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Martin, looking fwd to following your build

Folks as I near the bombing up stage of this build, thought I would throw my research out there & ask for help where needed. My 1st question regards the straps for the centerline MER--was wondering if anyone had a template--I have pics so I can make them on my own, but figured someone out there might have one along w/ better placement idea vice eyeballing photos--you never know. Regarding the centerline MER paint colors--for contrast I am planning on painting Memphis Belle 2's MER black & the pylon the underside color or maybe the entire MER aluminum based on reference photo of Hanoi Special in Bill's build (bottom of page 3) --I am debating whether it matters & all combos are good. I feel I have a enough photos to do the centerline MER on Honey Pot/Have Gun Will Travel all black--reference photo provided by Martin solved this. I intend for both to be bombed up w/ M-117s on the centerline, Memphis Belle 2 will have MK-82s w/ extenders on the out boards while Honey Pot will have an AIM-9B/ECM pod on the out board pylons. From Bill's thread I did not see if it was standard for AIM 9B/ECM to be on one side or the other--will also use Bill's/Jari's discussion as a guide to modify the pylon--I took the out board pylon from the trumpeter kit and made resin castings to get this right. Plan on painting Honey Pot's wing tank pylons w/ dark green to the mid section as seen on the photo (again thanks Martin!). Also, Bill I do do not know what it is w/ this scheme, but my Memphis Belle 2 frosted over when applied a flat coat (I used Testers & have never had problems w/ it till this build)--nearly had a "Germans bombed Pearl Harbor" moment (its movie trivia--I know it was another country )--I sprayed a gloss coat over it and got a nice matt finish--thank you for going into detail on your build on page 4--it was great guide confidence builder. Of course these plan's could be up ended if someone out there has a good solution to putting a MK-118 3K lbs bridge buster! Thank you all for the replies, thoughts & I apologize that I am not posting as regularly as I would like--best to all!

I take back some of my frustration with Print Scale decals--below are results of my Memphis Belle 2. My biggest complaint was the kill markings were different than my period references--I used the Hanoi Special kill markings instead. I did find Print Scales decals thin, but they conformed well and did not break apart easily--I might use liquid decal film in the future if I read more horror stories about these decals shattering. I will be putting on the flat coat/weathering once I have decade Honey Pot 2. I chose to use the Revell kit for Memphis Belle 2--I have to say these decals are sig better than those included with the original kit! I hope you all enjoyed this run down--will hope fully be posting my Trumpeter Thud soon once the decals are done

And now probably the best part before finishing is the de-masking great reveal!

Hello everyone & I apologize for the delayed posts while I balance life and this awesome hobby--special thanks to Martin for the great research. Here are my Thuds--I hope the results came close to the awesome research provided by Martin along with everyones' advice. I used spray can, air brush and brush for touch up. This is my 1st attempt using silly putty as a masking material to replicate a Vietnam era came scheme so I hope it comes close to acceptable

Awesome Martin--will try to get a few photos of the masked airplanes up this weekend--glad I invested in aftermarket decals--but will use the Trumpeter Thud stencils--thanks for offering & all your help in making this an enjoyable build--best, Erwin

Martin--one last thought--I do have to give Pint Scale credit for tackling some Thud subjects--at least the nose art on Honey Pot/Have Gun Will Travel is accurate--thank you again for the awesome find! Best Erwin

Martin--you are now the Indiana Jones of Thud research in my book!!!!! Yes, I will leverage your stencil info--thank you for making the time-have family coming down this week and will be out the following so WIP pics will be slim, but hopefully I have the canvas ready for decals w/ photos. FWIW, I don't have much to add on the Trumpeter kit that you & Bill have made available to Thud fans--will say this, OOB I am leaning toward the Revell 1/72 F-105D being the best--that said, w/ after market photo/etch resin for cockpit, wheel wells, wheels, landing gear, weapons I believe the Trumpeter nudges out the old Revell (a bid part is this recessed panel lines)--emphasis on nudge--a simple photo etch set designed for the Revell would be a major boost to an excellent kit w/o requiring the effort to make parts designed for the Trumpeter fit--what I have learned most during this build is the power of kitchen foil for natural metal--thank you again for the great help! Best, Erwin

If I do the Polish Glider it will be using the old Microscale decals--the Trumpeter ones seem to have issues--best, Erwin

Martin, this is exactly the info which makes me question Print Scale's research/info on 10159 --tracking your reference is 1970 @ the 355 TFW. The Vietnam era markings Print Scale provides are completely different, albeit they are from 1967. I would be comfortable with the difference if I had a photo or other reference--about the only info I can find backing Print Scale's 1967 interpretation is a wings palette. All the photos I have found validate what you stated above vice the drawings on decal sheet 72-96, marking version 7. I would probably go with Print Scale's interpretation if I had a photo &/or some idea of how they developed their interpretation--ie maintenance or pilot notes, but they are silent on references. As always, thanks you and others for your thoughts--I am thinking of doing the Polish Glider instead since there are a lot more photo references... thank you for making the time to comment with the long lag times from photos.... best Erwin

