were so modified. Early F-100Ds (up through 54-2873) had the F-100A/C’s single-piece inboard main gear doors, and could not carry a centerline store. This includes all F-100Ds that went to foreign operators. Later aircraft had the two-piece doors that didn’t hang down vertically when opened, to provide clearance for a centerline store. These jets were modified around 1962 with a speed brake with a wider cutout, to prevent damage to the centerline store. The cockpit was very different from the F-100A/C, with a completely different ejection seat.

TF-100C – Two-seat trainer prototype. Modified from F-100C 54-1966, by lengthening the fuselage to make room for the second cockpit. Used an F-100C wing, so it had no trailing edge flaps, but did have the larger F-100D tail. Appears to have had F-100C seats. No weapons. Lost during a spin test.

F-100F - Two-seat version. Two outboard guns removed, but could carry the same underwing armament the D carried. All F-100Fs had the two-piece inboard main gear doors. The cockpit layout was similar to the F-100D, and used the same seat. The headrest on the front seat was split so it could be folded down.

A few modeling notes

Parked F-100s’ ailerons were always in the neutral position. They didn’t droop like those on the F-4. The stabilators would droop to a trailing edge-down attitude over time. The flaps were always raised prior to shutdown. The leading edge slats were free-moving, held closed by aerodynamic forces. On the ground, they were always extended, unless they had been pinned up by the ground crew.

Pilots would often open the speed brake prior to engine shutdown to aid the ground crews. The inboard main gear doors and aft nose gear door was mechanically locked in up position, but would usually be opened by the ground crew for maintenance.

The parachute wasn’t usually left in the cockpit when the jet was parked.

Drop tanks were originally 275-gal. These were later modified starting around 1964 to 335-gal by adding a 28†plug to the joint just forward of the leading edge of the pylon. If you are building a Vietnam-ear jet, you’ll need to extend the drop tanks. A 450-gal ferry tank could be carried by the C, D, and F. These seem to be similar to those carried by the F-101 Voodoo (think F-15-style drop tank on an F-4 centerline), and usually had a pair of fins fitted. 200-gal tanks could be carried on the inboard (RF-100A, F-100C, D, F) or outboard pylons (C, D, & F).

Arrestor hooks were fitted around 1960 -1962. The forward part of the hook mounted on the centerline, just aft of the main gear well on both aircraft. On the F-100A/C, it angled to the left, so the hook itself was just forward of the drag chute doors. The D and F’s hook went to the right.

Several F-100 kits have the drag chute cable trough, with its stainless steel cover plates, scribed into both sides of the aft fuselage. It was only on the left (port) side.

The inflight refueling probe tube was initially straight, but was later fitted with a curved tube. There were actually four different versions of probe and two different mounts (F-100D/F). Which mount was used depended on the aircraft serial number. Not known whether more than one mount was used on the F-100C.

The F-102’s more reliable afterburner nozzle was only fitted to Air National Guard F-100Ds and Fs, as well as a very small number of ADC Grey-painted NM ANG F-100Cs.

After about 1957, the Air Force started painting F-100s aluminum lacquer. Check the date of your subject before you dive into that highly polished natural metal finish! The Thunderbirds jets were all NMF.

Edited January 13, 2010 by Ben Brown

[jonbryon]

F-100A - Initially fitted with a short tail, later modified with a taller tail and extended wing tips in an attempt to fix stability problems after a series of fatal accidents.

Jon Lake in the Airtime Publishing volume 'Century Jets' states that the wingtip extensions (12" each wing) were added from the 101st F-100A onwards on the production line.

Edit: F-100A, not 101A :blush:

Edited October 8, 2009 by jonbryon

[mlicari]

Great stuff! Thanks for all of this info!

:lol:

Mike

[Skyraider Maniac]

Thanks, will come in handy when I build my monogram kit in the near future

[Jay Chladek]

Very handy guide here. Thanks! Some Thunderbirds Huns are in my future, and perhaps a "MiG" marked Hun from the movie "Skyjacked" as well, so this will come in handy.

I'll also make a mention concerning NMF vs. Aluminum lacquer that if the jet was likely to be stationed in a region where the weather tended to be crappy most of the time (such as Europe), it was HIGHLY likely that the aircraft was painted lacquer for corrosion control. One of my fellow model buddies was an F-105 crew chief and he talked about how one unit had an F-105D they left NMF during a repaint while the rest of the fleet got the lacquer treatment (they wanted to see what would happen if they left it NMF). The thing's finish oxidized in less then two weeks! As such, there is a reason why the USAF lacquered their jets.

