Sword RF-84F Thunderflash 1/72 - 14jun22 nearly there!

[Courageous]

8 minutes ago, RidgeRunner said:

duped a post

And I duped a 'like' 

 

Stuart

[RidgeRunner]

1 minute ago, Courageous said:

And I duped a 'like' 

 

Stuart

You must have been on autopilot, Stuart ;). 

[RidgeRunner]

Right, I'm nearly there! She is now looking like an aeroplane, having been filled and cleaned up, and now with primer

 

 

As previously, she has had extras added, as follows:

• fin tip lights and housing**
• the rudder balance (is that what it is?)**
• built up coaming ahead of the IP
• airflow splitters in the intakes*
• trim tabs on the rudder and ailerons**

 

** these are on all RF/F-84Fs so I dont know why Sword missed them off!

* these are on all RFs and, again, I have no idea why they were missed!

 

Tomorrow, after checking for and correcting anomalies, I should be painting:

• add the wing tip nav lights (I forgot!)**
• No step areas, wing and tailplane tips - white undercoat and red top coat
• dielectric panel behind the cockpit in black 
• small "transparent section" along the spine in ???? paint
• jet pipe in 27002 steel
• puttying around the rear canopy windows in off white

Thereafter it will be the camouflage. This time I am sticking with the Humbrols I mentioned earlier.

 

Martin

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hook]

Nice case of déja vu ;). Looking good from here!

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

Edited April 12, 2022 by Hook

[keefr22]

Looks good from here too! 👍

 

Keith

[RidgeRunner]

I hope so Andre @Hook and Keith @keefr22. I’ve given myself a bit of a millstone and will be happy when she is done and I can do something else. It’s all my fault, of course!
 

I now think - and maybe it is the wide angle of the photo above - that the fin is quite tall on this kit, don’t you think? I compared it with an Airfix equivalent and it is about a millimetre taller. It’s too late to correct now! The Airfix could be wrong, of course! 

 

Martin

 

Edit (13/04/22):  

 

 

• add the wing tip nav lights
• No step areas, wing and tailplane tips - white undercoat and red top coat
• dielectric panel behind the cockpit in black 
• small "transparent section" along the spine in ???? paint
• jet pipe in 27002 steel
• puttying around the rear canopy windows in off white

 

All done

[Rob de Bie]

I don't think this WIP is the place to extensively discuss other models, but some of the comments on the PJ Production RF-84F surprised me. I've been fiddling with one for a long time, on and off. My main reference is a set of DanMil drawings from 1972. Here are my main comments on the PJ Production model:

 

- I agree with the comment that the span is ~6 mm too short. Interestingly, the kit's wing lines up with most panel lines of the drawing's wing, but the tips are set too far inboard. Therefore it looks like a relatively easy fix.

 

- the model's fuselage length agrees within 1 mm with the drawing's fuselage length. I'm talking nose to tailpipe here. However, the model has a serious shape problem in the rear fuselage. The tailpipe is angled downwards, instead of horizontal. It needs an S-shape, and I modified my kit accordingly.

 

- the fuselage looks rather narrow (16.5 millimeters) compared to the Italeri F/RF-84F (20 mm) and Airfix F-84F (20.5 mm). After I packed the lower fuselage joint to make a better fit with the nose section, my fuselage now measured 17.1 mm at the fuselage break. A friend measured a real Thunderstreak undergoing restoration, and noted 126 cm. That figure translates to 17.5 mm, so the PJ is marginally too narrow, but better than the Italeri and Airfix models. Those two are too fat, some 15%.

 

- the vertical tail is too small, it looks like the lower type fitted to the early models. Chord is too small too, some 2 mm.

 

- the horizontal tails match the drawing

 

I don't have the Sword kit, so I never compared the two models side by side.

 

Rob

[RidgeRunner]

12 hours ago, Rob de Bie said:

However, the model has a serious shape problem in the rear fuselage. The tailpipe is angled downwards, instead of horizontal. It needs an S-shape, and I modified my kit accordingly.

Thanks Rob. As far I could see, PJ had corrected this in the later product that I had. 
 

Martin

[Rob de Bie]

10 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

Thanks Rob. As far I could see, PJ had corrected this in the later product that I had. 
 

Martin

 

Here's a picture of what I meant with the missing S-shape of the rear fuselage:

 

 

Upper photo shows the kit, lower photo my modification with small shims inserted in sawcuts.

 

 

I bought my model in March 2006, and it came out in 2005. It's possibly that some problems were corrected in later issues.

 

Rob

 

 

 

[RidgeRunner]

Yes, Rob, mine was not like that. It was straight, as it should be. I guess they redesigned the moulds.

 

Martin

[Rob de Bie]

I remember now how I found out about the problem. At an IPMS-NL meeting, probably 15 years ago, someone brought his then brand-new PJ Production Streak or Flash, I don't remember. Of course I studied his model carefully. He told me that he had noted the model did not have the right 'sit', and he had modified the nose landing gear to solve it (presumably shortened it).

 

I quickly saw the problem was at the other end. It took me a bit to find a photo of the real thing that showed the 'S' shaped curve of the upper fuselage contour, and that the model lacked. The modification was pretty easy, so little harm done. The moral of the story: more of the 'early production' kits had this problem. Good to hear that PJ improved the model.

 

BTW: since posting my first message in this thread, I've lengthened the wing 3 mm on either side. It's not difficult to do. The vertical tail is next.

