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1/48 Republic F-105F USAFE


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Despite being best known for it's part in the air war over Vietnam republic's big fighter did see active service in Europe, that is until losses over South East Asia forced them to re-equip with other aircraft (mostly F-4's) and send their aircraft to units involved in combat. The F-105's were split between two units, the 36th TFW at Bitburg and the 49th TFW at Spangdahlem in Germany and were based there long enough that aircraft could be seen in either the earlier silver lacquer scheme or in the South East Asian scheme but I much prefer the silver scheme (not natural metal but painted, yes!) as it will make a change from seeing a Thud without any camo on it. I don't currently have any markings for either unit but think I can paint the ones for the 36th TFW as it seems to be just coloured bands on the vertical tail, in fact it will look a lot like this F-105D of the same unit, note the "F" sitting behind it;

43538708492_0824875873_o_d.jpg

 

The Thud lovers  amongst you will notice that this aircraft does not have the modified engine cooling inlet which is moulded onto the kit's fuselage halves but I think I can remove it without destroying the kit, I will have to remove the wing strengthening panels from the kit whichever scheme I go with as these are only relevant to the "G" model which was the first of the family to be kitted and so these are incorrectly carried over to both the "D" and "F" kits. Below is a picture of an "F" from the 49th TFW;

41777637010_46cde1d2a1_o_d.jpg

 

She is in the same basic scheme but I don't think I can replicate the unit badge on the tail, she does however have the modified cooling inlets which would save a job, but would also mean that I need to find some decals from somewhere.

Now onto the actual kit itself. For my build I will be using the old but extremely accurate Monogram kit, now I know it's not state of the art and I know it has raised panel lines but it is from Monogram's best period and is extremely accurate shape wise (apart from the aforementioned wing strengthening plates for a "D" or "F") and has a decent cockpit and landing gear wells, and to be honest the panel lines don't bother me as they are very restrained and don't leap out at you. Here are the obligatory shots of the box and it's contents, starting with the box art;

29715271898_5dc8910cfd_o_d.jpg

 

Good isn't it, now that is what box art should look like! And now the contents;

42681018825_1b07c04a55_o_d.jpg

 

43538700222_9e87fe1212_o_d.jpg

 

43538702702_ab1184c335_o_d.jpg

 

Republic are quite well represented in this GB already with an F-84F, an RF-84 and now my F-105, can't be a bad thing. Just have to wait for the weekend before I can get started, oh and finish my Wildcat build.

 

Thanks for looking in and any thoughts or help are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

 

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I was really hoping that a West German based 'Thud' would appear in this GB, should look really good in the silver lacquer colour scheme. Is a big kit as well!

 

Michael

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Excellent choice Craig,never realised the Thud served in Europe,never built this type in any scale so looking forward to this especially being a Monogram

kit probably the best kit's pre-reccessed panel lines etc.

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1 hour ago, Ghostbase said:

I was really hoping that a West German based 'Thud' would appear in this GB, should look really good in the silver lacquer colour scheme. Is a big kit as well!

 

Michael

Thanks Michael, yes she is a big bugger isn't she.

Hard to believe that something only 10 feet shorter than a B-17 could have just one pilot!

54 minutes ago, stevej60 said:

Excellent choice Craig,never realised the Thud served in Europe,never built this type in any scale so looking forward to this especially being a Monogram

kit probably the best kit's pre-reccessed panel lines etc.

Hi Steve, yes it's not a very well known fact that the Thud was based in Europe.

Totally agree on Monogram, they made some superb kits at the time, a lot of which still haven't been beaten or replicated such as the F-102 (my second choice for this GB if this gets done in time) .

 

Hopefully you will all like what I do with her.

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54 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Glad to see im not the only monogram mafioso here Craig. Im doing an F-102 Deuce.

Definitely not alone on the Monogram front @Corsairfoxfouruncle, I like their kits from this period and I'm looking forward to seeing your Deuce come together.

30 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Great choice Craig. Should be an excellent project to follow with you at the helm.

Kind regards,

Stix 

Cheers Stix, just hope my build lives up to your expectations!

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 The monogram kit I think is  the best choice for this scale craig, the hobbyboss one has a couple of issues, and a silver bird to boot nice one, your right it will be a big old unit, any aftermarket? You may be able to adjust hobbyboss pe, if you can't get hold of any for the monogram. 

Glynn 

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Great choice of subject and kit Craig :thumbsup:

Built this kit a long time ago and as you say it's classic Monogram at their best. Will enjoy watching this one come together.

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1 hour ago, Hewy said:

 The monogram kit I think is  the best choice for this scale craig, the hobbyboss one has a couple of issues, and a silver bird to boot nice one, your right it will be a big old unit, any aftermarket? You may be able to adjust hobbyboss pe, if you can't get hold of any for the monogram. 

Glynn 

Cheers Glynn, 

At the minute I'm not planning any aftermarket, Monogram cockpits are accurate and come up pretty good after a dry brushing, might look at some replacement seats though.

1 hour ago, Col. said:

Great choice of subject and kit Craig :thumbsup:

Built this kit a long time ago and as you say it's classic Monogram at their best. Will enjoy watching this one come together.

