Search the Community

Redux 1/48 Republic F-84F Thunderstreak (RDXENS-1) built as 29029/1-NX from EC.1/1 ‘Corse’ Armee De L’Air masquerading as 200 Tayeset of the Israeli Air Force at Lod in late October/early November 1956 The model was built for a magazine article last autumn but due to an unfortunate shelving collapse this model and most of my work for the past year or so took its first flight earlier this week and so looks even worse now than it does in the images which include a couple on a mirrored base I was experimenting with. The kit parts are those produced originally by Monogram and more recently by Revell for the 1/48 F-84F Thunderstreak but without the Nuclear Bomb and RATO bottles that feature in some of their many releases over the years. REDUX had planned two different releases each with a single set of parts and different Hi-Decal decal sheet as well as masks for the cockpit canopy, French squadron tail stripes and ‘Suez stripes’. One version would also have included a French/English book on the F/RF-84F however for commercial reasons all of the existing components were brought together in a clear plastic box offering two sets of kits parts, both decal sheets, two sets of masks and the book. The package first appeared on the market about ten years ago and when I bought mine a couple of years later it was definitely cheaper then than two of the standard Revell releases even before the extras were taken into account. The Hi-Decal markings are excellent, thin, in register, apply easily and bed down well. Included on one of the sheets was my choice as shown here of an Armée de l’Air F-84F from EC.1/1 ‘Corse’ in standard squadron markings and codes but wearing Israeli markings in place of French roundels and having the Tricolore on the fin blanked out. This arose from the Anglo-French-Israeli planning behind the Suez affair and was intended to bolster Israeli air defences under the fiction that the aircraft were operated by the non-existent 200 Tayeset of the Israeli Air Force based at Lod for a brief period in late October/early November 1956 from just prior to Israel’s pre-emptive strike against Egypt until the Anglo-French ‘peace-keeping’ intervention a few days later. The aircraft were flown by their usual French pilots albeit as ‘civilians’ and Israeli markings were applied before aircraft engines had shut down upon first landing in Israel, standard AdlA roundels were re-applied once the ‘official’ Anglo-French involvement began a few days later. As can be expected the Monogram/Revell parts fit together well and have good cockpit detail however the kit provides the later deeper ventral brake parachute fairing which needs to be replaced with the shallower early fairing which I sanded from a piece of ‘U’ shaped sprue. Like many kits originating with Monogram it does have raised panel detail which you either live with or build something else. The model was brush painted using various as sold and mixed Games Workshop metallics with varying final lustres on panels achieved from different mixes of Klear and Tamiya Flat Base. Learning from many mistakes along the way with my first use of aftermarket masks the REDUX provided ones for the fuselage squadron stripes as well as wing and fuselage ‘Suez’ stripes were a big help. No stenciling is provided, the original plan being to commission a dry-transfer sheet from a far-east producer but the project foundered before this was achieved, so I used some from a Carpena/Colorado set.