Spending time looking at the parts and the instructions, this is my opinion of the Trumpeter 1/32 Scale F-100D. I have not test fitted any parts or checked any measurments. Just my observation of my knowledge of the F-100 Lead Sled, not anywhere official. This is my opinion only.
Cockpit. It looks nice, but it lacks detail. The side consoles have some detail molded in, but it lacks a throttle. There is nothing on the cockpit side walls. The instrument panel has the drag chute and gear handle included. Missing are the emergency landing gear and emergency drop tank jettison handles. The instrument panel is also the early type and not the type found in most later F-100D’s. The seat doesn’t have any gas lines or hoses or a lot of the linkage seen on the real seat. There will be many AM sets to correct these problems.
Engine. The engine included is a generic J-57 and not the -21 as used in the F-100. The nose dome accessory housing is cone shaped where the -21 had an elongated pointed down housing. I can’t tell you what we called it, don’t want to get banned. It does not have the OPAH or EDGB on the engine at all. The PE parts for the compressor would not be seen once the engine is assembled. If you want to show the engine “Top Halved” or “Split the case” as we called it, then the compressor section would be visable. The only problem there is, it wouldn’t be accurate as the J-57 had a 16 stage compressor made up of the low pressure side (N-1) and high pressure side (N-2). They only give you 11 stages of blades. Also the stages were cone shaped, getting smaller the further aft you went. There is no combustion section detail, only a blank space. The turbine section has one turbine wheel. The actual engine had three wheels, the T-1 and T-2 sections. I know I am rivet counting.
Pylons. Most Sleds carried pylons which had a saddle type sway brace mount. These are not included with the kit, only the centerline pylon has the saddle to add on. They do have the Y pylons to carry the supplied AIM-9’s.
Fuselage. The long intake will be a problem filling and sanding. I am sure a resin intake will be released. The forward electronic, radar and radio compartment can be shown open or closed (colse. as the instructions calls it). If opened, you will have to scratchbuild the black boxes that go inside it, as only the weight is included. You also have the choice of early or late style speed brakes which is a very nice touch.
Aft section. The aft section can be installed or removed. There is no detailing at all inside the aft section so ribs, stringers and bulkheads will have to be scratch built if removed. The tail skid should have a well inside. None is included so the actuator is not mounted to anything. Crew chiefs would paint the skid red so if the pilot hit the runway with it, it would scrape off the red paint showing bare metal. Just before payday, a lot of crew chiefs would take a file after engine start and file away the red paint on the end. After flight, they would show it to the pilot, who would then have to buy the crew chief a case of beer for hitting the runway. I never did anything like that. [:-^] If you do show the aft section removed, show the tail hook down, not like the pictures shown in the kit.
Ext stores. Not much is included with the kit. Only one LAU-10, AN/ALQ 87 ECM pod, AN/ALQ-31 ECM pod, four AIM-9B Sidewinders, two SUU-21/A Practice Bomb Dispensers (called practice bomb in the instructions) and three 275 Gal ext tanks. The AN/ALQ-31 was never carried operationally by the F-100D, only tested but replaced by the AN/ALQ-87 pod for operational use. It would have been nice to have some LAU-3/A and BLU-27 Napalm tanks included with the kit. I hope someone comes out with a set of 335 gal fuel tanks, which was most often seen on the Sled. With the 1/32 scale weapons kit released by Trumpeter, I hope they don’t follow Hasagawa by not including weapons with their kits.
Wings. The mount for the wings doesn’t look like it would support the weight. Where it mounts to the fuselage there are only very small tabs that insert into the fuselage. When I build mine I am going to beef up this area. I will have to check clearance to make sure there will be enough room inside the fuselage with the intake and engine installed. The wheel wells look shallow to me. It could be because the well is molded to the lower wing half and not the upper half.