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Hi all! Well, the next emergence from the paint shop is here and ready for your inspection As most, if not all, watchers will know, this is a another build for my F-105D Thunderchief collection. This time she is 59-1749, a F-105D-5-RE as she was during her time with the 469th Tactical Fighter Squadron/388th Tactical Fighter Wing, operating from Korat RTAFB, Thailand. The period was 1967 and at that time she was flown by Captain Dennis Wills who named her as you can see – “Mr Toad”. Additionally she carried “Marilee E” on the port side at some point in her service in SEA. Mr Toad was an affectionate name given by Dennis to his son. More about him is captured in the book “Vietnam to Western Airlines – An oral History of the Air War” by Bruce Cowee. Ultimately Mr Toad was lost although the dates when this occurred conflict. The book above states a date in 1966(!) but other sources differ. Who knows? I was drawn to her as the side names were not the typical war-like style and she was also a reverse camouflage machine, meaning that while the approved pattern was maintained some colours were interchanged while being painted at the depot. Mr Toad is different also because all other reversed machines that I've seen images of have a tan nose up to the black radar cone. In Mr Toad's case this was green. I always get drawn to the different and unusual ;). Normally I avoid weapons on models as it really is the aircraft that I am interested in. However the Thud looks just right with a string of M117s attached, hence the build configuration in the case. Here are a couple of in-service shots and one of Dennis Wills. Note that that in the image above she also carried a toad drawing on the starboard side. I couldn't find any original detailed image of this. Fortunately she flew for a long time without this and so my dilemma was eased. Courtesy Dennis R. Jenkins The modifications required to get her to a machine of that era and what I gleaned from photos of her were: 1. Removed the dorsal wiring duct 2. Modify the under-nose sensor/camera housing 3. Build a centreline weapons pylon What did I use? 1. Kit - Trumpeter F-105D Thunderchief 1/72 2. Decals – Xtradecal X72112 national insignia, home produced side names, "Snoopy" on undercarriage doors and serials, Microscale 72-178 and kit stencils 3. Paints – Sovereign Hobbies (Colourcoats) ACUS20 Dark Green, ACUS19 Green Olive Drab, ACUS09 US Interior Green, ACUS18 Tan, ACUS17 FS36622 Gray Humbrol 30 Olive drab, and others. Varnished withHumbrol Glosscote and finished with Satincote. Humbrol 192 Chrome was used for the speedbrakes with the forward and aft sections masked and treated with Tamiya Weathering blue. 4. Weathering – Flory Dirt and Tamiya weathering powders. 5. Aftermarket – Aires seat and cockpit (7239), Master pitot, Aires rear side intakes, Aires ventral fin, Hasegawa ALQ-87 (from Set IV), Hasegawa AIM-9B (from Set III), Brassin M117 bombs, Hasegawa MER (from Set I), Wheels from Aires. 6. Montex paint masks I hope you like her. I have to say that the Colourcoat paints were a delight to apply (I have no connection with Sovereign – just a happy modeller spreading the word). Martin

I have started on a new project intending to build an early Thud in NMF. Strangely, having a few building articles at hand and a few other references I still cannot figure out a few simple things: - the colour of internal surfaces i.e. Wheel wells, internal sides of doors, refueling probe housing and mast. Trumpeter suggests white... It does make sense, but are there any other options? Unpainted? Or primed with cromate? - undercarriage legs and wheel hubs, again Trumpeter suggests white, but the photos and some references give metal... What is more likely for a NMF aircraft? - the canvas cover in front of the instrument panel in the cockpit. Trumpy suggests black, but may be olive drab? Cannot figure this one out based on black and white photos... - the internal framing of the glazing: black or cockpit grey? The later ones had it in black but what about the NMF aircraft? Would appreciate the suggestions... Regards,

Ok now for something COMPLETELY different. Revell's 1/48 F-105D back dated to an F-105B Thunderbird circa 1964 season ( it's only brief use as a demonstration aircraft. Not sure if I'll do it in Alclad II or Foil, or a combination, But in any event should prove interesting. So come along and all comments, suggestions, questions and general clowning are always welcome, So let the Countdown begin and Gerry Anderson take the hindquarter!

