The CF-107 Sabertooth:

[HarryPhishnuts]

Started a new little whiff based on the North American F-107 (but with an accent eh').  Here's a little backstory (with the help of Google Gemini AI).

The CF-107 Sabertooth, a Canadair-built variant of the North American F-107, stands as a testament to Canada's aerospace capabilities and its strategic role within NATO.  The CF-107's origins can be traced back to the United States Air Force's decision in 1957 to acquire a limited number of F-107s, despite selecting the F-105 Thunderchief as its primary fighter-bomber. This was done largely as a hedge against potential issues with the Republic program. This strategic foresight ensured that the F-107 remained in production, making it a viable option for Canada when the need for a new high-speed strike aircraft arose in 1959.

In the late 1950s, Canada was seeking a modern fighter aircraft to replace its aging fleet and meet its NATO obligations.The F-104 Starfighter was considered a promising candidate due to largely to its adoption by West Germany and the possibility of licensing production in Canada. However in April 1958, an article in a West German magazine revealing details of the payoffs and kickbacks between Lockheed and West German officials, damaged the reputation of the Lockheed and F-104 and forced Canada to reconsider its options.

In late 1959, sensing an opportunity, North American Aviation approached Canada with the offer to build the F-107 in Canada. The F-107, with its advanced capabilities and the potential for a licensing agreement, was as an attractive choice.. This proposal was particularly appealing given the recent cancellation of the Avro Arrow project, which had left a significant void in Canada's aerospace industry. By manufacturing the F-107 domestically, Canada could not only acquire a modern fighter aircraft but also develop its own aerospace manufacturing capabilities and create jobs.

In March 1960, Canadair signed the licensing agreement with North American Aviation, paving the way for the development and production of the CF-107 Sabertooth. The first flight of a Canadair-built CF-107 took place in late 1961, marking a significant milestone in Canada's aerospace history. Along with its primary role as a high-speed fighter/bomber, Canadair also developed and produced a reconnaissance version the CR-107 Sabereye.  The Sabertooth/Sabereye adoption by several NATO countries, including Denmark, Germany, Turkey, and Norway, further solidified its reputation as a reliable and capable platform that would go on to serve well into the 1980s.


I'm using the Trumpeter 1/72 kit. After the Special Hobby Cobra I wanted a nice simple build. So far not a bad kit, some fit and fill issues here and there.  Also the kit didn't include any weapons pylons so I went ahead and fired up the 3D printer for pylons and a new radom tip. Plan on building as a "Dirty Dane" so going to be trying some new things with regards to painting and weathering. So here's what I have so far.

[kerick]

Looks very interesting! Carry on!

[PR19_Kit]

Somehow a Danish F-107 sounds VERY appropriate! I can almost see the scorched green tailpipe in my mind's eye. 

[NARSES2]

Always like the F 107 

[HarryPhishnuts]

Somehow a Danish F-107 sounds VERY appropriate! I can almost see the scorched green tailpipe in my mind's eye. 

Yeah I'm using their F-100's as an example for the weathering and heat discoloration. I originally was going to do the kit as a USAF SEA, but I've seen that a lot already and I wanted the challenge of doing bare metal weathering along with the heavily "multi-toned" green you see on some of the Danish F-100s.  Trying the idea of doing very light layers of complimentary colors and shadings. Ought to be fun.

[HarryPhishnuts]

So starting to look like a pretty dirty dane now. Lots of thin layers modulating between different shades or green. On the exhaust I put some liquid mask over the part I was going to paint and then rubbed it off afterwards.  Not too bad, will come together a bit more when I weather it. Now time to decal.

[kerick]

Excellent!

[NARSES2]

Looking good 

[mat]

The paint on the danish F-100s were a real mess. First of all the paint used in the SM67 scheme (SM means Standard Maling= standard paint) were developed to have a very low IR-reflection - which it did have - but it turned out to also have a very low weather resistance. And there is a lot of weather in Denmark. So after just a few month is began to fade into all the colours, that you can imagine from dark green to light purple grey. The ground crew also had the habit of repainting panels and joints, where the paint were flaking off. And where the heat from the afterburner affected the paint the result where much worse. I served in 1972-73 at ESK 730, when they were flying F-100s. All our planes and vehichles - which were camouflaged with the same paint - looked like something found on a scrap yard.

You cannot view this attachment.

[PR19_Kit]

Yeah, we know that, but they looked so COOL, didn't they?   

[Captain Canada]

Great back story and the build looks great so far ! I had built an RCAF example in way back in the early days of the site. And like the original site and all of my stuff on photobucket.....long gone lol

[The Rat]

Looking great so far!

The paint on the danish F-100s were a real mess. First of all the paint used in the SM67 scheme (SM means Standard Maling= standard paint) were developed to have a very low IR-reflection - which it did have - but it turned out to also have a very low weather resistance. And there is a lot of weather in Denmark. So after just a few month is began to fade into all the colours, that you can imagine from dark green to light purple grey. The ground crew also had the habit of repainting panels and joints, where the paint were flaking off. And where the heat from the afterburner affected the paint the result where much worse. I served in 1972-73 at ESK 730, when they were flying F-100s. All our planes and vehichles - which were camouflaged with the same paint - looked like something found on a scrap yard.

You cannot view this attachment.

Put that in a show and people would complain that the weathering was overdone. 

[HarryPhishnuts]

All our planes and vehichles - which were camouflaged with the same paint - looked like something found on a scrap yard.
You cannot view this attachment.

Part of the reason I wanted to do this paint scheme was to work on my weathering skills and lots of fertile opportunity with these.

Since you were there maybe you can help me with the loadout. It's hard to find good reference photos of Danish aircraft with any ordinance other than drop tanks. I was planning on equipping this with some dummy mk83 and mk84. Thought the half blue/half OD would be a nice color contrast to the aircraft. Would something like that have been carried by Danish F-100 or F-104 back then?

[mat]

It is hard to find pictures showing the load of danish F-100s. Mostly because cameras were not allowed on the bases of Flyvevåbnet - you needed a special permission. The time was The Cold War and Denmark was very much in the frontline. But I have have found some on the Net and in some old DAN MIL magazines. The RDAF F-100s could be armed with Bullpup, Sidewinder, rocketpods, Snakeeye bombs, Mk. 82, Mk 83, Mk 84 and napalm boms. The planned targets of ESK 730 were Warszaw Pact air bases in Poland and DDR, so that meant a lot of very low level traning.
You cannot view this attachment.
You cannot view this attachment.
You cannot view this attachment.
You cannot view this attachment.
You cannot view this attachment.

[mat]

In Flyvevåbnet the F-104s were only used for air-defence. Even though I have seen them attacking ground targets on the Rømø Range with their M-61 Vulcan gun. It was quite a sight, especially when they pulled up after the attack The pilots would pull the stick right back, but F-104 had a system to prevent stall, and the system would put the nose a bit down again, the pilot would pull the nose up again, the system would ...... and so it went on for some kilometers!
The F-104 were armed with Sidewinder - normally two on the front fuselage station and carried two or four droptanks on the wing stations.
'You cannot view this attachment.
Two Sidewinders on front fuselage station - no droptanks.
You cannot view this attachment.
Two Sidewinders under the wings and two droptanks.
You cannot view this attachment.
A clear view of the front fuselage station for the Sidewinders
You cannot view this attachment.
Four droptanks
You cannot view this attachment.
Underwing Sidewinders and two droptanks
You cannot view this attachment.
And the usually weathering