Double Thunderjet

[reini]

I've got a confession to make - I've never built Tamiya kits. So I thought why not test whether they live up to their good reputation, and try not only one - but two. 

 

So this is Tamiya 1/48 and 1/72 Republic F-84G Thunderjet double build.

 

I thought it might be fun to compare the two kits side by side as I build them. It could also be confusing and I make a mess of the kits and parts - there's only one way to find out

 

 

Box arts. Painted Tamiya box arts are always classy. Model in the 1/72 is also nice but I think I prefer the painting.

 

 

 

Decals. For the 1/48 I'll be using kit decals which look pretty good. The 1/72 I'll be doing something different than the box offers and make it as a Norwegian Thunderjet using Vingtor decals. Hoping to start a small collection of scandinavian cold war era jets. Collection, that currently consists of one model - a Finnish Vampire. But hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?

 

 

 

Big brother and little brother side by side.

 

 

 

Wings.

 

 

 

The clear parts and the extra sprue that the 1/48 kit has.

 

 

 

This did not come with the kit. She is called Batman and she loves my hobby. Mainly due to the seemingly endless supply of boxes

 

[Tempestwulf]

Shake & bake box cat

[RidgeRunner]

Nice, Reini. I have one 1/72 of these in my pile, with an Icarus decal set, for a future build. . I will be watching this thread :).

 

Martin

Edited October 5, 2019 by RidgeRunner

[stevehnz]

What is it with cats & boxes.

I'm keen to watch this come together, I've a couple of the 1/72 kits, one to do a camo'd Danish machine & one a nm Belgian bird when I figure out how to cobble up the markings. Meantime I'm all eyes.

Steve.

[reini]

Cockpits are pretty much done. Very much the same cockpit - 1/48 has only one more part than the 1/72 (the footrest for the ejection seat is separate part).

 

The klits came with decal belts which I am not a huge fan of - so I did my own for the 1/72 from Tamiya tape. Slightly too big but I think they're still better than decals. One difference between the kits is that 1/48 comes with a pilot - which I will be using, so no need for belts.

 

 

 

[Marklo]

I’m only liking this for the cat  

 

that said lovely work and intriguing to see the two scales being built side by side.

Edited October 8, 2019 by Marklo

[reini]

5 minutes ago, Marklo said:

I’m only liking this for the cat  

 

that said lovely work and intriguing to see the two scales being built side by side.

 

 

I've been slowly trying to introduce my cat to the hobby...

 

 

... but I fear it's only about the boxes she likes - doesn't really matter if the box still has it's contents in it or not  

 

 

[reini]

Probably not news to anyone who have built Tamiya kits before, but these are joy to build everything is very well thought out and designed. Some might say that too good (or is there such a thing?) that some might enjoy more 'challenge' or DIY spirit in their builds. I might too, but it's fine to enjoy such nice kits every now and then. And these aren't even particularly new kits, so I wonder how good the new Tamiya kits are if 20 year old ones are this good.

 

 

And there are some details that I hope would be more common in every kit - like that it would tell you how much weight you need for your plane not to be a tail-sitter. The 1/48 Thunderjet has the perfect solution, weight is included in a nice cradle, simple solution that you don't have to fear till the end of the build to see if you put enough weight. The 1/72 weirdly doesn't have the same solution, but atleast the manual tells how much weight you need for the nose. There's actually some room inside the intake splitter - but being rather quick in my builds I forgot to add it there. But there's still plenty of room where the machine guns would normally go. 

 

 

72 is already closed and 48 is ready for the other half. The big brother has one more part included in the bottom of the fuselage - which allows you to display the air brake open

 

 

Side by side comparison.

 

 

Question - the decals for the nose, would you try them out or try to mask them instead? The thing is, I hate those wrap around decals, I always seem to mess them up. But then again, being 1/72 all that is rather small and getting that properly masked would probably be pain in the butt too and not sure if any easier. Suggestions?

[RidgeRunner]

Why not try the decals. If they dont work out you then strip them off (easy with Tamiya tape) and mask up for painting?

 

Martin

Edited October 10, 2019 by RidgeRunner

[72modeler]

On 10/5/2019 at 1:31 AM, stevehnz said:

What is it with cats & boxes.

If I fits, I sits!

Mike

[72modeler]

6 hours ago, reini said:

Suggestions?

You could paint the nose ring red, then cut the black squares,  triangles, or chevrons from the decal and apply them to the nose ring.

Mike

[Tempestwulf]

Rock with the decals. Vingtor are good quality and I expect they'd adhere real well. I have the same set too so keen to see if you're a willing guinea pig.

 

Also you cat has a very stately stare. "This pleases us hooman."

[reini]

On 11/10/2019 at 05:47, 72modeler said:

If I fits, I sits!

Mike

Doesn't even have to fit, preferred size box is the one that is just a little bit too small...

