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F-100D Super Sabre by Jean-Christian Houg
This is the Italeri 1/72 scale F-100D Super Sabre kit. I also built the ESCI kit 10 years ago. The Italeri one is better, but not much.
I built the model direct from the box, since my major goal was simply to practice achieving a natural metal finish prior to build my kit of SNCASO 4050 Griffon II, a 15-year-old kit which is no longer available.
The kit fits together well. I used only a little of putty on the under forward fuselage. Sanding was the only task required for the other join lines. No additional work was required for the cockpit. Italeri's cockpit is simple but correct. Next time I will add more detail, but I was impatient to get on with the paint job.
I have been searching for the perfect natural metal finish for many years and through many techniques. I've tried gluing aluminium foil, to chrome spray for cars (which totally ruined a F-104 because of the trichlo in it), but I have finally found the secret. The key is not the paint job itself - it is the surface preparation.
To achieve a perfect natural metal finish, the kit must be perfectly polished. When I say that, I mean that it has to look like a real mirror. To achieve this, I sprayed a coat of Humbrol gloss green. (or blue, red what-you-want). I chose green because it was the first colour I found while opening my paint box! Now sand it with 800 grit sandpaper. Sand it very lightly. Then polish it. And polish again. And again. And again. Wait for the sun to appear and look at your model in back-light. It must be a mirror.
The metal colour can then be sprayed according to your favourite technique. I use Model Master Metallizer, before a final polish and a thin black wash. The wash must be acrylic. An enamel wash will dissolve the metalizer. Don't go overboard with the weathering as most natural metal aircraft were pretty clean. I chose a Super-Sabre of the third squadron (EC I/3 NAVARRE) based in Germany, at Lahr AFB, during the " Nuclear alert " for NATO.
The other F-100 in the photographs is the old ESCI finished in the colours of EC3/11 Jura, based at Djibouti, with the Vietnam style camo.
Click the thumbnails to view the
images full-size
Model, Text and Images Copyright ©
2000 by Jean-Christian Houg
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