F-100D Thunderbirds

[John Bowden]

Hey Guys! Happy New Year.

I've been kinda quite this past year so I'm planning to change that for the new year.

Armed with Roman's permission I'm going re-coloring his 1/48 scale F-100D into the USAF Air Demonstration Team, otherwise know as The Thunderbirds.

I've always liked the Super Sabre version they flew and Roman's model is perfect for the job.

So I'm in the process of gathering up the much needed information and pictures; so if anyone has any close-up shots of the various marking on these birds please feel free to PM me and I'll give you my email address to send them to me.

I want to do a wheels up addition to Roman's very detailed version so that if there is anyone who wants to display the model on a stand, like Ken West's Blue Angels they would look ok sitting on a shelf next to each other.

john

[rickstef]

a nice historic write up on the various aircraft used

tbirds (http://www.ear1w.com/thunderbirds/tbirds.html)

[rickstef]

John, are you planning on doing the white bodied or bare metal bodied version?

[John Bowden]

Rick,

I plan on the silver version, using Roman's "silver colored" F-100 as the base.

I might also remove the silver color and make it so the if RR Silver paper is used it will have the polished look to it.

john

[rutzes]

Two nice galleries may be found at Thunderbirds F-100 Super Sabre Gallery (http://www.aerobaticteams.net/thunderbirds-f-100-gallery.html) and Thunderbirds F-100 Super Sabre Gallery 2 (http://www.aerobaticteams.net/thunderbirds-f-100-gallery2.html)

When I'm back from vacation, what will be after the 9th of January, I can also check my bookmarks to find more.

Will we get the twin seater as well?

[John Bowden]

Thanks for the links Rutzes.

Wow...... I would not have guessed that finding "good" reference material on this would have been so hard!

I'm waiting on a couple of mags I bought off ebay to come in, but I'm really dissappointed at the lack of information on the net.:mad:

I have started, but I fear that what has been done is not going to be acurate. Bummer!

Not sure about the 100F (two seater). If it doesn't require major changes to Roman's D model I just my give it a shot.

john

[John Bowden]

well:mad:........ got in one mag I was counting on for some good marking views and to say that I'm a little disappointed is an understatement.

Maybe the other mag will have what I need to do this re-color acurately. I sure would hate to "wing it" (no pun intended) with the markings.:rolleyes:

john

[The Mole]

John, I have a book called DIAMOND IN THE SKY by Carol Knotts & Pete Moore. It's a pictorial History of the united States Air Force Thunderbirds.
The book was done by Specialty Press in 1984. If you think it would help you out I could send it to you.

[John Bowden]

Cool! What I really need is a good image of the bottom "bird" on the 100D.

From what I can gleem from the net, it changed from the C model to the D model; and I've found many, many interpretations of what it suppossed to be.

If the book has an acurate pic I would appreciate a copy.

Thanks

[The Mole]

John,
The book covers the C and D models but I'm not sure what you'r looking for. There are a lot of black and white photos. Email me at fac1008atyahoodotcom with your address and I will get the book to you.

[DEATH ANGELS]

Hi John,
I have cases of Detail & Scale and still have several Vol.33 F-100. There are a few belly photos and 1/72 5-views. One line set has the C another has the D. If Diamond in the Sky does not have the info needed let me know.

[The Mole]

John,
sent a couple scans to your bellsouth address.

[John Bowden]

Thanks Man! These will help allot!

[John Bowden]

A BIG Thanks to "the Mole", if not for his help I would not be this far along, nor this acurate! Untill I got the email from him, almost everything I had done was wrong!:mad:

I've still got a long way to go, but here is what I have done of the T-Bird on the bottom of the plane.

P.S.

This is scaled up to 1/32 from the original 1/48 I'm working on. I figure if everything lines up at this scale it will be better at the samller scale!:)

[The Mole]

John,
I give you a BIG thanks back. The model looks great. Your doing all the work, I just sent a couple scans. Are you going to do the European version?

[rutzes]

I scaled my two Kampfflieger Huns to 1/33 and it was no problem to build, the fit was great.

Your recolored variant looks highly promising! A must-have as soon as it will be available ;-)

[John Bowden]

Thanks Guys!

I noticed in the pic I posted the T-Bird's tail feathers looked a little on the narrow side, so I have widened them.

Right now I'm working on the normal aircraft warning/inforamtional markings and the flag decal on the side of the aircraft showing the places they been. At 1/48 scale this will not show up very detailed, but like Rutzes I also like to up-scale and at 1/32 and above this will show up very well........ Soooo...... individual flags are required and they are turning out to be a pain to locate and or replicate.

I also plan to add the bent re-fueling probe and tail hook and housing to the already great details Roman has designed into this model.

My plan is to re-color the Number ONE aircraft from the 1967 season, I can add the other planes on the team but this will entail some redundant parts. I might just do a free add-on to the model for those who want to do the entire team, or another plane instead of the Number ONE.

Frank..... The Skyblazers flew the "C" model the the Hun and with Roman's permission I would like to make the changes required to his "D" to achieve this. They are minor changes and since I have his first release of this model, it had "C" wings alread,y so it would make it easier.

As far as an "F" version of the HUN I might have to wait on that............ I'm thinking about a THUD Thunderbird next:cool:

[John Bowden]

Strike Two!

Second mag made it in today and again I'm disappointed!:mad:

Wow! I would have never believed that there is so little GOOD information on the Thunderbirds!!!!!

I'll keep plodding on.................

[The Mole]

John,
Email me where to send you my copy of Diamond in the Sky. What have you got to lose.:rolleyes:

[757rol]

Hi John
maybe this can help you

Rgds

YouTube - 1959 USAF Thunderbirds in Flight with Cockpit Views (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95F5a2VrvjA)

[John Bowden]

Thanks Guys!

Frank........ Thanks for the offer. I think I've just about got everything situated on the re-color. I've got to get some more ink in for the printer to do some test build and check all the alignments.

That email really was the best info that I've gotten. With it I was able to find different pieces from the net and the mags that filled in the blanks, so to speak.

After that I've got to do some parts layouts and sent it to Roman for his approval.

john

[rutzes]

John,

any progress in the last three weeks?

Old Rutz

[John Bowden]

Hey Old Rutz!

Yeah, I've gotten to the point that I have someone going to do a beta build to check for alignment and other miss-takes.........

Unbiased eyes are better than mine at this point!

Shouldn't be too much longer.

Thanks for staying interested!

john