 

 

 

 

On 11/10/2019 at 06:23, Tempestwulf said:

Rock with the decals. Vingtor are good quality and I expect they'd adhere real well. I have the same set too so keen to see if you're a willing guinea pig.

 

Also you cat has a very stately stare. "This pleases us hooman."

Thanks all for your comments, I think I will soldier on with the decals. They do look high quality and are specifically made for the Tamiya kit.

 

- - - - - 

 

I have assembled the fuselages, but I managed to break the 1/48 fuselage while at it. Not sure what happened, I wasn't aware that I used any excessive force. I glued the fuselage halves first and next day put on the top forward part of the fuselage, below which the guns are mounted. Not sure if I my fuselage fix was too tight and the top panel spread out the fuselage halves and broke the part instead of the glue bond. In any case, not a perfect fit in either of the kits, but nothing that light sanding wouldn't fix. Might need some putty for the crack, just worried it will break again.

 

 

[reini]

 

 

Managed to fill & sand the crack. Little more polish on the surface to get the sanding marks off and I'll try to put on a basecoat to see whether the the crack has disappeared.

 

 

The wings - details wise pretty much the same - but 48 has some extra parts. Firstly, the wingtip fuel tanks are separate so you can build the plane without them (wingtips are included in the kit). And secondly, the flaps are separate, so you can add little extra interest with those.

 

 

Wing & fuselage parts all prettied & sanded. Still need to do some light rescribing to get back some of the details lost in the sanding and I'm ready to do the major assembly and put on the first test basecoat to see if any more sanding is needed. All in all, pretty nice fit and did not need any big gap filling - but it still took good two hours to sand all these parts. The separate top nose plate was the one with the worst fit (both models), but as a hindsight, I probably should have glued it at the same time when I glued the fuselage - might have gotten a better fit. 

 

 

Anyone else using CA glue as a light filler? I was out of town for the weekend and I took basic modelling kits with me to do some modelling while away, but I forgot my putty. All I had was my CA glue and I thought I'd give it a try, and I really liked it. Seems perfect for fixing minor surface imperfections and smoothing out the surface of slightly misaligned parts. You know, stuff where normal putty might have hard time sticking in and might chip off. Real easy to work with and sands nicely. So far, I haven't used normal putty with the Thunderjets, only superglue, and it seems to do the trick as there are no big gaps to fill - just minor smoothing out.

 

 

[mdauben]

I've got that same boxing of the 1/72 scale kit.  I'll be interested in seeing how yours turns out!

[Nikolay Polyakov]

I’m running out of likes on today’s builds, but I must say that you’re done an excellent work on the Thunderjets! 👍 You’re having a great painting skills, @reini! 👏

 

Actually, I have the same situation with my Little Black Friend (sorry for posting the picture in your thread):

Spoiler

[reini]

On 15/10/2019 at 23:44, Nikolay Polyakov said:

I’m running out of likes on today’s builds, but I must say that you’re done an excellent work on the Thunderjets! 👍 You’re having a great painting skills, @reini! 👏

 

Actually, I have the same situation with my Little Black Friend (sorry for posting the picture in your thread):

  Reveal hidden contents

Thanks Nikolay! And don't worry - cats are always welcomed in my threads!

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

 

Some of the panel lines were lost during the sanding. I'm really bad at rescribing the panel lines - but I try to do it anyways. Luckily, there wasn't too much to do.

 

 

Oh Tamiya! Don't you know that I hate ejector pin marks...  But I hate even more looking at them at a finished model, so I'll try to do my best to get rid of them...

 

 

Most of them got cleaned out OK. I'll just show the better results here and don't worry about the not-so-tidy removal of ejector pin marks...  Note that upper pic has mostly 1/48 parts and this pic is mainly 1/72 - so I did not sand away all the rivets (emphasis on the word 'all'   )

 

 

 

 

 

Wings'n stuff attached, these are getting ready for some paint.

 

 

I started with zinc chromate yellow - which I think is appropriate for the interior bits. Hopefully also for the Norwegian Thunderjet, If someone has some specific info on that - please do tell.

 

 

 

[reini]

Alright! Noticed that I had couple of Thunderjets lying around in the closet. And now that the Starfighters are looking quite ready - I thought I'd do something about the Thunderjets too.

 

Finishing up the cokpit, adding the last pieces before closing the canopy. This is the 1/48.

 

I really don't enjoy masking - but then again I'm too cheap to spend some cash on ready made masks. Sometimes I try to cut corners and just mask as fast as I can - but it always comes back at you when you unmask everything in the end... we will see how did I do this time.

 

First I painted the fiberglass reinforcements white-ish. And once dried I masked over them.

 

And then some gloss black undercoat for the metals. Looks pretty cool as a black - Thunderjet would have made a great night fighter  

 

I will probably need to do some additional masking, I need to take a closer look at the colour schemes I am doing. I try to paint everything that is not metal now - so that I don't have to mask the metal paints which really doesn't like to be masked (Vallejo Metal Colors).