Friends--quick question--I am closing in on painting which means markings will become important--I found a great shot Honey Pot II/Have Gun Will Travel when 61-0159 was assigned to the VA ANG, but during this time she as only named "Have Gun/Will Travel"--my question is how much faith do you put in Print Scale's research (people seem to like there work, but I didn't see references)--I have read that this acft was indeed named Honey Pot II/Have Gun Will Travel when in Vietnam and shot down a MiG... that said, I know there is a lot of talent out there so I thought I would ask... best, Erwin

Thank you Martin--you are awesome! I really appreciate the help

Hello all, I am working on landing gear and other odds and ends--honestly, my Trumpeter build as far as wings goes does not have much to add compared to Bill's--will update on the parachute compartment when complete--did have a quick question--does any one have Vietnam service pictures of Memphis Belle 2, 60-0504 & Honey Pot II, 61-0159. I have the photos from the Print Scale sheet, and google searches have turned up plenty of museum photos of Memphis Belle & a few of 0159 when in VA ANG service--really looking to verify the nose strike camera arraignment & the camp scheme--thanks to everyone for the help!

Martin great point--I found the manual sanding stick method vice the Dremel more effective--I guess thats why I am the newbie But, for the audience I completely concur with you that a Dremel or similar tool is absolutely the wrong tool for the job of removing the stiffer plates--the old fashioned way works the best as you point out

Martin, guess the canopies will be a weak point in both kits--a few reviews on the Revell kit & its 1/48 cousin also explain the canopy is weak point--looks like the trend unfortunately will continue. Tracking on the tailpipe error in the Trumpeter--great to hear from you again!

One last up date for today--I made resin guides for the intake airfow control panels... I think they turned out great--thanks again to everyone for the awesome support

The final step was installing the resin coming & the photo etch--clearly these were not designed for the Revell kit--but they are certainly worth the effort to fuze onto this model. I ended up using the center panel from the eduard and gluing that on to the Revell panel--it worked out great. The next part was was crafting the resin coming into place. If one does this, expect to use filler--I think the result was worth it. I would also mention that you will need to reduce the width of the coming to fit the front of the canopy. Once everything was fitted I used Tamiya Black, X-1, Tamiya Flat Black, XF-1, Tamiya German Grey, Testers Silver & Tamiya Clear Green Thats about it for now--thanks to all the folks out there who have pushed advice and apologize for the slow pace. One thing is for sure, I don't think there will be many of those "I missed it and will live w/ it details" thanks to awesome community here!

Sorry for the long delay--feel like I am moving at glacial pace--but having fun & don't think we are leaving many stones unturned. This update will be all about the Revell F-105 build as fuzing the cockpit photo etch/etch meant for the Trumpeter proved to take a little more time than I thought--but was totally worth it! Next installment will likely focus on installing the canopy whose fit is atrocious--at least in the dry fitting. Anyway, on to the photos/discussion. Up first is the engine. I ended up following the "Old Dog New Tricks" build and used the Trumpeter kit tail pipe for the Trumpeter kit, which of course gave me a photo etch pipe for the Revell kit. I drilled out the back & then put in the photo etch tail pipe--very happy with the result! Challenge w/ using the Revell part is to reduce the conical interior of the OOB tail pipe so that the metal lays flat with no gaps. I airbrushed the photo etch with ALCLAD Het Exhaust--the plastic after burner is also airbrushed Alaclad2 polished aluminum, hot sepia and jet exhaust--once the layering of the airbrush colors was complete I simply used a #2 pencil to highlight the afterburner like Warner Robbins example posted earlier. Building & attaching the wings along w/ sanding seems down took a sig amount of time. In order to build the wings for a Vietnam era F-105D, the F-105G sensors have to go, along w/ the reinforcing plates. F-105G sensors, no problem to get rid of... reinforcing plates turned out to be a lot harder than originally thought. On this model I used a Dremel to get rid of reinforcing plates... idea was to minimize damage to Revell (i.e. Monogram's) awesome reasrch on panel lines, but I found it difficult to control. The grey spot on the upper wing is where I used Tamiya surfacer to level out a scuff. After this near run I used good old sanding stick and researched how to stretch sprue After lots of cross referencing I put the shaded lines back in w/ sprue as I am not in the totally anti raised panel crowd when it comes to accuracy--I do admit that I prefer using a razor to re-scribe panel lines, but the stretched sprue seemed to do the trick Once the wing sub assemblies were complete it was on to sanding the fuselage. I think it went together rather well except for the nose area around the refueling receptical--this challenge was met w/ foil. I used an other Revell F-105D I have in the stash as a guide and remade the door--I intend to use a little salt on this when we get to finishing since this area was usually pert well scraped up Finally, I attached the wings. I thought there attached rather well, but there was a seam. In order to reduce sanding and spurring, I filled the seem in w/ a mixture of putty and lacquer thinner. I got the consistency just thicker than Tamiya bottle surfacer--once it dried for a couple of days I even it out w/ Tamiya surfacer. I was very happy w/ the results but it will be interesting to see how it appears under paint

Thanks Martin--I am sure your build will be AWESOME--I am currently using sprue to put the panel lines back into the Revell kit after assembling the fuselage halves & the wing haves--cant wait to see your build!