My entry for this GB. Box art: Sprues still sealed. Lots of rivets on the surface though, but I'm probably going to leave them and save myself some annoyance. Not a whole heap of AM stuff, at 1/72 I generally don't go all in. Probably going for an aluminum lacquer finish I *think* is correct for the time frame. Will do the SEA camo when/if I ever end up with the "G" Thud in my paws.

Couldn't get to the transient line fast enough when I heard these come in at lunch time. Unfortunately, I only had a few shots left in my camera (Canon A-1) and no additional film rolls in my camera bag! F-015D Thunderchiefs of the 466th Tac Fighter Squadron, 508th Tac Fighter Group, Air Force Reserve, out of Hill AFB. Nellis AFB, November 1980. 62-4242 62-4372 62-4372 and 62-4361 63-4242, F-105F 63-4287, and the tail of 61-0084 Thanks for looking, Sven

Hi everyone! Finally I have got D-10 ready for RFI :). It has been a long slog, aggravated but various factors, including a lack of available modelling time across the past months. Overall it has been very enjoyable, but challenging. As many of you will now know from my WIP, she is F-105D-5-RE 58-1155 (c/n D-10) operated as a factory machine by Republic at Farmingdale between mid-1960 and mid-1961 for fatigue and structural integrity testing . Very few images of her exist, particularly in colour. I found two of the latter with the help of this forum and a couple of stateside contacts. B&W images are essentially all shown in Lou Drendel’s book “Thud”. I have therefore used a little “modeller’s licence” to create the build as almost all images show differences. I have combined these to produce the model. Here is an example of her in her testing days: Having then spent time at Eglin AFB on further evaluation programmes she still exists, following a service career with the District of Columbia Air National Guard at Andrews AFB until 1981, and is displayed fictitiously as “59-1771” in the USAF Armament Museum at Eglin AFB, Florida. She looks like this now: My WIP is here: I will take this moment to express thanks to, and heap praise on, Giorgio N on this forum for his help and skilled production of the vinyl masks with his cutter that enabled the painting of the fuselage flashes and the background NMF outlines of the lettering and numbers and the Star-and-bars. The images for these were then scanned and used to produce the black outline decals. She was NMF, rather than the later overall zinc finish, plus the painted flashes so I’ve opted for a light panel weathering with Flory and some Tamiya powders. This also fills and accentuates some of the deeper features, such as the NACA nose inlet. So what did I use? Trumpeter F-105D Thunderchief 1/72 Aires cockpit set Aires wheel set Decals were old Microscale Thud sets for stencilling, lifting points,warning marks, etc, Xtradecal black striping, Xtradecal Star-and-Bar and Ebay-purchased clear decal sheet (for numbering, lettering, outlining, etc) Paints were Humbrol 27002 Polished Aluminium metalcote, 27001 Flat Aluminium metalcote, 27003 Steel metalcote, 33 Matt Black, 99 Matt Lemon Yellow, 147 Matt Light Aircraft Grey, 34 Matt White, 226 Matt Interior Green, 66 Matt Olive Drab, XX Grey Wash, Glosscote, Satincote, Mattcote, Testors Model Master FS28915 Fluorescent Orange-Red, Hasegawa Weapons Set I for the LAU-3 pods Plastruct rod and a Master MIG-21UM for the pitot, plus some other plastic from a Trumpeter F-100 ladder. Flory Dirt and Tamiya Weathering Powders for weathering Tamiya thin cement, Squadron fillers and a lot of Tamiya tape! I hope you like her! Martin PS: in reality the Orange-Red is more orange and close to the coloured images of her. It just blew the sensor of my camera