Reviewed by Rodger Kelly
 

Ever wanted to build the Monogram 1/48 scale F-100 and finish it in bright markings but were put off by the fact that you would have to deal with all that careful filling and sanding in preparation for a natural metal finish? Yep, me too! I’ve built a pair of them with this in mind but ended up chickening out and finishing them in the South East Asia scheme of two greens and a tan with light grey undersides. Sure, they looked great but nowhere as bright as I would have liked.

Well, this new sheet from Cutting Edge may be the answer.

CED48169 provides markings for F-100D 53511 during the time that it served as a pattern aircraft for the F-100 depot at Sacramento Air Material Area Service Engineering.

This Super Sabre was painted in overall gloss white with red trim and black pinstripes. The only natural metal was on the rear fuselage.

Whilst the paint scheme and markings are complicated, Cutting Edge has done all the work for you. Simply paint the aircraft white overall. Next apply the specially made Black Magic Masking Set - which you have to purchase separately. Then paint what is left showing in insignia red. That is pretty well it. You do still have to tackle the rear fuselage’s natural metal area but that shouldn’t be too much of a challenge if you opt for various shades of Alclad as this is maskable.

Once the paint has dried and the masks removed all that remains is the application of the decals. Again, Cutting Edge has made the task easier by including the black pin-striping as a part of the red decal in the case of the wing and tail decals. The fuselage black pinstripes have a white edge to one side so you can but them up against the red painted areas.

Other decals include the stars and bars as well as the dark blue USAF titles for the wings and white U.S. AIR FORCE titles for the fuselage, red turbine warning stripes, yellow “rescue” arrows and red and white ejection set triangles.

A full-colour double sided A-4 sheet provides a decal placement guide and a smaller instruction sheet provides the applicable FS595 matches to readily available model paint.

All decals are in perfect register on my sheets and there is minimal film surrounding each of the individual decals. Will the white decals cover the red areas and not bleed through? To be truthful I can’t tell you. However, if they behave the same as other Cutting Edge decals that I have used then you won’t have any problems.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

This is not a cheap set at all (as there are two full-sized decal sheets). Add the purchase price of the Black Magic masks (CEBM48509) and you will be up for a bit of money.

However, won’t it look nice sitting in your model cabinet?

Recommended.

Thanks to Cutting Edge Modelworks for the review samples..

Review Copyright © 2002 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 12 October, 2002
Last updated 22 July, 2003

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