# Trumpy's F-107 Out of Box



## Faust (Dec 1, 2012)

When it comes to aircraft, I do tend to have a bit of a love affair with the obscure. I like planes that are a bit “unfamous” and am particularly fond of planes that a lot of people either haven’t heard of or haven’t thought of in a while! I also love protypes and paper projects, or planes that only saw very limited service. 

There’s a lot of potential for what-iffery in models of planes that barely existed. The problem is that because these planes are pretty obscure, it’s not easy to find good injection moulded kits of them! That’s why I was pleased to get my hands on one of Trumpeter’s F-107A kits. The Ultra Sabre was a neat looking plane, and the fact that I’ve personally seen the one at the Dayton Air Force Museum made me even more excited to get one. 

I’m not yet sure what I’m going to do with it; I’ve got a lot of ideas in my head for this one! Before I get there, though, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at a kit which, while it seemed to make a stir when it first was announced, seems to me to have faded into relative obscurity. 
Check out this odd choice for a mainline release at the link below, and if you’ve got any ideas for what I could do with it, let me know. Right now, I’m thinking West German ground support aircraft!

*https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/out-of-box-reviews/trumpeter-172-f-107a-oob/*


----------



## Xenodyssey (Aug 27, 2008)

Funny enough I've been thinking of digging my copy of the kit out of the stash as well. But instead of doing a what if I'll probably just do it as the test plane since I do like the colour scheme.


----------



## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

I wonder what changes would have been made had that plane become operational and in service. There's always tinkering between the prototypes and test articles and the mass produced versions. 

arrgh I want to do these things from memory. The F-107 was in competition with the F-105, right? OK, looked it up, yep. Mach 2 air superiority fighter but not so much a 'gunslinger' as a nuclear weapon delivery platform. It's a neat looking aircraft, not as 'brute force' as the F-105. The 105 is deceptive because of the small, thin wings. blah blah. 

I don't know what would look more interesting, a 'Nam era camouflage job (ala the F-105), all bare metal with unit markings and color (ala the F-100) or go all out and either total anti-flash white or take it to the '70s and the early Air Superiority Blue of the prototype F-15. 

I think the F-107 would probably deal well with hard points and external bombs. That's one thing that always just looks weird with the 105, that sleek, sleek plane looks so wrong with bomb racks hanging off it.


----------



## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Did mine in 'Nam camo:
North American F-107A


----------



## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

John P said:


> Did mine in 'Nam camo:
> North American F-107A


Very, very nice! Question: The black markings on the top of the intake, is that for aerial refueling? Was the F-107 designed for that? That seems a worrisome place for the receptacle if a joint or seal or gasket were to fail. 

OTOH there were plenty of planes being designed around that period where they seemed to treat refueling as an afterthought "oh, yeah, um, just stick that someplace"


----------



## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

Steve H said:


> Very, very nice! Question: The black markings on the top of the intake, is that for aerial refueling? Was the F-107 designed for that? That seems a worrisome place for the receptacle if a joint or seal or gasket were to fail.
> 
> OTOH there were plenty of planes being designed around that period where they seemed to treat refueling as an afterthought "oh, yeah, um, just stick that someplace"


Those black markings look to be vents.


----------



## Steve H (Feb 8, 2009)

irishtrek said:


> Those black markings look to be vents.


Bypass vents to manage intake at mach 2? or increase flow at lower speeds? OK, I buy that. 

Reading up on the SR-71, I learned a lot about just how complicated airflow was at high speeds. It's a lot more than just "air goes in here, jet comes out there" like I used to believe.


----------



## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

I've read in a book on the SR-71 that when the A-12 was being designed Lockheed discovered that a smooth surface will become disformed at very high speeds and that's why the A-12, YF-12 and SR-71 all have corrugated surface between the wings and the engine nacelles.


----------



## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

^I thought that was to allow for heat expansion of the wing surfaces.


----------

