Some time ago the Kid wanted me to buy him a HobbyBoss F-84G Thunderjet. I did that, he glued the cockpit in and then took a break. After the break lasted for several months, I thought that the kit is much too nice to lay in the box like that, so I went on and made it my training project - it was about nailing the NMF. And that’s what I did, I have found out that Gunze Super Metallic over gloss black Motip base (automotive - spray can) works just fine, it’s a hard and durable finish that can be masked with no problems. The Hobby Boss kit is nice but kinda funny in places, so I couldn’t help but to modify it - I have scratchbuilt the front wheel bay doors and the rear deck of the canopy, that was just not there in the kit. I have also drilled out the machine guns and had to scribe the additional air intakes, because I got the fuselage sides for the F-84E (with no intakes) in the kit. The decals were a bit funny, too - they didn’t react so well to decal solvent (Solvaset), but you can use the Hasegawa style on them - put on the decal, some solvent on it, then dry out with a peper towel and after some time the decal conforms to the surface.
OK, enough writing - here are the photos:
Thanks for looking and I hope you liked it - have a nice day
Don, mississippivol - thanks a lot for your kind words!
Don - yeah, those asian moulding wizards do come up with some incredible parts. That Thunderjet was moulded with one piece fuselage that didn’t even need a nose weight and still sits nicely on three points. It has a styrene weight designed as part of the fuselage. Plus panel detail on all surfaces of that fuselage (top and bottom, not only sides!). 1/72 is my favourite scale.
Thanks again for your comments and have a nice day
These day the kits are designed using the rapid prototyping technology. The bottom line is that the fit of the pieces can be checked inside the mind of the computer and all the weights calculated. Then the laser cuts the mold after the designer finishes designing the sprues. They can even make a test sprue on a high end 3D printer to check before cutting the prototype injection mold.
Hey Pawel, big photo search and I finally found it! Sorry I’m in the picture but a friend flew an F-84 in Korea and my wife shot this for him. This was taken at the USAF Museum at Dayton Ohio. I thought it looked familiar! Actually the very one.
Max - yup, that’s the one! Although it’s worth noting that the original was an F-84G, and the one at the museum, although beautifully done, is an F-84E.
Bish, Johnny, Jim - thanks a lot for your kind words, glad you like it!
Thanks a lot for your comments and have a nice day
