F-100 D Super Sabre
This is Monogram's classic Super Sabre in 1/48 scale. It is typical 70's and 80's Monogram with raised panel detail and good detail ie. open gun bay ammo chute, open speed brake and raised cockpit details.
This model represents an F-100 D from the 308th TF Squadron, 31st TFW operating from Tuy Hoa, Vietnam, 1970. F-100's quickly lost their paint over the aft fuselage due to engine heat. This was replicated with pastels and careful sanding to reveal the bare metal under the paint. The model is painted in standard SEA camo using Modelmaster enamels. Weathering was done with pastels and Doc O Brien's weathering powders. A major error on my part was painting the chequers on the tail white an blue when they should have been white and green!
The kit is still great to cut your teeth on, however Trumpeter's 1/48 Super Sabre will probably outshine the Monogram offering. Needless to say, the Monogram version still builds into a good rendition of this classic aircraft if you handle her with some TLC.
Hard to beat those 'old' Monogram kits...good quality and fit for a modest price. You've done an outstanding job on yours...nice work.
Thanks Craig. Classic Monogram Century series kits are still the best by far.
Morne,
Stunning and every other adjective I can think of to compliment your build. You can't go too wrong with any of the old Monogram kits. Masters like yourself turn them into pieces of art.
Thanks Frank for the very nice comment regarding my build!
really like it. always been a fan of the "century" aircraft
The. F 100, F 101, F 102 and F 106 are my favourite Monogram Century series model kits! Currently busy with an F 102.
WOW and WOW that is one beautiful looking Hun. The detail is amazing ! Beautiful paint job and finish 🙂
Cheers Brian
Thanks Brian for the positive comment!
Lovely build Morne, like the SEA camo.
Great detail in the cockpit mate.
Well done sir.
I appreciate the nice comment Simon. She might be an old kit but she still builds into a fine rendition of the Hun.
Nice attention to detail here, Morne. These aircraft have a business-like attitude that you've captured exactly.
Thanks Rob. The F 100 carried the brunt of all close air support missions over South Vietnam. This one is armed with a typical CAS load.
Beautiful Hun, Morne! Love the way the exhaust area came out.
Where did you source your weapons load from? I have the high tech version (with the photo etch parts) of this kit in the stash and don't recall it having the rocket pods.
Thanks Jaime! The rocket pods were sourced from a Tamiya F4D Skyray. I left the nose cones off to display the rockets. The Hun was suppose to be displayed on a base depicting the groundcrew arming the plane. Well that never materialized. 😉
Hi Morne, again an excellent Monogram Kit from your production line.
Your love to the detail is outstanding, you don t need a new tool wonderkit to produce an outsanding result.
Can t wait to see your F-102 !
Well done, great build 🙂
Vielen dank mein Freund! The Hun was built OOB. The Trumpy F 100 has all the aftermarket goodies from Aires and Eduard. My F 102 has stalled since I started to scratch build the avioncs bay. The cockpit has Eduard and Aires goodies and aftermarket decals for a machine that was based in Japan.
beautifully done
Thanks Bob!
Great looking model! The "peel" over the engine is very nicely done!
Thanks Jeff. The aft fuselage was sprayed silver and coated in light grey primer. Each coat was sealed wirh Future. It was then sealed with the SEA camo. The camo was lightly sanded away to reveal the light grey and bare metal.
I know everyone raves about these Monogram kits, Morne, but it takes a lot of skill to finish them as well as this.
Thanks George, I fully agree. Monogram kits are not shake and bake kits like Tamiya and Hasegawa or the latest Chinese kits. They do require some effort / TLC but the end result is almost always worth it.
Great looking Hun Morne! The Monogram kit holds up very well. I am currently building two Monogram D's along with a Trumpeter F model. All I'll say is if I'm building a NMF Hun, the Trumpeter kit is the way to go as it cleans up a lot easier as the fuselage is split right down the middle from tip to tail. That seam that runs down the side of the Monogram kit can get quite nasty if you're not careful. However, I prefer the cockpit and open gun bay details on the Monogram kit that are lacking on Trumpeter's 1/48 offering. (Their 1/32 F-100D has all this on both sides and is a different story.) It's nice to see a different loadout rather than a pair of Bullpups and a pair of bombs. Where did you source the MERs and rocket pods?
Hi Josh. Thanks for the comment. I concur with your assessment on the Trumpy and Monogram kits. The MER's came from a Hasegawa weapons set. The rocket pods were from a Tamiya F4D Skyray kits.
awesome and inspiring! i hope that when i get to mine that it looks at least half as good as yours - great work!
Thanks Ramon for the kind comments! I know yours will look even better!
Thats an amazing build Morne. I'm very impressed with the detail on this kit and how you've brought it out in your paintwork. Well done!
