Revell F-105 Thunderchief 1/72 scale

[DRHarris61]

Hello all.
I started a small out-of-box build on an old kit that had been sitting around for a long time. The Revell F-105 Thunderchief 1/72 (1/75?) scale Fighter/Bomber used extensively in the Vietnam War prior to the F-4 Phantoms.

The kit is very old, having a release date on the box of 1971, and a mold stamp of 1957. As such, the fit is not great, but so far it's not horrendous either. There is no cockpit to speak of, just the pilot in his seat and that's it. No instrument panel, side panels, etc. Somewhere through time the pilot lost his right hand, so I had to cob something together to approximate one. I tiny piece of Styrofoam, CA glue, primer and paint, and he has a boxing glove sized hand, but it's better than the stump he had. If I ever get a spare 1/72 figure I can chop a hand off and fix the pilot's.

There is not a lot of detail on this kit, except for some nice raised rivet detail. Hope I don't lose too much sanding seams. No wheel well detail at all. It's a pretty straight forward kit, and I will attempt to replicate the box cover photo camo pattern. I believe it was from the 334th Tactical Fighter Squadron based in Thailand from 1966-1969.

Thanks for looking.

 

[DRHarris61]

Made some progress on the F-105 Thunderchief over the last week. The main assembly is complete excepting the port side stabilizer, which had to be re-primed because I missed some flash on the edge and had to trim that off. Also the landing gear and doors as well as the canopy are not attached. The canopy still has to be masked and primed and painted. Once I get the port stabilizer glued on, I will begin the 'fun' job of filling and smoothing those gaps at the wing joints and the stabilizers. The stabilizers are not so much about gaps as the way they fit to the fuselage. The mounting surface on the fuselage is not a match to the how thin the stabilizer part is. I should have test fit those initially, then I could have ground the edges to fit better.

 

[Quaralane]

Off to an excellent start here

 

[smokeriderdon]

Let me recommend perfect plastic putty. You apply it then remove excess with a water dampened qtip. You likely wont have to sand at all. If you do, it wont be much.

Looking good so far.

 

[DRHarris61]

Let me recommend perfect plastic putty. You apply it then remove excess with a water dampened qtip. You likely wont have to sand at all. If you do, it wont be much.

Looking good so far.

Thanks! I do have that Perfect Plastic Putty, and was planning on using that for the wings.

 

[DRHarris61]

Been a while since my last progress report. I left off with the last update where primary construction was almost complete and primer had been added. As of tonight, The final paint color was applied to the main body of the plane. I have yet to assemble or attach the landing gear and doors, but that will actually be the final step after decaling so I don't accidentally snap one off while handling it. I also still need to mask and paint the canopy pieces, something I'm not looking forward to because they're so small. Most of what remains is small detail work. The tires are painted but not the hubs. The tail cone still needs a final paint scheme. Thanks for looking and any comments or suggestions.


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[ulvdemon]

That looks pretty good. Can't wait to see more.

 

[Quaralane]

Colors are looking good here

 

[smokeriderdon]

Definitely liking it.

 

[DRHarris61]

Re: Revell F-105 Thunderchief 1/72 scale(Finished)

The Thunderchief is done. I decided not to weather it, though I may incur the wrath of the realism police. I just liked this one the way it is. The canopy hatch is supposed to open and close, but the hinge mechanism is so poorly designed that it just falls off if you turn the bird on it's side or upside down. So I may glue it down, since there is no detail in the cockpit to see anyway aside from the pilot. Despite it's flaws, this was a fun kit to build. 1/72 scale is not my preferred scale for aircraft, but I have a couple of other old kits in my stash that still need to be built. But that's for another WIP thread. Here are the finished pics, warts and all.

 

[Quaralane]

Nothing saying it has to be weathered up.
Still looks good