Wow, I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted--blessed w/ a gorgeous family, work and an awesome summer cut into aircraft production 1st I want to thank the "fans following this blog"--you truly inspired me to embrace resin and photo etch & I am in awe at the differences. Over the course of the last month, I have completed the following--2 cockpits integrating eduard photo etch & aires resin--they actually integrated rather well. I have sanded, filled & filed the after market cockpit intended for the trumpeter into the old Revell kit--will take pics once I replace sanded off panel lines with stretched sprue. I also foiled the gun ports. Here are photos of my current work Above are the 2 cockpits--Aires Resin with Eduard Photo Etch Above are the cannon ports--top is Revell, bottom is Trumpeter--going w/ the philosophy of foiling the air break petals to have metal represent metal I foiled these as well--given the size of the ports I "recycled" a lot of foil before these fit--my preference is honestly the Revell as I appreciate how the gun part is separate part and the length of the port seems to better capture the original The above pictures of the Revell F-105D juxtaposed with the Detail & Scale Drawings are not so much build pictures as they are an affirmation to myself that Monogram/Revell got the tail chord correct when they based the "D" off of their outstanding F-105G... as you can see the tail nearly perfectly matches the 1/72 Detail & Scale drawings so a little bit of time is saved as I believe Revell/Monogram caught this update--I am knocking off the infamous F-105G attenas and wing reinforcing plates I would like to thank everyone again for their inputs & inspiration--I want to go faster but the build is enjoyable--next up are the wings--I made resin replicas of the photo etch ramp actuators for the Revell kit--they appear awesome--that said, if someone owns stock in Eduard, then perhaps you can convince them to run a new batch of F-105 exterior photo etch along w/ the new zoom cockpits on the market... thanks again for all the encouragement & feedback--& Ridge runner your Dayglow/aluminum F-105 is legit! You & Bill set the bar high when it comes to Thuds!

Folks here is my current WIP link https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235041397-172-f-105-build-revell-trumpeter/ Thank you all for starting, was wondering if any had thoughts on the pics from the wreck picture below in Sequia Nat'l Forest (Pilot survived according to Webpage--crash 1967) http://www.aircraftwrecks.com/images/pages/f105d/f105d-1.jpg--thank you all for the awesome start on Britmodeller--I am loving the hobby even more because of you all

Bill and Martin--you guys are awesome! I can now build in peace w/o the gnawing "did I get it right" for my taste in the back of mind (I believe many on the forum understand this feeling ) I will do white intakes while leveraging Bill's plans for the variable air ramps ( on the Revell, I will attempt to use styrene to replicate the runners w/ styrene)--are any of familiar with a build that scratched these--it seems the supply of external F-105G photo etch is drying up like Hasegawa F-111s

Hoping to start the inakes soon but incredibly torn on how to paint--have been going through a ton of internet searches and I am seeing that Thuds had white (or possibly aluminum lacquer) intakes in Vietnam & can not find evidence to the contrary from Vietnam era photos--but I have a lot of faith in what I see on Britmodeller where most builds show the intakes green up front. Here is a source of my concern--http://www.burrusspta.org/newsubmissions.html and check out F-105's in Vietnam (photo from Vietnam era aircrew in flight posted below). My question is if there was a time rame the camo color went into the front of the intakes--in fairness the 3 display acft I have seen (Warner Robbins/Nat'l Museum USAF/Udvar Hazy, and numerous unrestored current internet photos of F-105s indicate painted intakes). It could be late Vietnam war or post war--anyway really torn right now which way to go, since I have a ton of faith in the research on this board & I feell like I am swimming upstream... FWIW, Revell's 1980 instructions say the intakes are aluminum vice white? Any thoughts on where I am off or right mucho appreciated--screen capture of best Vietnam era photo below

Good catch--had to go back the to petals--been totally focused on the cockpit lately For everyones reference, I fixed my dexterity problem in the original post--appologies

Thanks Ridge Runner--inspiration was that the VT Air National Guard was my dad's unit--he got there when they flew EB-57s--but I grew up w/ awesome stories of the 'Duece Will be trying to program an EB-57 build as well in 1/72 to compliment my slick B-57B Night intruder... the Thud build is giving me plenty of satisfaction along with connecting with awesome builders like yourself...