Edited October 8, 2009 by Jay Chladek

[Ben Brown]

Jon Lake in the Airtime Publishing volume 'Century Jets' states that the wingtip extensions (12" each wing) were added from the 101st F-100A onwards on the production line.

That's right. The previous ones were retrofitted. F-100A #6 is at the New England Air Museum and it has the modified tail & wings. It also has a fixed tail bumper that looks like a small ventral fin. Not sure how many As had that.

It would be great if somebody finally produced some accurate T-Birds decals. I'll be happy to share the info I've collected with any manufacturer who wants to have a go at it!

Cheers!

Ben

[jonbryon]

That's right. The previous ones were retrofitted.

Thanks; I wasn't sure of that.

[RAGATIGER]

Hi there

There are some photos of Danemark F-100 using F-102A aftreburners !!! but what about the Greeks and Turks F-100 because they also had F102

best day

Armando

[Youngtiger1]

Ben you are the man. I'm collection as much information on F-100 as I can. I will be starting one soon. So, your guide will be nice addition to my list of stuff. Perfect timing. Thanks!

Mike

[Ben Brown]

Hi there

There are some photos of Danemark F-100 using F-102A aftreburners !!! but what about the Greeks and Turks F-100 because they also had F102

best day

Armando

Hi Armando,

You're absolutely right! I put this together pretty quickly and forgot all about the Danish Huns using them. :D I think it's likely the Turkish AF modified theirs, too. The Greeks didn't operate the F-100. The French retired the F-100 before the 102 burner mod started to be done.

Mike, glad to help!

BTW, here are some great online resources:

http://www.f-100.org/hun.shtml

http://www.supersabre.org/ (pay site but well worth the $ for a Hun fan!)

http://www.supersabre.com/

Cheers!

Ben

Edited October 10, 2009 by Ben Brown

[CreepyGuy]

Ben,

Were all F-100Cs in BMF or were some delivered or in service painted silver?

Happy Trails

Patrick

[sanmigmike]

Don't mean to hi-jack the thread but the F-105 was one of the Century series that went from NMF to aluminum paint in a fairly rapid time. I assume the F-100 went that way for the same reason, corrosion control. So what others that we think of at times as being NMF tended to be aluminum lacquer? Not knowing much about the F-100 but I do recall seeing them at George and Edwards during the late '50s and early '60s I thought they were mostly NMF and the few B&W pictures I have could be seen as a bit scruffy NMF or paint?

So why did the B-58 stay NMF and the B-52 get painted? Also could some aircraft from that time have stayed NMF due to a high ranking officer wanting his personal aircraft to look good? At Andrews AFB I thought there were some very polished NMF B-57s? At Edwards we had the NJANG F-105B as flown by some General (so we were told) and it was in camo but very, very highly polished.

I mean the key is of course finding good pictures of what you want to do during the time period you are trying to show but some general rules of thumbs? Fantastic info, makes me want to do the search in the stash for a Hun or two! Ah aluminum paint rather than NMF, it becomes much more doable!

Edited January 12, 2010 by sanmigmike

[madmanrick]

This thread should be "pinned" imo! Great work Ben! Perhaps you (or others) could add to this guide, by listing the currently available kits by scale and their good and bad points (i.e. what's wrong and right about them).

Rick

[jonbryon]

So why did the B-58 stay NMF and the B-52 get painted?

Weight?

[madmanrick]

So why did the B-58 stay NMF and the B-52 get painted?

The B-58 stayed NMF, due to its' role and that was exactly why the B-52 ended up being painted. The Hustler was designed as a high altitude, supersonic penetrator (where there was less need for camouflage), whereas the BUFF although designed as a high altitude, subsonic bomber, transitioned to the low altitude penetration mission. Soviet SAM systems made the high altitude bomber obsolete, since they couldn't hope to outfly them. Another thing working against the Hustler was that flying in the denser air of the low altitude environment, meant that it would not be able to fly supersonically. Lastly, painting the Hustler would have added a great deal of weight, which would have slowed the aircraft down. These are also the reasons that the BUFF still soldiers on, while the Hustler was retired 40 years ago.

[richter111]

Yep this thread needs pinned!

[Corey]

At Andrews AFB I thought there were some very polished NMF B-57s?

