Next project up to bat is the 1/48th Heller model of the Republic RF-84F Thunderflash. I am planning to use Micro Scale sheet #48-113 to make aircraft # 52-7429 from the 29th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, Shaw AFB, South Carolina.
This is what it is supposed to look like when finished
Well, at least I got it out of the box and sorted through the pieces trying to develop a plan of attack. The spoilerons on the upper/inboard portion of the wing have a bunch of holes in them. The model just has imbossed circles depicting these holes. I drilled them out to give the wing some depth.
I built this kit up a couple years ago for a friend who had flown the RF-84F 'Flash for the TN ANG. I made it up as his personal aircraft complete with the TN ANG markings and his name on the canopy rail. He had a number of pictures of his 'Flash and had a lot of data which proved invaluable during the build. He had paid an extraordinary amount of money for what I thought was a pretty poor kit. I recall it came with some photo-etched pieces which I thought were not up to today’s standards. The fit was bad and I had a devil of a time building it up to look like anything. Nevertheless, he was most impressed with the final result and in exchange for my work (I didn’t charge him anything) gave me a hand carved 1/100th scale C-130 which had been presented to him by Lockheed when he was in chage of the TN ANG, his last command. Good luck with your build.
I built two of the 1/48 Monogram F-84F fighter bombers awhile back and I carefully compared the Heller vs Monogram kits. The Mono has MUCH more detail in the cockpit and gear wells plus the option of having the canopy open. I seriously considered sacrificing one of my still in the box Monogram kits to use the better parts in the recce version, but the parts are just enough different in size and shape that it won’t work. I am going to have to make do with what comes in the kit. The Heller cockpit it OK, just not up to the Mono standard.
I did some work on the cockpit and painted the driver, (oops, pilot). I didn’t notice that nasty fingerprint on the side of the seat until I saw it in the photo. I’ll have to fix that.
I have both sides of the fuselage together as well as the top and bottom of both wings. Everything seems to fit pretty well with only a small bit of putty in a couple of spots on the fuselage joint. The canopy fits very well to it’s sill. I need to permanently attach the wings and then get a coar of primer on it. I am tentatively planning to use Alclad II for the first time, so this may work out well or be a complete disaster. I have read several articles in magazines and on different modeling forums about perfect surface preparation, different primers and general procedures, so I guess it is just time to jump in and see what happens.
Alclad II, Duraluminum paint applied. My first attempt at using Alclad is probably closer to the disaster end of the spectrum than the spectacular. I thought that I had the surface cleaned really well and ready for paint. WRONG! There are all kinds of little specks of foreign debris, etc that show up terribly well. I think I put too much paint on, (in several layers). I am not particularly impressed with Alclad, despite so many people extolling it’s virtues and realism. I don’t see the look as any better than Model Master metallics. The big advantage to Alclad is it’s durability. You can mask over it without any damage. Model Master metallics require a coat of clear gloss paint or Future and that detracts from the looks of the natural metal.
Seat & pilot aboard, temporarily
Painted the red trim and gray fin tip. The pilot already abandoned the project.
I live about 20 minutes from the Fort Smith, AR ANG base where they used to fly these things, too. I’ve got some of the kits, but am still figuring out what to do about the markings. I’ve managed to find a few photos, but they’re not the best so i"m still looking. My goal is to model all their aircraft in 1/48 scale. Recent decal releases from Superscale has helped a great deal, but there’s still a few left. Mabye someday I can get this jet done and added to my display! Great job guys!
Most modelers use a primer of some sort with Alclad II. It works best over a surface that is even in texture and color. You can use Mr Surfacer 1200, black laquer, automotive primer, etc. For some REALLY good information on Alclad, Mr Surfacer, painting and other modeling tips you should visit Matt Swann’s web site at www.swannysmodels.com , specifically the tools and tips section, http://www.swannysmodels.com/Tools.html and look at the sections on “The Complete Future”, “Mr Surfacer” and “The Secret Life of Alclad II”. A modeler could spend many hours on Swanny’s site and pick up truckloads of useful information.
I put the finishing touches on this plane a couple of hours ago and took some pictures. This is the first Heller kit that I have ever built and overall, I am quite pleased with it. The fit of all the parts was excellent with just a touch of putty in a couple of spots along the fuselage joint. It has raised panel lines and I left them that way because I am not masochistic enough for that rescribing routine. If someone did want to do that, it would be fairly easy because the raised lines are very fine and soft, so they sand off easily. That leaves a faintly darker line where the raised lines used to be that can be used as a guide to scribe the new lines.
The cockpit and instrument panel have moderately good detail that is very accurate for what there is. The seat is fair to good with no belts. I added red/green lights on the wing tips, the .50 calibre gun openings and the shell ejection chutes under the wing roots as well as photos of cameras behind the camera windows. There are 3 sets of double windows where one camera alternates taking photos from one then the other, so I only put one camera in each of those pairs. There is a window behind the nose gear that is the port for the pilot’s viewfinder, so I put a very small lens there.
The balance seemed just a slight bit tail heavy so I put about 20 BBs in the nose to make sure that it would sit on all three wheels. The kit decals give you a choice of German, French or Belgian marks, but they were all unusable anyway. I used markings from Micro Scale for the 29th TRS at Shaw AFB, SC.
I noticed in the photos that the nose gear is a little crooked and a couple of other little flaws. I used Alclad II Duraluminum over Mr Surfacer 1200 primer. This is my first use of Alclad and the finished product leaves a lot to be desired, which is probably my fault for inadequate surface preparation. All of the joints were smooth and covered well, but I didn’t clean the surface well enough of contaminates and the small pieces of crud show rather badly. Even after 4 days of drying, the paint was just slightly tacky and it was very easy to leave fingerprints.
Darwin
On to the photos:
Marine Corps and Air Force reconnaissance for the 1950s
Congratulations on completing your Thunderflash. I got mine finished first, but you did a much better job on yours. I really like that part of putting the camera image behind the windows. It gives a big boost to the realism. The under-wing tanks have a different look to them from the rest of the plane. Did you paint them with the same Alclad as the rest or something different? How did you do that yellow line around the edges of the canopy? That looks really great. Don’t let that Marine plane get too close or it might bite!
Good eyes, Grandma L. The tanks were painted with Model Master Aluminum Plate buffing metallic instead of the Alclad on the rest of the plane. The yellow lines on the canopy are 1 mm strips cut from a solid sheet of yellow decal stock. Don’t worry about the Marines, they bark worse than they bite.
The Monogram (now Revell) 1/48 F9F-5P Panther recce bird has a strip of lens images on the plans that I copied and cut out, then pasted on the back of the window.
