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1/48 Monogram Republic F-105G Thunderchief - Georgia ANG


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The last operator of the Republic F-105G Thunderchief was the Georgia Air National Guard 128th TFS / 116th TFW based at Dobbins AFB in Marietta, GA. They took on the 'Wild Weasel' SAM killing mission that had originally started during the Vietnam War and kept the F-105G until the summer of 1983 when the venerable 'Thuds' were traded in for the F-4D Phantom. Several of the aircraft were painted in a wrap-around SEA camouflage scheme and I decided to take an old 1/48th Revell / Monogram F-105G kit out of the stash and finish it in this colour scheme, courtesy of a recently released Caracal Models decal sheet. It wasn't an easy build (more later) however the end result looks like this:-

 

51259820086_a5099d2ede_o.jpg20210620_133806 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

The kit itself is excellent, way up there with the other Monogram 'Century Series' aircraft kits, and I was surprised with how well it went together. Very little filler was needed and in fact I was able to attach the complete wing sections to the fuselage after they had been painted. The Thunderchief was a huge aircraft and that really shows in this kit which measures 44cm x 22cm.

 

51260019413_67afb27de7_o.jpg20210620_132826 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

I used the weapons supplied with the kit, these being a pair of AGM-45 Shrike air-to-ground anti-radiation missiles that locked on and homed onto ground based tracking and fire-control radars, as well as a single AGM_78 Standard which is a passive anti-radiation missile with a range of 24 km.

 

51260565669_d4bdc0a0a5_o.jpg20210620_132928 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

The challenge lay in the painting of this huge kit. I used the Hataka Hobby USAF Paint Set (Vietnam War Era) #AS-09 and initially I started with applying the tan paint, it applied very well and the colour looked correct as well as the satin finish. However the two greens consistently clogged up my H&S Ultra airbrush and when they did spray the finish was splotchy and uneven. When I oversprayed a previously applied coat the paint would sort of atomise into its constituent parts! To cut a long story short I found that a replacement medium nozzle and needle on my airbrush worked wonders as did using a retarder as well as less thinner. The end result turned out ok anyway.

 

51260565979_7d6b77dcbb_o.jpg20210620_132556 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

The decals come from the recent Caracal Models CD48143 F-105F/G "Wild Weasels" sheet which is well-researched and the decals are of a very high quality. As soon as I saw this sheet I knew I wanted to make this aircraft.

 

51260019943_f1396ca6b5_o.jpg20210620_133106 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

I am reasonably happy with the final result. It is a very large and impressive model and despite the painting heartache it looks good. Next time I might just add some wash to the major panel lines, also use a darker exhaust colour on the afterburner petals.

 

Michael

 

51260020208_e6d3afd6ac_o.jpg20210620_132614 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

51259820246_038632a973_o.jpg20210620_133219 by Ghostbase, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

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That's great work you've done. How did you get the main landing gear to fit and make the model stand correctly? I've built the kit, twice, and found the main landing gear not rigid enough, making the model kind of wobbly on it's gear.

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5 hours ago, SAT69 said:

That's great work you've done. How did you get the main landing gear to fit and make the model stand correctly? I've built the kit, twice, and found the main landing gear not rigid enough, making the model kind of wobbly on it's gear.

Thanks 👍 I think initially  I just got lucky with the main landing gear however the model is definitely wobbly on it's gear now, have to be very careful with picking it up and setting down.

4 hours ago, TEXANTOMCAT said:

Great job - just reading 'Rolling Thunder' at the moment :)

 

TT 

Superb read! Have you got to the chapter where Court flies with Major Ted Frederick in the F-105F out of Tahkli yet?

 

Michael

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Congratulations. Very good looking Thud.👌
I recently built the Hobby Boss F-105G in 1/48, and I know about the size of this beast.
Towards the end I hardly knew how to move the model on my table. But it is still fun.😉

 

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1 hour ago, rakete173 said:

Congratulations. Very good looking Thud.👌
I recently built the Hobby Boss F-105G in 1/48, and I know about the size of this beast.
Towards the end I hardly knew how to move the model on my table. But it is still fun.😉

 

Does the Hobby Boss kit have the same wobbly main landing gear issue as the Monogram kit?

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 Very nice. :) It takes me back to 1980 and my excellent visit to the 128th :). To be ho eat I do to remember any in wrap around, though :(. 

 

Martin

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19 hours ago, SAT69 said:

Does the Hobby Boss kit have the same wobbly main landing gear issue as the Monogram kit?

Well, it is not the most stable landing gear. It is somewhat impractical that the nose gear cannot be retrofitted in the landing gear bay, which means that the model must always be jacked up. But it works. Anyway, a nice model.

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Hello Ghost,

Monogram is my favorite company concerning 1/48 models. It shows again in your F-105. Despite the mentioned problems, it looks fantastic.

Your article left me with one question. The retarder is something I have never used. Also I do have (sometimes) some problems with getting the right consistency for spraying.

Would appreciate some explanation regarding this subject.

I have to get the decals you mentioned in your article. And yes, I have the same AC in the stash, already for many, many years.

Regards, Orion.

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2 hours ago, Orion said:

Hello Ghost,

Monogram is my favorite company concerning 1/48 models. It shows again in your F-105. Despite the mentioned problems, it looks fantastic.

Your article left me with one question. The retarder is something I have never used. Also I do have (sometimes) some problems with getting the right consistency for spraying.

Would appreciate some explanation regarding this subject.

I have to get the decals you mentioned in your article. And yes, I have the same AC in the stash, already for many, many years.

Regards, Orion.

Hi Orion,

The problem that I had was the acrylics paints were drying inside my H&S Ultra and also clogging up the spray tip. I used too much thinner to overcome this and the paint consistency was like water, it literally ran as soon as it touched the plastic (despite using a primer first). I looked at several scale modelling forums and found that a fine nozzle airbrush can be very susceptible to blocking/clogging so I bought a new medium nozzle and needle for the Ultra and that seemed to work better. I also read that a "retarder" helps stop the acrylic paint drying inside the airbrush, I use Vallejo Retarder Medium and the mix ratio is no more than 5%. It is a bit like a silicon gel! I have also bought some Vallejo Flow Improver but I have not tried that yet. I also made the mistake of forgetting that the Hataka acrylics were mixed for the airbrush so I was over-thinning them as opposed to the standard Vallejo Colour paints that I am used to. I use a portable low pressure diaphragm air compressor and that didn't help either. I mix the standard Vallejo Colour acrylic paints at 10 x paint / 8 x thinner / 1 x retarder. I mix "airbrush ready" paints at about half that ratio. I have found that there are no hard rules, it really depends upon the airbrush, the brand of paint, and the air compressor. There are a lot of posts on this subject on several scale modelling discussion boards.

Caracal Decals have sold out of CD48143 USAF F-105F/G "Wild Weasels" however Hannants do still have them in stock.

All the best

"Ghost" aka Michael

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