 

 

[reini]

Decided to finish the 1/72 first.

 

I painted the anti-glare panel on top with olive drab and masked it. Also masked the rudder which is black. With the Vallejo Metal Color paints I try to mask as much as possible beforehand, so I don't have to mask the metal paint - as it's quite easy to come off.

 

And here it is with some aluminium! Next up I will break up the surface a bit different panel colors (which will require some masking... ). Also, the rear fuselage was apparently painted aluminium instead natural metal finish, so I will paint that up with probably Vallejo Dull Aluminium.

[reini]

Work continues on the 1/72 kit. I gave the model a coat of clear varnish in order to protect the metal paint from masking.

 

But I tried to de-tacky the tape as much as possible too.

 

In the middle of the masking process I said to my wife that we need to buy post-it notes for some easy big area masking. Then she said she has something even better - post-it note made of tape  Seems to be good for masking big flat areas, doesn't stick too hard.

 

Masked and ready to be painted.

 

First I painted the frong part of the wings and couple panels on the nose with duraluminium - which is a good compliment to the aluminium. Some contrast but not too much.

 

According to the Vingtor decal sheet instructions the rear fuselage and the belly from airbrakes backwards was painted with silver paint. I used Dull Aluminium but i thought it might be even too dull for this purpose so I mixed it up with some Aluminium. It's still quite dull and gray - but we'll see how it works in the end.

 

Always exciting part - de-masking!

 

Still not sure about the rear fuselage - looks really gray in comparison to the aluminium. I think it looks great on it's own - but the high shine of the other metallics makes it look bit off. I will think about it and see if it needs a repaint.

 

 

 

[stevehnz]

Coming along nicely Reini, the post it tape seems to have done well. Do you have a trade name for this, I've not seen anything like that here but then I haven't been looking.

Steve.

[reini]

42 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

Coming along nicely Reini, the post it tape seems to have done well. Do you have a trade name for this, I've not seen anything like that here but then I haven't been looking.

Steve.

 

Memograph Eurocel. 

[reini]

Okay, decal time. Did NOT go as planned 😫

 

I thought I'd start with the hard one, the nose symbols.

 

Did not want to cooperate. Was really fragile and I managed to break it even before it left the sheet. Once on the model, I managed to break it into little pieces just trying to move it around. Took it out and tried again with another one. Managed to get it down without breaking it (a lot) - but it just didn't want to stick - or more precisely conform. Decals feel really thin, rigid and fragile. It's a shame really - they look really good on the sheet with minimal of excess carrier film. 

 

I'm bit at a loss here, I can't even juggle the simplest of decals in place without breaking them. I've tried using Micro Sol and Tamiya Mark set but don't really know if they are helping or not.  Anyone got experience on Vingtor decals? I've destroyed two marking options now - three more to go... 😶 Any helpful tips are more than welcomed.

 

[stevehnz]

@reini, it sounds like this would be the ideal method for you to use. Try a coat or two of Microscale liquid decal film on them first to reinforce them, it is something I reckon every modeller should have in stock & then use the method described in that thread to attach them. The clear acrylic polish of whatever brand you can find acts as a most effective adhesive for decals reluctant to stick. You probably made the mistake of starting with the biggest most important decals too. I think it always pays to start with something smaller that is not so vital till you see how they perform.

Steve.

[reini]

21 hours ago, stevehnz said:

@reini, it sounds like this would be the ideal method for you to use. Try a coat or two of Microscale liquid decal film on them first to reinforce them, it is something I reckon every modeller should have in stock & then use the method described in that thread to attach them. The clear acrylic polish of whatever brand you can find acts as a most effective adhesive for decals reluctant to stick. You probably made the mistake of starting with the biggest most important decals too. I think it always pays to start with something smaller that is not so vital till you see how they perform.

Steve.

Thank you. You make good points and you really helped to keep this build going. 

 

New day, and encouraged by the words of @stevehnz - I carried on with the decals. With couple steps:

 

 

Step one - I remembered that I actually had the liquid stevehnz mentioned on my shelf, so I applied that to the decals to make them stronger.

 

 

 

Step two - paint as much as possible so I don't have to use decals. Probably should have done this anyway - no matter whether the decals were hard or easy. And yes, I don't like overspray 😅

 

 

 

Step three - use floor polish as decal adhesive. I've actually applied this onto the model itself before decaling, as a clear coat. It's self leveling and leaves pretty nice surface. Not the most durable so I don't use it every time - but it has it's uses.

 

 

 

Step four - Profit??? So far, looks promising. No crackling or misbehaving otherwise. Yes, I went with an easy decal - but also one that is shared between all the colour schemes. Will be doing the colour scheme specific harder decals last.

 

I'm a happy modeller again - and instead of this plane ending up in a 'Cabinet of Doom' (I have really small Shelf of Doom that is already full...), I will be continuing to work on this 😃