 

Back to the Sword model!

Rob

Edited April 14, 2022 by Rob de Bie

[RidgeRunner]

I'm catching up!!! After an Easter break that involved a lot of gardening, family stuff, etc I have today got her to "Tan" stage :). As I mentioned before, I've now opted to "Go Humbrol" for the uppers. The lower surfaces remain Colourcoats as it is lighter than the Humbrol equivelant.  So, she now has red tips etc done, grey undersides and the Tan areas all painted. I'll get back to her on Friday, after my Granddad duties tomorrow  

 

 

And my replacemnt decals arrived from Arctic

 

Martin

[Ignacio]

Looking forward to this my friend! Amazing job as usual

Saludos desde Uruguay!

[Hook]

Dare I say "smooth tanning"?

 

Yes, I think I do. 

[RidgeRunner]

Finally I've caught up and back to a painted model :). First I had to repair the crack on the nose (see earlier) and then it was out with the Badger 200. As I've said earlier, I used Humbrol enamels for the uppers (116,117 and 118) and Colourcoats US Vietnam grey for the lowers. To me it looks much better and realistic, and less "toy like". This image doesn't represent the colours well, but it does match the image below now. 

 

 

For masking I took the side view photo I have and printed it to 1/72 scale:

 

 

It isnt 100% accurate because of the perspective. For the remainder I guessed the port side based on other aircraft images. For the wings and tailplanes I used the Icarus drawing as a basis, printed at 1/72. I varied it a little because that is for another aircraft. I used my Gyro cutter. I will now let the paint dry/cure and tomorrow I will check her over and repair any paint ingressions or errors.

 

Martin

 

[Hook]

Looking forward to The Grand Reveal!

[RidgeRunner]

Me too!! 

[Courageous]

5 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

masking

Your obviously going for a soft edge camo, what are you using to space your masking off the surface?

 

Stuart

[RidgeRunner]

39 minutes ago, Courageous said:

Your obviously going for a soft edge camo, what are you using to space your masking off the surface?

 

Stuart

Hi Stuart!

 

Actually I don't space it at all. Scale wise you don’t want too much “fuzz”. I simply print scale drawings and draw out the camouflage scheme. I then use the a Gyro cutter to cut out each section, cutting holes within them on to which I fix Kabuki or Tamiya tape. This generally fixes the sections in place. Where I can I reinforce that with more tape. If anything won’t lay flat I use minute bits of White Tack to stick them down. It works for me and, provided you draw accurately you have a camouflage pattern that mimics your subject because often it is unique to that aircraft. All this gives a very fine soft edge. For the RF the lower and upper sides had a hard edge and so I used Kabuki tape. 

 

 

 

[RidgeRunner]

So, I got her stripped of all that sticky stuff today and I think she looks pretty good. There is some tidying to do and a little more reparation after the fall she took but she is okay. By the end of this week I will get all that work done and a Glosscote on ready for decalling next week. 

 

I have noticed that while Sword offer a locator "pin" for the tailplanes they have it set in the wrong place. I foolishly believed the and when dry fitting them today I noticed they are about 1.75mm out of place. I've now redrilled them for the brass rod.

 

 

Back on Friday (its my day with the grandchildren tomorrow!)

 

Martin

[Courageous]

That paint job has turned out pretty well 

 

Stuart

[Terry1954]

Always love the great reveal, and that one is certainly great Martin. She looks the biz!

 

Terry

[Paul J]

Looking great  Martin.   I once had a collection of F and RF 84s representing all the operators of the family except the Nationalist Chinese ones

 They were  Airfix  and Italeri kits. Decals for them came via Esci, Microscale Modedecal and my decal bank.  But I no longer have them.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

59 minutes ago, Paul J said:

Looking great  Martin.   I once had a collection of F and RF 84s representing all the operators of the family except the Nationalist Chinese ones

 They were  Airfix  and Italeri kits. Decals for them came via Esci, Microscale Modedecal and my decal bank.  But I no longer have them.

The F-84 family is one of my favorites, I wish I could have seen your collection. Now if they only made a decent Screech in IMP.

[RidgeRunner]

4 hours ago, Courageous said:

That paint job has turned out pretty well 

 

Stuart

 

 

2 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Always love the great reveal, and that one is certainly great Martin. She looks the biz!

 

Terry

 

2 hours ago, Paul J said:

Looking great  Martin.   I once had a collection of F and RF 84s representing all the operators of the family except the Nationalist Chinese ones

 They were  Airfix  and Italeri kits. Decals for them came via Esci, Microscale Modedecal and my decal bank.  But I no longer have them.

 

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

The F-84 family is one of my favorites, I wish I could have seen your collection. Now if they only made a decent Screech in IMP.

 

Thanks Stuart, Terry, Paul and Dennis. I feel that the finish line is finally approaching! The paint job isn’t bad at all, with only a few blemishes here and there. I discovered a little repair needed on the underside from the nose dive earlier. All in all it hasn’t been bad with #2. Like you Dennis, I love the F/RF-84F series. It was such a mainstay on NATO and other western forces and yet not really represented in model form to the extent that lesser types have been. Hey ho! Once I get her decalled and varnished prior to wash and weathering I will be starting my next F-84F - the Airfix-based F-84F short finned variant. It’ll mean a lot of scribing! It will also mean I am back at the Flogger

 

Martin