Thanks, I appreciate the nice comment Gregor. The biggest challenge was simulating the paint peeling effect on the aft fuselage. I could have used masking agents or even salt weathering but opted for sanding away the top layers of paint to reveal underlying layers. I once read an article in Finescale Modeler that explained this method using a Monogram B-26 Invader that was painted black and the black paint was sanded away with very fine sanding pads to reveal the NMF. It is a slow process but looks nice when done correctly. This method also works well to highlight raised panel details.
Hello Morne...Nice job on that classic old Monogram kit. Despite it's age, that kit has the potential for an outstanding model to be produced as you have very nicely demonstrated. Like yourself and many others, I appreciate the century series models Monogram produced. Great job and thanks for letting us see your build of that fine Super Sabre model.
Thanks Jim. I appreciate your kind assessment of my build. These old Monogram kits came from an era when Monogram was leading the way. They produced very large plastic kits like the B 36 and B 1 bombers. These kits are showing their age but are still my favourites!
Nice mate! Some great detail and weathering!
Thanks Richard. I appreciate the thumbs up on my build!
Hi Morne-absolutely beautiful-great work. Clark
Hi Clark. Thanks for the nice comment!
A bit belated, but very well done.
Your Monogram kit can still hold it's own (with a bit of extra work, granted) compared to the 21st Century "replacement", and scrub ups very nicely indeed!
Thanks Marek. I concur with your assessment. The Monogram kit needs a lot of work and what you put in is what you get out.
I have to admit to replacing some of my old Monogram kits in the stash with replacements from the likes of Tamiya & Hasegawa (like you do), namely the F-8 Crusader & A1 Skyraider, but the I've held onto my Hun, it's still a pretty good kit in my humble opinion and it will see the light of day (eventually). Good work once again on your Hun and may it serve as an inspiration to all of us.
An old friend from my model club always refer to Monogram kits as proof that new tunes can always be played on old fiddles! They might not be 21st Century plastic / technology but they still look great. Happy modelling!
Great job !
Thanks Christian !
Yes ! That's really a SUPER Sabre. Congratulations Morne.
Thanks for the thumbs up on my Super Sabre!
Morne, somehow I missed this one, and it's a beaut! The burning around the tailfeathers is particularly well done, and not for the faint of heart. Well done! I always wondered where Monogram got the idea to include Bullpups with it. My impression is that they didn't use them much after the early days in the RVN. Kinda hard to justify using a high tech (for the time) weapon on a wooden bridge or a brace of WARPAC trucks.
Hi Bernard. Thanks for the nice comment. I must say, I have seen very few photos of Huns in Vietnam armed with Bullpups. Navy Skyhawks used it probably far more than the Huns did. I still need to build the Trumpeter 1/48 offering. Hopefully the next Hun will be the Mig killer of Don Kilgus. A 'kill' that is officially listed as a probable. I would like to believe that the Hun achieved the first kill. The Vietnamese actually acknowledged the fact that they lost a Mig on April 4th, 1965. The Hun is one of my favourite Century series fighters. Then on the other hand ALL USAF fighters are my favourites! Cheers.
Morne, are you doing the 2 seat or the single seater? I still have a couple Monograms, and it sorta deters me from adding another. That split fuselage on the Mono is a source of concern, mind.
I might go for the two seater, just something about those.
Agree Don Kilgus should have got the nod on the kill. Not often the records agree on BOTH sides.
Yeah, Century Series, quite the thing in my vanished youth.
Hi Bernard. The fuselage split on the Monogram kit is problematic but with care it builds into a nice model. The Trumpy kit is the single seater. The twin seater will look splendid as either a Wild Weasel or FAC bird from the Vietnam war.
Morne, one afternoon in Vietnam, I was walking along this "road" in the base camp, when I head this jet coming. I was walking past the office of the 9th Div ALO, (air liason officer) who went out with the troops like the old forward observer. This F-100 (silver) made a low pass over the hut, and zoom climbed, rolling as he went, 'til he was out of sight.
I remembered the story Billy Bishop told, about a similar experience, while walking through the horse lines of the Fort Gary Horse, in France during an earlier war.
One of the prettiest things I saw while I was overseas.
I figure it was somebody who'd just got back to the F-100 after a sojourn with us ground pounders, who wanted to cheer up the troops. He did. .
Hi Bernard. I can relate to that. Whilst doing my compulsory military service in 1991 with the South African Defence Force, I was on a military exercise that was done in conjunction with the SAAF. A SAAF Buccaneer came screaming down like a howling Banshee doing a low level attack run on some old military hardware on a bombing range. The pilot dropped his stick of cluster bombs in a toss bombing manoeuvre and then did a similar zoom climb. Breathtaking morale boosting stuff.