Oh, neat!  Can't wait to see what you do with the "Maneater". 

Gary

I really like that chipping. Gotta try that hair spray method one of these days.

Looks bad, but in this case that's Good!

Thanks guys!

Finished up the painting last night.

Started with black...

Then some white...

Aside from masking (poster tack) the belly, I free handed the camo.

WOW. A hot rod Thud. Very cool and creative. There were only 3 F-107s. Two still exsist. One is in the USAF Museum, and the other is at the Pima Air Museum. The 3rd aircraft had a tire blow on a landing and rather than repair the airframe it was used for firefighting practice (what a waist). This aircraft was flown by North Amarican test pilot Scott Crossfield on the day of the accident. Test pilot Bob Hoover said of the F107 that it was the best fighter aircraft he had ever flown. Crossfield was also complimentary of the aircraft. Bob Hoover was flying chase with Chuck Yeager the day the sound barrier was broken. Hoover is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, fighter/test pilot of the 20th century. The contract went to Republic for the F105 because it had a bomb bay and was envisioned to carry an atomic weapon. It never did. The F-107 is indeed odd looking, but it was one heck of an airplane.  The government still asks the aircraft manufacturers to design a fighter/intercepter and later insist that they be able to hang bombs on it.

I've always loved your builds! this one is no exception. Hope this hunting season has treated you well too.

rangerj

  The government still asks the aircraft manufacturers to design a fighter/intercepter and later insist that they be able to hang bombs on it.

 

Didn't Hitler make that same mistake(262)?!!!

This build is not only a "what if"...but also an example of that very statement....I'm stickin some bombs on it!

ygmodeler4

I've always loved your builds! this one is no exception. Hope this hunting season has treated you well too.

 

Thank you!

This deer season....well.....BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Since having to change jobs 3 years ago, the seasons have not been good. The first year I got one with my bow, on the second day of archery season. Only made it out 5-6 times before gun season, then hunted a lot in December and froze my nuggets off...didn't even see a single deer. Last year, I got 3, but 2 of em were "gimme's" from the airport (fenced in...don't really count, although, one was a nice 9pnt). This season...I had two pinched nerves in my neck, knocking my left arm just about out of commission (bow was a no go), then pinched my sciatic nerve, killing my right leg...no climbing into the stand, let alone trying to drag a deer out of the woods. I did get one with the crossbow though, late in October. Had to have my bro lend a hand in getting her out of the woods.

On a possitive note...the pain in my neck/arm is gone, arm and hand are back up to about 85-90% of what they were. That sciatic though...it's a killer!

Got one more day of work left, then I'm off til April....I have until Jan 1 take one more(even though I have 3 more tags...one more will get us meat through the winter)

I would hate to have to eject from that monster. Not surprised that the F-105 design won. The F-105 did have an internal weapons bay for a nuke, though I believe it became home to an internal drop tank.

[Edit:] I need to read after I post I get racing thoughts some times. Did the F-107 have an internal bay like the F-105? [/Edit]

Decals are done. Picked em out of the spares box. Tail codes are from an F-105...kinda fitting! Nose art...because....nose art ROCKS!!!

She looks great!  It's odd, but that SEAC scheme suits her.

Gary

Nice seeing the kit in that paint scheme. 

That is some of the best camofluage I've ever seen as well as a nicely done build!

Toshi

Much thanks guys!

She's done!

Very nice, Jeremy.  Best camouflaged F-107 I've ever seen!

Nice one!  Great "what-if" presentation of an unusual aircraft.

Great story about the last prototype's flight to Dayton:

"Prototype #2 was never used for testing, and instead flown on 25 November 1957 to the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton, Ohio. This aircraft had not been completed and none of the radio navigation systems had been installed. To fly it to the museum, Major Clyde Good intended to follow an F-100 being delivered the same day. After an en route refuelling stop the two aircraft became separated, and Good was forced to follow roads to the  area when it turned dark and overcast. The aircraft was not equipped with cockpit or instrument lighting, so Good periodically flicked his Zippo lighter to read the instruments. Guessing a heading, he flew close enough to Dayton to be seen on radar at Wright-Patterson AFB and was talked down to the runway. It was then that Good discovered that the landing lights had not been installed either, but he was able to successfully land the plane while using the Zippo to light the airspeed indicator through the approach."

Wonder if they ever made a Zippo commercial out of that?

Gary

OH SNAP !!! That came out really nice. Well done!!

BK

There is VFR i.e. visual flight rules, IFR, i.e. instrument flight rules, and IFH i.e. I Fly Highways. I have also used the old "Iron Compass" on more than one occasion, that is the railroad tracks. All this is commonly called pilotage. Water towers are also a great aid to navigation. That is a great looking F-107, bombs and all. 

I have been working on one for a long time. The panel lines are over scale so I have been filling them with stretched spru , sanding, and then rescribing the lines. I also have the cockpit kit for the model from Cobra (IIRC). I like the test flight color sceme and I'll go with that. I would like to see this kit in 1/48th scale, but I doubt that will ever happen.

In re. the ejection from the aircraft I seem to recall that something special was done to make sure the seat cleared the aircraft, but do not remember the details at the moment. Anyone? 

Thanks all!

rangerj

There is VFR i.e. visual flight rules, IFR, i.e. instrument flight rules, and IFH i.e. I Fly Highways. I have also used the old "Iron Compass" on more than one occasion, that is the railroad tracks. All this is commonly called pilotage. Water towers are also a great aid to navigation. 

 

That is the best kind of flying...much more enjoyable than VOR or GPS! I also really enjoyed doing all the math for a flight plan (compass headings with winds factored in), flying the plan without any nav-aids...just the compass...and having it all work out!

Nothing specific.  It just wasn't considered at the time.  Apparently they thought the ejection seat would clear the intake just fine, as the intake air flow was not great enough to cause a suction problem.

http://airpigz.com/blog/2010/12/22/coolpix-modern-military-north-american-f-107-man-eater.html

I do wonder if they might have rigged a switch to shut down the engine before ejection, but I'm not sure what good that would have done.

Interesting conjecture.

Gary

Wow, another winner there Fermis!

GAF: Whoa, interesting story, glad he was able to get the plane there in one piece. 

Seat of the pants flying, at one with the airplane, smooth three point landings, grease it on, turns on point like your on a cable with the point. Yeah baby real flying! I'm old school and love low and slow flying. I fly with a map in my lap and not a freaking Garmen.

Thumbs up.

Great modelling Fermis – I could never freehand camo that tightly, especially in 1/72. Saw the first prototype F-107 in the Pima A&S Museum a couple of years ago, it was much bigger than I'd imagined.

Thanks again guys!

Jester75

Nothing short of the grand finish that has come to be expected! Very interesting history lesson on the plane and its pilots too. Being a non-pilot, I couldn't imagine flying around at those speeds at night depending on a Zippo lighter to see, crazy!

 

Interesting stuff that I had no clue about!

Way back when, just after getting my license, I took my wife up to Mnt. Pleasant casino for her B-day (just over an hour flight in a 152). On the flight back, around 1am, I lost electrical. No lights, no radio. Followed the highway back home. The lighting at my airport is pilot controlled...no radio, no runway lights...there was just enough ambient light to make out the runway though. Had my wife flick a Bic once we got into the pattern. She was all kinds of freaked out...I was just like, "hey, I JUST got my license, the training for this is still very fresh...no worries!". It wasn't the softest landing, but far from the hardest!

Damn, that's crazy! I guess the whole "any landing you can walk away from" definitely applies! Curious, how is the lighting pilot controlled?