These Andrew's based B-57's were part of a "Star Flight" that were used for staff officers for currency and cross-country travel. Robert Mikesh talks about this in his B-57 book. I believe he was one of the check-airmen in the unit.

sorry to take this further away from F-100's

Corey

[Jennings]

I'd always heard the B-58 stayed in bare metal because so much of the structure was stainless steel that didn't really need painting. Also, the B-58 was already planned for retirement (which IIRC started in 1965) at the same time the BUFFs were starting to be painted, so it may have simply been unnecessary expense for the limited lifespan left in the airplanes. The last B-58 was retired in 1970.

J

[Ben Brown]

Hi all,

Glad my original post was helpful! I've put together a quick look on the Trumpeter F-100C, and if I have time this weekend, I'll do one for the Monogram F-100D. Perhaps Gene and Norm can put something together for the 1/72 kits that are available, and I'd welcome any comments, corrections, and additions that anyone would like to add to my notes.

Just off the top of my head, here are the F-100 kits that have been produced over the years (I've left out a couple that aren't really worth your time to mess with, such as Revell's 1/72 F-100C and Pioneer's F-100something-or-other, and ESCI's 1/48 F-100D):

1/144

ARII F-100D

Don Schmenk F-100D (resin)

Don Schmenk F-100F (resin)

FE Resin F-100F

1/72

Trumpeter F-100C

ESCI F-100D

Italeri F-100D

Revell F-100D

Hasegawa F-100D

AMT F-100F

Obscureco F-100C conversion for ESCI/Italeri/Revell F-100D (resin)

1/48

Lindberg YF-100 (needs a lot of TLC, but its the only kit of the YF-100)

Trumpeter F-100C

Monogram F-100D

Trumpeter F-100D (March 2010)

Trumpeter F-100F (2010?)

C&H Aero Miniatures F-100F conversion for Monogram (resin)

War Eagle/Kiwi Resin/Black Robin F-100F conversion for Monogram (vac & resin)

1/32

Trumpter F-100D

Did I miss any?

Ben

[Ben Brown]

Trumpeter 1/48 F-100C Quick Look

[RIVET COUNTER ALERT! This is an relatively easy kit to build, and when completed out of the box, will look like an F-100C from 3 feet. However, if part of the joy you get from our hobby is improving the accuracy of your model, and you want to build a more accurate F-100C, read on. ]

Trumpeter pooched a few things, but most of the problems can be fixed with proper application of Monogram F-100D parts, elbow grease and aftermarket resin. It's definitely not the Second Coming like some reviewers would have you believe, but I think its better than their 1/32 F-100D kit. I'm comparing the Trumpeter kit with the Monogram kit, F-100C station diagrams, photos, and some 1/48 Detail & Scale drawings of indeterminate accuracy. I'm including the Monogram F-100D for comparison because the fuselage dimensions and wingspan of the F-100C and D are identical, and the Monogram kit has already been shown to be generally accurate.

As has been previously noted, the cockpit is just plain wrong. No F-100C parts to be found in the box! I believe Harold, of AMS Resin, is working on a replacement cockpit for the kit. The A and C had a completely different seat from the D and F:

For those who can't wait, it looks like the F-100C panel that's included on the Eduard F-100D set might fit the kit panel, but the side panels will still need some work, and a Pro MOdeler F-86D seat might be a good start for and F-100A/C seat. I'm sure Eduard will release a color photo etched set for this kit soon. The consoles are better than Monogram's, but there is no throttle or map case. Sidewall detail is sparse, and the floor has the same hokey diamond pattern that the 1/32 kit has. The gunsight is about as detailed as what you'd find in a 1/72 kit. The kink in the deck behind the seat is too far forward, which moves the ammo bay access panel forward into the cockpit. The aft cockpit bulkhead and the forward ammo bay bulkhead were the same piece of metal. Not much you can do about it, other than hide the panel lines under a coat of paint. I think it's still better than the 1/32 kit, since you don't have the ammo bay boxes intruding into the cockpit.

The tail is about 3mm too tall and is too broad in chord across the top. The F-100D is 2.9 ft across the top, while the F-100C is 2.5 ft, and Trumpeter used the F-100D fin tip. The kink in the leading edge of the fin is in the right spot, but when Trumpeter’s designers drew their leading edge line from the kink to the top of the fin, the too-tall, too-broad fin tip threw off the sweepback of the fin. This can be easily fixed with a little sanding:

The rudder is about 1mm too low, and the fuel tank vent fairing’s shape is simplified. The fairing sits a bit too low, since its position is determined by the top of the rudder, and its shape is wrong:

The kit includes a separate rudder with exposed ribs. This type was fitted as a replacement to the original rudder without the exposed ribs. It will just take a few minutes' work with a little styrene sheet to backdate to the early style. The complex shape of the lower part of the rudder will make it difficult to add styrene to raise the rudder, if its current location bothers you.

