Completed 1/72 F-105D T-Stick II Thunderchief
Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:18 am
Here is my latest completed build, the 1/72 Trumpeter F-105D Thunderchief. I combined this kit with the Airwaves Resin T-Stick II spine to create a Thud from the 457th Texas Air Force Reserve from Carswell AFB cira 1980.
The conversion was pretty straight forward. I used a razor saw to remove the kit spine and once the fuselage was glues together, I super glued the new resin spine in place and filled and sanded it to fit.
The Trumpeter Thud is a nice kit, much better than the ancient Hasegawa offering. One thing to watch out for is the exhaust pipe – the kit would have you place it too far into the fuselage. It should be just about even with the end of the fuselage. The main gear is also a bit tricky to get right. I did replace the cockpit and wheels with Aires Resin sets. I also replace the engine cooling scoops on the fuselage sides with Quickboost parts. I used a centerline MER and pylon from the spares box – it might be from a Monogram Thud kit come to think of it. I also added brake lines to the gear with fine copper wire.
The model was painted with Model Master enamels sprayed with my trusty Paasche H airbrush.
The decals were the tough part. I’ve wanted to do a Texas AFRES bird for a while but the decals were always the problem. When I saw one of the latest boxing of the afore mentioned Hasegawa kit had them, I had to pick this one up just for the decals (sad I know). When I started using them on the model however, I was disappointed to see that the Hasegawa white isn’t really white. It was more of an off-white color, drat. This didn’t fly with me and being the perfectionist that I am (which is why I only seem to finish something every 3 or months), this wasn’t going to work. Luckily I had the presence of mind to scan the Hasegawa sheet before I used it. I had a replacement set made in pure white and I was all set. The stencils and other various markings are from the Trumpeter kit and various Microscale decals from my spare decal collection.
I've got several other kits in the works, hopefully I can get another one finished up soon
-Derek
The conversion was pretty straight forward. I used a razor saw to remove the kit spine and once the fuselage was glues together, I super glued the new resin spine in place and filled and sanded it to fit.
The Trumpeter Thud is a nice kit, much better than the ancient Hasegawa offering. One thing to watch out for is the exhaust pipe – the kit would have you place it too far into the fuselage. It should be just about even with the end of the fuselage. The main gear is also a bit tricky to get right. I did replace the cockpit and wheels with Aires Resin sets. I also replace the engine cooling scoops on the fuselage sides with Quickboost parts. I used a centerline MER and pylon from the spares box – it might be from a Monogram Thud kit come to think of it. I also added brake lines to the gear with fine copper wire.
The model was painted with Model Master enamels sprayed with my trusty Paasche H airbrush.
The decals were the tough part. I’ve wanted to do a Texas AFRES bird for a while but the decals were always the problem. When I saw one of the latest boxing of the afore mentioned Hasegawa kit had them, I had to pick this one up just for the decals (sad I know). When I started using them on the model however, I was disappointed to see that the Hasegawa white isn’t really white. It was more of an off-white color, drat. This didn’t fly with me and being the perfectionist that I am (which is why I only seem to finish something every 3 or months), this wasn’t going to work. Luckily I had the presence of mind to scan the Hasegawa sheet before I used it. I had a replacement set made in pure white and I was all set. The stencils and other various markings are from the Trumpeter kit and various Microscale decals from my spare decal collection.
I've got several other kits in the works, hopefully I can get another one finished up soon
-Derek
Re: Completed 1/72 F-105D T-Stick II Thunderchief
Sun Jul 24, 2011 12:17 pm
Great job!
Re: Completed 1/72 F-105D T-Stick II Thunderchief
Sun Jul 24, 2011 4:55 pm
Very good work. I especially like the drooped exhaust petal.
Re: Completed 1/72 F-105D T-Stick II Thunderchief
Sun Jul 24, 2011 8:00 pm
which was also the speed brake-looks very nice and you did a great job on every aspect of the build! 
Re: Completed 1/72 F-105D T-Stick II Thunderchief
Sun Jul 24, 2011 9:31 pm
Very sharp! I always wondered why that lover exhaust panel drooped like that.
SN
SN
Re: Completed 1/72 F-105D T-Stick II Thunderchief
Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:57 pm
I am jealous! great job and I to have wondered about the exhaust petal drooping - thanks!
Tom P.
Tom P.
Re: Completed 1/72 F-105D T-Stick II Thunderchief
Tue Aug 09, 2011 3:18 pm
Fantastic!
Re: Completed 1/72 F-105D T-Stick II Thunderchief
Tue Aug 09, 2011 3:19 pm
Yep, all 4 petals were used as speedbrakes. Thus, when the hydraulics bled out, the lower petal would droop.
http://www.burrusspta.org/themachined.html
Found that a few months ago while looking up some other history on the F-105 and it has a great picture of the pedals fully deployed on an early F-105D. I believe they didn't deploy as far on the later F-105D's and later models.
http://www.burrusspta.org/themachined.html
Found that a few months ago while looking up some other history on the F-105 and it has a great picture of the pedals fully deployed on an early F-105D. I believe they didn't deploy as far on the later F-105D's and later models.
Re: Completed 1/72 F-105D T-Stick II Thunderchief
Tue Aug 09, 2011 3:33 pm
Thanks for the kind words guys. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.
A big thanks to Jospeh Osborn of Fireball Modelworks for saving me with a replacement set of decals. If it wasn't for him it wouldn't have turned out as nicely as it did...
-Derek
A big thanks to Jospeh Osborn of Fireball Modelworks for saving me with a replacement set of decals. If it wasn't for him it wouldn't have turned out as nicely as it did...
-Derek
Re: Completed 1/72 F-105D T-Stick II Thunderchief
Tue Aug 09, 2011 3:36 pm
Awesome Job! 
Much sweeter than my old Revel 1:72 Build
Much sweeter than my old Revel 1:72 Build
Re: Completed 1/72 F-105D T-Stick II Thunderchief
Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:34 pm
Wow, you seem to be pretty handy with an airbrush 
Good job, great subject. Thanks for sharing.
Good job, great subject. Thanks for sharing.
Re: Completed 1/72 F-105D T-Stick II Thunderchief
Thu Aug 11, 2011 7:26 am
mazdaP5 wrote:Wow, you seem to be pretty handy with an airbrush
Good job, great subject. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks but I'm not really that handy with my airbrush. It still give me fits occasionally...
To paint my F-105, I blew up a drawing of the SEA Camo to 1/72 on my copier at work. Then I cut out the pattern and used blue tack to hold to the model as I sprayed the different colors. The blue tack lifts the mask off of the surface a bit to give the edge a slightly feathered look. Then when it was all done I had the usual retouching here and there to fix some overspray. Flat areas like the wings and vertical stab are no sweat, it's just the curved areas where I have trouble with the overspray.
-Derek
Re: Completed 1/72 F-105D T-Stick II Thunderchief
Mon Sep 03, 2012 12:17 pm
That is a great looking Thud