For
my first ARC contribution, here is the
Tamiya
Republic
F-105D in 1/100 scale. When I was little I thought the Thud was just weird with
the mid mounted wing, stalky undercarriage, wings and tail that look too small,
and the unconventional intakes, but as I got older the beast grew on me. Now its
just cool, and sort of reminds me of a 60’s era muscle car. When I saw the kit
I thought it would be great for a first attempt at modelling an F-105 without
getting too complicated.
Considering
how old this mould is (it has 1973 stamped on it), this is a great little kit,
with fine raised and recessed detail, and a better moulded pilot figure than
most 1/72 models. That said, ‘little’ can be a relative term with the
Thunderchief as it is as long as a 1/72 F-8 Crusader even in this scale.
Click on
images below to see larger images
Aside
from separating the afterburner petals from the one piece moulding Tamiya
provides, I built the kit out of the box. This reissue of the kit contains
a few extra decal options on a Cartograf printed sheet, all for Vietnam
war aircraft with personalised artwork. I painted the camouflage with the
relevant Tamiya spray cans (AS-13, -14 and -15) using blu tack masks, and
weathered the finish with pastel chalks. To keep things easier I painted
the wings separately from the fuselage.
Tamiya
released a series of 1/100 aircraft in the seventies, and have re-released most
of them in the past few years. The quality and accuracy vary a bit, but this is
one of the nicer ones. I’m not an F-105 expert, and don’t know how accurate
this kit is, but it looks like an F-105 to me. If you want a little (ish) Thud,
grab one, as this is a nice cheap, simple and easy build. I had a lot of fun
with it, and these little Tamiya kits are perfect fillers to relax with between
more complicated builds.
Sam
'Mumbles' Hall
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