Ben Brown

Thanks for writing this tutorial. Also, that DH.2 is stunning! Ben

I have some of his 1/48 F-4 exhausts and landing gear. I really like the quality and detail. The gear struts aren’t as detailed as Detail & Wonder’s, but they’re still pretty nice. If you’re not aware, he’s based in China, so…. Ben

According to the googles, it's a quote from the horror movie It. Ben

Back in the ‘80s, they did more than fold the rotors. I took these at Kinston, NC when they brought it in to lift a new air conditioning unit to the roof of the local hospital. So, who’s up for scratch building a 1/35 Guppy to go with the ICM kit? Ben

Trumpeter’s treatment of the entire F-100 series in all three scales is… unfortunate. Ben

Very cool project!! Ben

Are those gear struts from Detail & Wonder? I used them on my build and was very impressed. I had to shorten that stub or brace at the top of each main gear strut so it would slide all the way into the wing. It looks like you had to do the same? I managed to lose all but two of the tie down loops. Ben

Looking great! Ben

Wow, cool project! I love the Dash-8. Great airplane! Ben

The kit intakes work pretty well. I kept popping the seams on the outboard sides when I was sanding the filler because the thin plastic kept flexing. I ended up temporarily gluing some styrene strip to the outside to stiffen things up and then removed it once I finished the seams. There isn’t enough room to just leave the reinforcements in place. Ben

These Z-M F-4 kits are great! I recently finished an E a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it. The only place I needed more than a touch of Mr Surfacer was on the panel that makes up the fuselage spine. I had to put a 0.30 strip of styrene on one end and then the part fit like a glove. Ben

Beautiful build, Sasha! This is the first new kit in a while that I’ve been genuinely excited about. Ben

Reith was working on a 3D printed correction to replace his original resin one and the kit was such a mess, he went ahead and started designing a complete 3D printed kit. Last time I checked, it was nearing completion. If he does put it into production, it will definitely be one of those “shut up and take my money” kits for me. Ben

I started out at age 5 or so, just gluing parts together, and gradually progressed to more and complex stuff as I got older. By the time I was an adult, I was pretty focused on getting seams filled and the paint just right. Then I discovered aftermarket parts and went down that rabbit hole for a many years, chopping up kits, replacing cockpits, and such. The one kit I can point to that actually made a major change to the direction of my modeling was the Trumpeter F-100D. I was a little too enthusiastic about the subject at the time, and I was determined to fix all of the kit's multitude of problems. That whole exercise burned me out on airplane models and F-100s for several years. When I started building airplanes again, my attitude became, "[Forget] it, I'm just adding a resin seat and decals and that's it." It's made the hobby far more relaxing for me, like it used to be. I'll still go a little crazy, occasionally, like with Zoukei-Mura's 1/48 F-4 kits, but but for the most part, a seat and decals is all most most of my builds really need. Ben

How do the two nozzles compare to the kit nozzles, lengthwise? I seem to recall the kit nozzles are a few mm too long. Ben

Small scale sockets? “Dang it! Where the heck did that 1/43 10 mm go?!?” Ben

It's hard to tell, but it looks to me like a variation of the original Hill Grey with FS 36375 Light Ghost Grey undersides, with FS 36270 Neutral Grey and FS 36118 Gunship Grey topsides. The giveaways being the light grey gear doors, slat actuator fairings, and the lighter grey compared to the 36118 inboard pylon sway braces. The tops of the wings would be FS 36118 with 36270 outboard panels like the later and more common pattern. I can't really see any variation between the light grey of the visible lower areas and the light grey of the upper parts, so it might have just been a two-tone version with FS 36270. Thierry's photo does look like the dark grey extended under the intakes a little, almost to the white position lights, but you can see the break between the greys just under the leading edge inboard of the TISEO. It looks like it's picked up a dark grey trailing edge flap at some point (might be a shadow) and a dark grey avionics(?) package in the portside forward missile bay. Link to large photo Link to another large photo Ben

That’s some amazing work there! Beautiful! Ben

These are some great films! The F-100s in the film are painted silver. As it weathered, it took on a dull tone that could look grey in some lighting. They started camouflaging them around 1965. I was impressed by the amount of runway the F-100s used to get off the ground. It looked like one didn’t lift off until ~1000 ft from the end of the runway. Heavy bomb load and high heat and humidity must’ve made for some interesting takeoffs! Ben

I got to tour one at Dulles in the mid 80s. Concorde was a flying work of art. A few years later, also at Dulles, I got to follow G-BOAG to the runway. I was in a Beech Baron and had my front seat passenger pop the door open so we could get the full effect when it took off. Loud doesn’t even begin to describe it! It was glorious! Ben

Sadly, Don Schmenk passed away last year. Ben

Hi All, Sorry for the zombie thread. I was going through some files and found a station diagram for the F-100F. I thought I'd drop it in this thread, in case someone searches for info on the kit. I don't have a Trumpeter kit in any scale to measure, but someone on another forum has said the fuselage scales out to ~21 scale inches too long. Just throwing this out there for those who might care. If you have the kit and compare it to the diagram, please post your results here, as I'd love to see what you come up with. Ben

I still have some of those in 1/48. 1992? It doesn’t seem that long ago! Ben

Caution, do not go searching through that website unless you have several hours to kill. There are tons of interesting files to browse. It’s aviation nerd paradise! Ben

If you’re going to have decals or masks made for the tail codes, F-100s used 18” tail codes instead of 24” as found on F-4s and F-105s. The dimensions and placement for the tail codes and serial numbers can be found on page D-85 of T.O. 1-1-4 HERE. Ben