Where are the F-105 Gurus?

I’ve finally just about gotten Trumpeter’s F-105G beat (after nearly 4 months) but I have a couple of minor questions.

  1. The instructions indicate that there are two clear parts (presumably lights) located just forward of the rudder above the engine cooling intakes. Problem is that they don’t indicate a color. There are already blue formation lights on the rudder just aft of these lights (?) and another set near the nose so I don’t think they are blue formation lights. They are so small they don’t really show up on any of the photos I have of F-105’s but one picture sort of shows the one on the left side and it appears to be red in the photo. I’m wondering if they might be small red / green lights like the wing tip lights.

  2. There is a colored band around the top of the rudder. The instructions show this as white, however all of the pictures I’ve found show it as yellow. I’m guessing that the color relates to the unit or command, and after the aircraft left Thailand that it was repainted. The time frame is late 1972 - early 1973 when the aircraft (62-440) was assigned to 17 SQ, 388 TFW based at Kirat. Can anyone verify whether this should be white or yellow?

As always, any help is appreciated.

They are clear inspection windows. Maintenance can look at a component through these view windows to see if the component under the panel require service. They usually have some type of gauge under them for an accumulator precharge.

As far a color bands, go with pictures. If it shows it yellow during the time frame you are modeling it after, go with it.

And once again Berny comes to my resue! Thanks, as usual, I appreciate the help.

Ooops, I forgot to mention one critical item, none of the pictures I have show the plane during that time period, only after it had returned to the States and was in the process of going on static display. All of the pix I have show a “WW” squadron ID (which I read is a fake one used to denote “Wild Weasel” on the static display) whereas at the time it was in Thailand it showed the “JB” tail code of 17/388. I’ll dig around a bit more and see if I can find something during that time frame.

I am glad I could help again.

As for the latter, remember how the Georgia Air Guard adapted the WW tail code after they took over the mission postwar? I modeled the Georgia Peach using the old Monogram kit (it wasn’t old then), and Superscale markings of the last flight of a Wild Weasel Thud. If you want to add color to that same old SEA sceme, I’m sure this one is avialable in 1/32nd by now.
Now my Thud question: I know the yellow border around the windows of older jets is a sealant, and the bright color, I heard, helps to more easily spot gaps in the seal. But why do so many Thuds have the same color thin band around the join of the radome to the fuselage?
Another: F-105B Thuds have what looks like DetChord implanted in the canopy as we see in the Harrier – though in a very different pattern – and it appears in a number of other older jets, the function, of course, being to blow away the canopy glass so the crew can eject straight through it. But then, I’ve been told the parallel lines in the canopies of T-33s and some F-86s are some kind of antenna, like those built-in car antennas that adorned the windshields of so many autos in the 70s and 80s.
Any Thud fans out there know these answers?

The information I have come up with during that time frame shows a black band on the tail.

The 17 WWS, 388 TFW, tail code JB, Korat AB in 1972, had black bands with white fin caps. The RWR antenna, on the fin cap, was painted black. The 561 TFS used the tail codes WW.

A little more research does show a light on the left side of the forward fuselage. It was to light up the IFR boom during night refueling.

Thanks. As usual you have come to my resue. I didn’t notice the black band on the illustration, but with the tail being dark green I probably just missed it. You are right in that it was a white fin cap and not a band. I had band in my mind from the photos, but the illustration does show it as a fin cap.

The 561 used the “WW” tail code, as you said, and that caused me some confusion at first because all the photos I had seen of 62-440 showed “WW” on the tail but according to the line card it was never assigned to the 561. I finally found something somewhere that said the “WW” on the tail of this particular airplane had been used to denote “Wild Weasel” for the static display at Hill AFB. As it was also assigned to the Georgia ANG at one time, the “WW” could have been theirs as Sharkskin mentioned.

Thanks for the help guys. I appreciate it as always.

Berny, I went with your advice. White fin cap with a black band underneath. Haven’t painted the RWR antenna yet, I’ll get that tomorrow after the white cures.

I’ll have to look and see if there is a light around the IFR probe. I don’t think there is one, but I haven’t gotten all the lights on yet. If not, it won’t be hard to drill a hole and make one up.

Thanks again!

Again, I am glad I could help. I have asked and received help from a lot of members and I always try to help out if I know the subject. Good luck on the build.