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RF-84 Thunderflash 1/48


Rob K.

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Hi,

 

Alongside an F-15 I am building, I started work on Tanmodels RF-84 Thunderflash. So far a nice kit with quite some detail in the camera bay area.

 

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Did some work on the cockpit and Camera's and fuselage.

 

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Trying to figure out what scheme I will go for. I am thinking of either the Dutch metal or camouflage scheme. Or perhaps a Belgian Thunderflash? Well some way to go still....

 

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The Belgian scheme does look cool.

 

That's all for now, to be continued

 

 

 

 

 

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I have one of these so I shall tag along and see how things go.

 

Personally I prefer the earlier Belgian scheme of Dark Sea Grey/Dark Green/PRU Blue, there are many great NATO colour schemes for this aircraft.

 

Good luck with your build.

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Even though I will not show the camera bay open, I will still install the camera's.

The camera fixing points are not very well designed and will easily break off when fixing them according to the instructions.

For the front camera I am suspending them between the fuselage halves. and fill the holes later.

 

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Rgds,

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Hi Rob. 

Although I'm in the process of moving towards the civil side of the aircraft scene, I was lucky enough to win one of these in a great raffle last year. 

I've had a few good looks and thinks through the box and it's pretty impressive. 

I'll drop in now and then to see how you're getting on with the build and pick up info and tips. 

Looking very good so far. 

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Got distracted today with decaling my other project. Knocked over a bottle of micro set followed by a bottle of micro set. Good product, which they would change to Tamiya type bottles.......😬

 

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The camera bay is challenging. The bracket for camera 2, 3 & 4 is fragile and I had to glue camera's 3&4 to the front camera bulkhead.

The camera windows fit ok apart from the very aft bottom one which was way to oversized. After overdoing sanding, I  made a new window cut from  a 1/24 Malcom hood which had some curvature.

 

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bottom window was sanded to shape afterwards and polished.

 

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Windows have been inserted using gator glue. When dry fitting the fuselage halves the air inlet holes are best sanded tapered for a good fit.

 

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that's all for now.....

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5 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Rob,

 

Wouldn't a camera window have to be optically flat? Just curious!

Mike

Never thought of that. Good point. Guess that is why it is good to post your builds for the additional input. Thanks!

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7 hours ago, exdraken said:

They look like a real challenge!

Any plan of leaving the bay open?

 

Hope there was no damage on the F-15,!

F-15 is a challenge on its own, but no damage. I have thought about leaving the bay open, but I like the clean shape of the f-84. Thanks for your comment.

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A little more progress, Joined the two fuselage halves together and filled and layered where necessary  CA-mix filler to cover the seams.

 

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Thanks to the quick drying time..........off to sand for a while now !

 

Rgds

 

 

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I built this kit recently & you are experiencing the same issues with the camera arrangement/installation that I did!  I built mine with the bays open which added to my woes as there was no way of hiding any cock-ups!  Mind you once built it's a handsome & surprisingly large model. I have another to do where I will almost certainly build the camera bays shut.  Just a word to the wise - & this may only apply to me through my relative unfamiliarity with the F-84 - watch the inner underwing pylons for the tanks; counterintuitively, they are raked AFT rather than forward.  I got into all kinds of trouble here!

20190724_191038

 

Edited by Graham T
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12 hours ago, Graham T said:

I built this kit recently & you are experiencing the same issues with the camera arrangement/installation that I did!  I built mine with the bays open which added to my woes as there was no way of hiding any cock-ups!  Mind you once built it's a handsome & surprisingly large model. I have another to do where I will almost certainly build the camera bays shut.  Just a word to the wise - & this may only apply to me through my relative unfamiliarity with the F-84 - watch the inner underwing pylons for the tanks; counterintuitively, they are raked AFT rather than forward.  I got into all kinds of trouble here!

20190724_191038

 

Thank you for the heads up concerning underwing pylons. Nice looking model you have there.

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After sanding and despite trying to seal windows and camera bay as best as I could, some dust had gathered in the camera compartment and settled on the windows. Therefore decided to remove most of the windows and remove the dust........ And polish and glue to windows back in.

 

Still managed to make some progress and attached the wings, which needed some sanding adjustment in order to slot in, but no big deal.

 

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To be continued.....

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1 hour ago, Rob K. said:

After sanding and despite trying to seal windows and camera bay as best as I could, some dust had gathered in the camera compartment and settled on the windows. Therefore decided to remove most of the windows and remove the dust........ And polish and glue to windows back in.

 

Still managed to make some progress and attached the wings, which needed some sanding adjustment in order to slot in, but no big deal.

 

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To be continued.....

Aaaaargh the dreaded collection of dust &, even worse, the wet detritus caused by sanding.  IIRC correctly from my build I think this is one of those models where the clear parts can be added from OUTSIDE when that process is finished & just before painting.  This also allows you to avoid the risk of pushing the clear parts in during handling  - another favourite mishap of mine!

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42 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I turn my compressor way up and blow the dust out ? Would that work for you, or possibly keyboard duster ? 

Thanks. Combination of dust and moist due to wet sanding. Amazingly resilient. Appreciate all the comments though. As a newbie, you simply don't always realize all of the tricks of the trade available.👍

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56 minutes ago, Graham T said:

Aaaaargh the dreaded collection of dust &, even worse, the wet detritus caused by sanding.  IIRC correctly from my build I think this is one of those models where the clear parts can be added from OUTSIDE when that process is finished & just before painting.  This also allows you to avoid the risk of pushing the clear parts in during handling  - another favourite mishap of mine!

Thanks. I must admit it was all self inflicted................. Indeed it is better to add the clear parts.... much.... later!

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Not much to report. Worked on external fuel tanks and flaps etc. and on my parallel build. Off to work for a couple of weeks, nearing the end of my leave, so no posts for a couple of weeks. Thanks for your comments so far.spacer.png

 

To be continued........

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi,

Returned to the Thunderflash today. Masked Canopy, did some filling and sanding on the external tanks. Re-scribed some of the panel lines and riveting which were lost due to sanding.

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The plan is to use black primer/microfiller from AK tomorrow. Once cured a coat of Mr color ueno black and then AK polished Alu. I have never been able to properly airbrush a metallic finish. Any advice is welcome.

If messed up, then I shall overcoat with either Belgian or Dutch camouflage colors.

For now I am planning for the all metallic Dutch version with red areas around wing tips, rudder and nose. Fingers crossed it will turn out similar to the coloured version of below image.

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Thanks for watching,

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Morning,

 

Some progress on the thunderflash. Used black primer (photo) followed gx-2 black ueno. Th gx-2 black (not on photo) initially settled a little coarse, but I thought I'd apply the same trick as I do with mr color gx-2 gloss varnish and gave it a last overspray with just Mr levelling thinner and it indeed levelled and settled very glossy. (forgot to make a photo)

 

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Continued with AK polished metal. And this stuff is so forgiving. Even a spluttering airbrush spitting drops will ultimately blend in ok. Noticed a slight scratch on top of the nose, but can still sand this away, since it will be covered by an olive drab anti glare panel. Now just hope the xtreme metal paints do act as it says on the tin and that masking on the surface will not lift or peel away the metal coat once the tape is removed. Fingers crossed.

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To be continued.

 

 

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