The intake lip is flat on the bottom, looking like the aftermath of a nose gear collapse, and is angled back slightly at the bottom. It should be pretty much perpendicular to the fuselage centerline. If you line the Trumpeter and Monogram kits up side by side, everything is in about the same spot, except the Trump kit's gear and speed brake wells are about 1mm too far aft (confirmed with station diagrams). Panel lines are very similarly-placed, except the panel line for the intake lip section on the Trump kit is about 3mm too far aft. Unfortunately, the better-looking Monogram part is too wide to modify for the Trump kit. I was able to fix my kit by heating the plastic and reshaping the intake lip.

The panel lines on the entire kit are nice and thin, and the rivets look OK, for the most part. Why couldn't they have done that on the 1/32 kit???!!!!! There are some odd or misplaced panels here and there as on the 1/32 kit. They're mirrored on the right side, so the kick in steps on that side will have to be filled and an extra panel will need to be added to the flight control access panel (?). The D-shaped high pressure bleed air door above where the left national insignia is applied isn't molded flush with the fuselage. It needs to be sanded flush and rescribed. For the F-100A and C, a second one needs to be added to the same location on the right side of the fuselage. The guard for the arrestor hook is molded into the fuselage, and is on the wrong side for a C. Leave the hook off for a pre-1962 jet. The gun blast panels are nice and deep, but there are no exposed gun muzzles. The access panel for the F-100C's single point fueling system is missing from under the left wing’s trailing edge. For an F-100A, leave it off and scribe a couple of fuel tank caps on the right side of the fuselage. Perhaps, with Ken Middleton's or Gene K's permission, I can post one of their photos that shows the location of the F-100A's refueling caps.

The stabilators have tabs that fit into slots in the fuselage. This can be fixed with some brass rod and styrene so the stabs can be mounted at the slight trailing edge-down attitude usually seen on parked Huns. The fairings at the lower aft fuselage are just thick chunks of plastic. They'll need thinning and some sheet styrene to fix. The tail bumper's well will need to be boxed in. As is, it's open to the fuselage interior.

The wings are pretty good, compared to the Monogram kit. They also match up pretty well with the D&S drawings. The slat rails aren't spaced properly, but once the slats are in place, who's gonna know? The slats are molded separately, and look pretty good. There is a ridge along the wing to help fair retracted slats into the wing. This area should be smooth, but it’s like this on probably every other model kit ever produced with separate slats. If you want to build an F-100A, be sure to fill the locator holes for the outboard pylons and refueling boom mount.

The main gear wells in the wings are too shallow, but its not as comically obvious as on the 1/32 kit. The Monogram wells are about 2mm deeper, but the Trumpeter wing is just too thin to get much depth to the wells. Any fixes will also require raising the "ceiling" of the center section of the well inside the fuselage. The center section has adequate detail, but has a seam running right down the middle of the sparse molded-in detail. Monogram's wells have better detail. This might be one of the few times I'll look into buying an Aires gear well set, if they release one, or swap in a gear well from a scrapped Monogram kit.

Trumpeter cheaped-out on the inboard main gear doors. They are single-piece, which is correct, but they are the later two-piece D doors with the small panel molded shut. They will need a new interior to fix, or you can just glue the doors closed.

The main gear struts are still too fat, just like the 1/32 struts, and they’re missing the prominent brake hydraulic lines that loop over the oleo scissors. These brake lines are separate rubber parts in the 1/32 kit, so I guess Trumpeter forgot to add them to the 1/48 kit. It shouldn't be too hard to modify some Monogram struts here. I haven’t checked to see if the too-shallow gear wells cause the struts to be too long, like they are on the 1/32 kit. The main gear wheels will need replacing. They're too big, just like on the 1/32 kit. The nose wheels look OK, but will probably go out with the mains. It would have been nice to have some nose wheels with the early hubs that had spokes or six holes.

Two in-flight refueling probes are provided, a straight one, with the long mount and a bent one on a short mount, with a light (for which no clear lens is provided) on the mount itself. Note that either probe could be used with either mount. The style of the probe’s mount seems to have varied with the jet’s serial number, but the one with the light seems to have been the most common, especially with the curved probe. I found photos of straight or bent probes being used with either of the mounts. Check your references as to which to use, although odds are it was the bent probe after about 1959 or so. The tips of the probes actually look better than the one on the Monogram kit, which I always thought looked like the nipple on a baby bottle. Leave the probe off for an F-100A.

