Trumpeter 1/32 F-100D Super Sabre, previewed by Scott Van Aken

The North American F-100 Super Sabre is an American supersonic jet fighter aircraft that served with the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1954 to 1971 and with the Air National Guard (ANG) until 1979. The first of the Century Series of USAF jet fighters, it was the first USAF fighter capable of supersonic speed in level flight. The F-100 was designed by North American Aviation as a higher-performance follow-on to the F-86 Sabre air-superiority fighter.

Adapted as a fighter-bomber, the F-100 was superseded by the high-speed Republic F-105 Thunderchief for strike missions over North Vietnam. The F-100 flew extensively over South Vietnam as the air force's primary close air-support jet until being replaced by the more efficient subsonic LTV A-7 Corsair II. The F-100 also served in other NATO air forces and with other U.S. allies. In its later life, it was often referred to as the "Hun", a shortened version of "one hundred".

THE KIT

Trumpeter has been producing 1/32 aircraft kits for a fairly long time. They are well known for being fairly easy to build and having decent detail. However, the company suffers from major brain farts from time to time. I think it comes down to insufficient research when developing tooling. This kit is no exception in terms of misshapen parts.

The kit has plenty of detail that includes open gun bays, a fairly nice cockpit, and a full engine where one can remove the aft fuselage to display it. Not surprising that a majority of builders will build the kit with all these areas closed save for perhaps having the canopy open. Fortunately it appears that Trumpeter has allowed for that and I'm grateful as I like a clean airplane.

I have to highlight the engine as being fairly over-engineered. You see, there is a nice photo etch fret included and you can see this in the parts diagram. See all those circular bits, those are individual compressor stages. Yup, you are expected to build up the interior engine compressor stages before hiding it away for perpetuity inside the engine casing. Other items provided are cast metal landing gear struts and rubber tires. A maintenance stand to hold the tail section is also included as is a boarding ladder.

All of the flight control surfaces are separate and that includes the slats. Each of the myriad of slat tracks are separate as well so getting those installed properly will take some care. Other options are straight or bent refueling probe and you can model the nose pitot tube in the vertical position, as it was done when on the ground to keep things from bumping into it. The gun ammo belts and brake lines for the main gear are vinyl. A large nose weight is also provided if you plan on having the upper nose hatch closed.

Now the biggest shape issue is the intake, which is the wrong shape. It should be an elongated oval, but is flat on the bottom. This glitch was continued over to their 1/48 and 1/72 range. However, Xacto Models does a resin replacement and I'd highly recommend getting it. One other thing that I do not like is that the outer wing fences are p.e. In this scale, it should be possible to do injected parts thin enough so you don't have the fuss of photo etch. Another item that would have been nice is that there is only the original burner can so you cannot do an ANG F-100 from this kit as they all used surplus F-102 cans.

Instructions are a large landscape booklet with some Gunze painting information. There are three decal options. Two of them are overall silver/bare metal from 1959 with the box art plane from the 511 FBS at Langley AFB and the other a 309 FBS aircraft. A third option in SEA camo is from the 309 TFS while based in South Vietnam. For things under wings you have drop tanks, an ALQ-71 jamming pod (mislabeled as an ECS (whatever that is), a buddy refueling pod (labeled as an ALQ-31), and a travel pod (labeled as a practice bomb). A pair of sidewinders and the proper Y shape launcher are also included. along with four shot Zuni rocket pods. Having bombs would have been nice, but you can find those in aftermarket or from other big scale Trumpeter jet kits. The decal sheet includes all the stencils and is nicely done.

CONCLUSIONS

Want a 1/32 F-100D, then it is it. Yes, it will take a bit of work and if you are wise, you'll think things out before building it. We are all quite fortunate that Euro Decals has recently released four sheets that provide a ton of different markings options.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly, please contact the editor or see other details in the Note to Contributors.

KIT #:	02232
PRICE:	$125.00 or so
DECALS:	Three options
REVIEWER:	Scott Van Aken
NOTES:	Includes p.e., metal, and rubber parts.