Thanks Col, built a few Monogram kits and enjoyed nearly all of them (didn't like the F-5E AT ALL!). Never finished an F-105 though, I'm ashamed to say I've had a nearly finished F-105G sat on the shelf of doom for around 10 years 😞.

47 minutes ago, franky boy said:

Excellent choice Craig.

 

As you said in your original post it will good to see the Thud in something other than SEA camouflage.

 

James

Thanks James, yes it will make a change to see one not in camo and with nice large national markings.

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I have a few good photo’s of NMF F-105D’s & F’s if i can help let me know. Dont forget if youre doing an early bird it wont have the strengthening plates and ECM antenna’s of the later Vietnam F’s. I have an article describing what needs to be done to backdate these. If youre interested let me know ? 

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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6 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I have a few good photo’s of NMF F-105D’s & F’s if i can help let me know. Dont forget if youre doing an early bird it wont have the strengthening plates and ECM antenna’s of the later Vietnam F’s. I have an article describing what needs to be done to backdate these. If youre interested let me know ? 

Thanks Dennis, I'm always grateful for any help with my builds so photos and information will be great thanks.

38 minutes ago, exdraken said:

nice choice!
 

looking forward to it taking shape!

 

:thumbsup:

Thanks Werner, I'm really looking forward to starting her.

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Hello Craig here are some photo’s of early D’s & F’s. I know this first one is in the U.K. kxhQUpz.jpg

The rest are either in the U.S., Japan, or S.E.A. But all have the early silver/NMF. This ones interesting in that the anti glare panels on the fuselage/droptanks are reversed. Usually its green on the Fuselage and black on the tanks. 

YeyMvzT.jpg

Over Japan.

cOhhaUU.jpg

S.E.A. 

xGfTDji.jpg

osqVIlK.jpg

SednWF8.jpg

These are all photos collected off of Google. Ownership is retained by the original owners. 

      As for the Backdating article here is a link to it. 

http://www.hyperscale.com/features/2001/f105dda_2.htm

If i can help with anything else please let me know. 

 

Dennis

 

*- removed false photo thanks @Creepy Pete for the point out. I didnt catch that one. 

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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you should check out the latest copy of Scale Aircraft Modelling International, they have a feature on the 49th TFW with profile pictures of the F-105D's (as well as the F-100D which look rather nice as well).

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10 minutes ago, trickyrich said:

you should check out the latest copy of Scale Aircraft Modelling International, they have a feature on the 49th TFW with profile pictures of the F-105D's (as well as the F-100D which look rather nice as well).

Thanks for the heads up Rich, I will have to check that out next time I'm in town.

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Made a start yesterday, on day one of the GB! I think that's the first time I've managed that.

I've decided to start by making the corrections to the kit parts to turn it from an F-105F/G hybrid into an actual F, well at least an early one such as the example I want to build. I have made a start on the wings first as these have the most plastic to remove in the form of the reinforcement plates both on top of and underneath the wings and have more or less got one wing complete. this is how the wings start out, notice the raised plates on both halves of the wing;

28817010067_768dca9023_o_d.jpg

 

And after a fair amount of scraping and filing (and a bit of blood when I slipped with my scalpel) this is how the top and bottom halves look;

41898526730_6010e9f393_o_d.jpg

 

Notice that the nav light/sensor on the wing tip has also been removed as early Thuds just have a light which I will add later, the little pointy sensor at the tip of the leading edge also needs removing. The plastic keeps the shape of the removed plates but I assure you the areas are flat. And now the undersides;

28817012517_b7f86b5bbf_o_d.jpg

 

Again you can see the shape of the removed plates, notice that I have also added some plastic plugs to the location points for the outer stores stations as these were not used that often as the role of the aircraft was to deliver buckets of instant sunshine using the internal weapons bay. I shall attempt to replace any lost raised detail later by using some stretched sprue. I have also glued the two halves of the external fuel tank/pylon assemblies together and they look like this;

28817014237_a0e0ce40c1_o_d.jpg

 

28817015817_80da05555b_o_d.jpg

 

As you can see there is a little bit of tidying up to do but not much, though i do need to get a good finish as the tanks on mine might be in natural metal as a contrast to the silver lacquer of the airframe, although there are pictures showing camouflaged tanks on lacquered aircraft which would also be a nice contrast.

Thats it for now, off to start on the other wing and then its the fuselages turn.

 

As usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

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A good start too! Quite right to tackle the conversion work first as that takes a lot of care and all the more so in this case with the metalic finish due over it. Are you not tempted to rescribe this one?

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Here's a good chance to practice. Slow and smooth will see you through as we've a few months of the GB left to go yet ;) 

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2 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Cheers Col, I was tempted to rescribe the details but my scribing skills are not the best, I will see how I get on with restoring the lines as I might not have much choice.

Backdating the F-105 is fun, isn't it? I did it a couple years ago with the same kit. What I usually do when I want to restore raised lines, is just cut a new line with a sharp hobby knife. This will not only leave a recessed line, but also a raised ridge next to it.

 

Here's how mine turned out:

 

ZgECJnV.jpg

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