 Spada
Decals 1/32 F-100D in French Service
Trumpeter’s much anticipated 1/32 F-100 kit will undoubtedly spawn
a great number of aftermarket decal sheets. I was quite curious to see
who would have the first sheets available, and I was figuring on some
USAF or maybe ANG units. The first sheet, out, though, goes completely
the other direction, heading across the Atlantic to France. Spada Decals
has released this sheet with no less than six F-100Ds in French service.
As it is unlikely that we will see Trumpeter release their kit with French
markings, this is a very welcome sheet for those wanting to build a European
Hun.
Four of the schemes are natural metal, and two are camouflaged. Starting
with the natural metal schemes, the first is a F-100D-10-NA, 54-2158,
of EC 2/3 “Champagne” squadron at Reims in 1960. Coded 3-EF,
it has the squadron emblem on the nose and the intake lip is painted in
red, as are the wing fences. What appears to be the same aircraft, 54-2158,
is another option, this time from EC 1/3 “Navarre”, also at
Reims in 1960. Now coded 3-IJ, the nose is painted yellow, along with
the wing fences, and the unit emblem is on the nose.
Moving on to 1966 is the F-100D-5-NA, 54-2150, of EC 1/11 “Roussillon”,
seen at Lahr in 1966. Coded 11-EG, this aircraft has red wing fences and
a poorly painted serial number on the tail (both different number styles
and thicknesses, in addition to being misaligned). The tail has two different
unit badges, one on each side. Similarly, the last natural metal aircraft,
F-100D-1-NA, 54-2129 of EC 3/11 “Corse” also has two unit
badges, one on each side of the fin. Seen at Bremgarten in 1967, this
aircraft is coded 11-RD and has red wing fences.
 Stepping
on to the camouflaged examples, the first is an F-100D-35-NH, 55-2736,
of EC 2/11 “Vosges”, seen at Toul in 1974. It is coded 11-MR
and has two squadron badges on the fin. At first glance, it would appear
that the camouflage is the standard SEA scheme, but the undersurfaces
are not 36622 light gray, but rather a sky blue gray that is roughly similar
to FS26329. The last scheme is similarly camouflaged and is an F-100D-35-NH,
55-2739, of EC 4/11 “Jura” as seen in Djibouti in 1976. This
aircraft has a large sharkmouth on the nose and is coded 11-YL. For the
sharkmouth, a paper template is provided in the instructions for painting
the red portion, while the teeth and outline are decal. The Djibouti F-100s
weathered quite a bit, too, so the colors appear faded, except were touched
up. Thus each one of these aircraft has a unique appearance.
The decals are beautifully printed, with vibrant colors and excellent
detailing. Roundels are included to do one natural metal and one camouflaged
aircraft, although there are no decals for the tricolored rudder on the
natural metal aircraft. This is understandable, as Spada Decal most likely
did not have a test shot to size those. Still, it would have been nice
to have spare blue and red decal stock to match the roundels. Overall,
though, this is a nice sheet providing some interesting markings for lesser
known F-100s. My thanks to Spada
Decals for the review sample. |
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