1/72 Hasegawa F-100D

by Fausto Muto

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The model is a Hasegawa F-100D given to me by a friend of mine that has abandoned 1/72 to focus on 1/48. 
The kit was released at the end of the 1980's and for that time it was a decent model; in that time, only another firm produced the F-100 and that was Esci, the Hasegawa kit is a superior model clearly to the ESCI kit.

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The selected version is that of the 31 TFW 308.TFS "Emerald Knights" Bien Hoa AB , South Vietnam, c. 7 Dec 1965; Tuy Hoa AB , South Vietnam - Combat in Southeast Asia, 8 Dec 1965–9 Sep 1970; 5 May–29 Jul 1972; and 16 Dec 1972 – 1 Jun 1973

Decorations:
Distinguished Unit Citations: Rumania , 21 Apr 1944; Poland , 25 Jul 1944.
Presidential Unit Citations ( Southeast Asia ): 8 Jun 1966–16 Apr 1967; 1 May–31 Dec 1968.
Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards with Combat "V" Device: 17 Dec 1966–30 Apr 1968; 18 Dec 1972–27 Jan 1973.
Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards: 4–16 Jul 1952; 1 Mar–30 Nov 1962; 23 Feb 1991–22 Feb 1993.
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm: 16 Dec 1966–15 Oct 1970

 

The F-100D was a version optimized for ground attack, outfitted with autopilot by Minneapolis-Honeywell and of the recent LABS system for unhooking automatic to low altitude of nuclear devices, a greater load to haul and the possibility to bring as mentioned before, nuclear and missile Bullpup bombs .

 

From 1957 the “Hun” equipped 16 Wing of the USAF and in Vietnam different models flew with such frequency that in the 1969 four Wing (3, 31, 35 and 37) overcamethe record for the number of missions flown by the over 15,000 Mustangs in the second world war.  

 

The model did not produce any particular difficulties in the construction and it is composed of little pieces, the insides are practically nonexistent. 

After having assembled the model, I have passed with a soft brush of the spirit on all the surfaces to paint, followed by a hand of Tamiya primer.

 

The painting was performed with Lifecolor acrylic colors with a Badger 150  airbrush using free hand. 

The darkening of the panel lines has been performed by lightening the paint with white and spraying the areas in the middle of each panel.  This gives the effect of darkened panel lines.....even with raised panel lines.

I clear coated with Tamiya clear to prepare the model for decaling.  The decals were applied with Gunze decal softener.  Allowing a day to dry.....I finished it off with a dull coat from Vallejo.

The base was done with a frame and of a sheet of the Verlinden. 

The figures are from Esci and painted with Lifecolor paints . 

Fausto 

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Photos and text © by Fausto Muto