The canopy looks pretty good, but it's more narrow at the aft end than the Monogram kit's. The closest F-100 to me is 3 hours away, so I won't be able to measure to see which is right. There is no provision to pose the canopy open. You'll have to engineer some canopy actuators. Here's what they looked like:

The windscreen is about a millimeter shorter than Monogram's and the sides where it meets the fuselage are curved where they should be almost straight. The flat center panel is too narrow. I may look into modifying a Monogram or Squadron vac windscreen for my kit, although this will require some changes to the fuselage.

The intake duct looks pretty good, except for the ejector pin marks in the upper half. The duct stops at the aft edge of the nose gear well and is open to the interior of the model. Very strange. It's going to be a bear filling the seams inside!

The afterburner section has some pretty imaginative detail inside, but its an improvement over Monogram's. I'm sure Aires will modify their AB set soon. The F-102 nozzle doesn't look very much like the real thing. The other nozzle is kind of plain, but is an improvement over Monogram's. The turbine wheel/afterburner spray rings are all one part, but there are no turbine blades molded into the disc, just the spray rings.

The speed brake with the wide cut out is provided, but the sprue will be used for the D/F kits, too, and only the C speed brake is mentioned in the instructions. The well details are pretty good.

The pylons on the F-100A and C should have triangular sway braces, which are not included in the kit, and it would have been nice if Trumpeter had provided some bombs or napalm. The kit’s 275-gal drop tanks are too fat, the noses are too blunt, and the fins need reshaping. Its easier to just substitute some Monogram or Fox 3 Studios 275-gal tanks than to try to correct the kit tanks. For a post-1964 jet, you’ll need some 335-gal tanks, which were 275s with a 28" plug added just forward of the pylon leading edge. Monogram 275s with AMS Resin or Missing Link 335-gal conversion parts, or Fox 3 Studios resin 335s will work well. The AIM-9Bs look good to my eye, but I don’t know much about Sidewinders. The only other things you get to hang on the pylons are some TERs (which were only carried by a few modified F-100Ds), an ECM pod that was only carried on the centerline of an F-100D during a test at Eglin AFB, and what looks like a practice bomb dispenser of the type usually carried on the centerline of F-100Ds and Fs. The TERs look pretty good and will be a nice addition to a Hasegawa F-4.

The decals are light years ahead of the 1/32 kit's decals, in that you can actually use some of them. You'll need larger (35") national insignia for the silver jet's wings. There are no stencils or ejection seat warning triangles for the camouflaged jet. The serial numbers for the tail of the Iowa ANG jet are just a little too large, but not enough to be noticeable. If you fix the tail, the alar on the silver jet won't fit without some surgery.

This is definitely a much better F-100 than the 1/32 Hunzilla, but the Monogram F-100D is still the most accurate Super Sabre kit available in any scale. I give it a C, because they screwed up the cockpit, tail, and gear wells. If Trumpeter had got those right, this kit would be a solid B or even a B+.

I'll add more photos soon. All constructive criticism, corrections, flames, etc. are welcome.

Ben

Edited January 17, 2010 by Ben Brown

[nfiler]

Well done Ben.

The only thing I would suggest is the information about pylons on the A model. Until very late, during service with the ANG, the A model was not capable of carrying ANY pylons. The exception was the integral 275 gallon fuel tank/pylon assembly.

The aircraft was initially designed as a day fighter. And in early service served in Day Fighter Squadrons. During that time frame, (1956-58) even the C models operated primarily as air combat a/c.

Norm

[Ben Brown]

Thanks for the comments, Norm! I made the changes to the original post. So, they must have added inboard stations to the RF-100As during their modification, and then decided to carry them over to the other F-100As later?

Cheers!

Ben

[Jennings]

In case anyone is curious, I did *not* do the artwork for this sheet!!! Egad...

Edited January 13, 2010 by Jennings

[Ben Brown]

Ooo. After my comment on another forum, I guess I need to get my reading glasses changed! I'm sure we'll be seeing some good Hun decals from a couple of other companies soon.

Ben

[madmanrick]

In case anyone is curious, I did *not* do the artwork for this sheet!!! Egad...

Other than the Insignia Blue being "off", is there something else wrong with this sheet? Please enlighten the masses?