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Hobby Boss 1/48 F-105D Thunderchief: Finishing with a Thud!

A few years ago, I’d have never imagined that I’d be writing about a time when I “used to build airplanes”. For over 10 years, that was pretty much all I built. Model after model… mostly World War II single engined fighters. In that period, over 250 models of winged things came off the construction line that was my workbench.

But as with so many things in life, times changed. In late summer 2017, I jumped into the scifi world – Gunpla, Star Wars, Warhammer, and Maschinen Krieger replaced the airplanes for the most part.

I still had a few going, though. It took a while to finish them – far longer than I typically work on a model. it’s weird, but I found it hard to focus on them. While I’d eagerly tackled them in years past, when I placed them on my workbench in the last few years, they just seemed very distant to me. But I knew they had to be finished – they were commission builds.

This Thunderchief is the last of those kits, from the time I jokingly called “BG”… Before Gundam. And thankfully, the buyer has been so very patient.

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The Build

Hobby Boss’ F-105 is not a bad kit, but it’s not a great kit either. I think the biggest problem is simply a bit of overengineering. And engine that can’t be seen, and too many needless separate panels, make the build a bit of a chore.

However, the fit is generally good. It’s not Tamiya good, but there aren’t any egregious gaps that must be filled. I guess the best way to describe it is the fit is good – just not precise.

I did use a Black Box resin cockpit set instead of the kit parts. While the resin set was made for the Monogram kit, with only very minor modifications it fit inside the fuselage halves nicely. And it was definitely an improvement over the kit parts. The kit parts are certainly useable, but like the fit… they’re just good. Not great.

Because the engine would not be seen, I ended up leaving it out. I simply used the minimum number of parts required to join the forward and rear fuselage halves. Quite a bit of Mr. Surfacer was needed to close hairline cracks, with virtually every panel and join needing treatment. But it went quick – apply the Mr. Surfacer, let it dry, and clean up with cotton buds soaked in alcohol. The whole model was then primed.

Painting The Thud

The buyer had sent along an Ammo of Mig paint set, 60s-70s USAF TAC Colors ( AMIG7205). I’d not used Ammo’s paints before, so I was eager to ty them, as I’d heard good things. The colors certainly looked good.

When I first began to airbrush them on, I did as I normally would with my Tamiya paints – layer on several thin coats until full opacity was achieved. However, as I began to examine the finish of the light gray on the bottom, I was a bit perplexed.

The finish had an “orange peel” look – a slightly bumpy, textured finish. Knowing this meant I was getting too much paint on the surface at a time, I dialed back the thickness of my layers. Yet it still was not smooth.

After finally doing a bit of research on the Interwebz of the World, I found it was designed to go on in many, many thin coats. I started applying a thin coat, and then using the airbrush to dry it off. Another coat was applied, and then dried. I repeated this process across the bottom of the model, and was finally rewarded with a nice, smooth, slightly satin coat.

But it took a lot of work.

On the upper surfaces, this process was repeated, but with added twists. I rough sprayed the darker green in the areas where it would need to be, and then masked it of. Next came the lighter green, and more masking. Finally the tan was applied, and all masking was removed.

The paint did adhere well, with only a few very tiny spots lifting off with the masking – and these were easily correctable. And it all looked good – no complaints there. Still, the application was a very tedious process, and while the end results was good, I realized that other paints on the market would have looked equally as nice – and would have been far easier to apply.

(I did use Ammo paints on several more projects, to make sure I gave them a fair shake. And while they have a great range of colors that adhered well and looked quite good, the narrow “envelope of application” ultimately dissuaded me from further use of most of their line. Your mileage may vary, of course.)

Finishing Up

An aftermarket decal set from Zotz decals was used, applied over a gloss coat of Future. The markings represent the “Memphis Belle II”, which I thought was a cool scheme that honored the famous B-17 from World War II. They went on nicely, and settled in with Solvaset without problem.

A combination of oils and enamels were used for the panel lines. Because I built the kit over a long period of time, I could never remember what I previously used – but I saw that the colors and different materials all worked together. A dark wash is a dark wash, really.

A few very small chips were added here and there with a silver pencil on the upper surfaces, and mechanical pencil on the lowers. While photos of the jet showed them to be faded, I did not see a lot of chipping abuse.

Some fading and shading was applied with the airbrush, breaking up the monotone look of each color. I didn’t want it to look to faded, but rather as an aircraft newer to the theater. The undercarriage was added, along with the armaments, and a final matte varnish applied. With the canopy unmasked, I could finally admire – and ship – the finished model.

A Change Of Era

If you want to build a 1/48 F-105, I can certainly recommend this kit. While not great, it’ will certainly do the job, and can be assembled without much fuss. The shape looks like the venerable “Thud”. I’m sure someone with a discerning eye could point out some errors – Hobby Boss kits always have them – but when it is sitting on your shelf, I don’t think anyone will mistake it for a can of peas or a statue of a chicken.

I do like how it turned out. As a child of the Vietnam era, I’ve always had an affinity for the Thunderchief. It wasn’t the sleekest jet, and certainly not the most maneuverable – but for Americans, the F-105 in many ways was the image that came to mind when thinking of the air war.

And I guess I also like that it’s this model that really represents for me the transition from “Before Gundam” to “AA” – After Airplanes. It’s not that I won’t build airplanes ever again, but for at least the foreseeable future, my attention is on things imaginary.

In any event, 10 year old Jon is pleased with it all. And at the end of the day, that’s OK with with Old Jon too.

Comments

13 responses to “Hobby Boss 1/48 F-105D Thunderchief: Finishing with a Thud!”

  1. Guest

    Nice work on the canopy. I also like the overall drab look of the airframe. 🙂 Well done.

    I think ideally, there ought to always be a pilot with all models. I wish kit makers strived to always add pilot figures, not too easy finding aftermarket pilot figures. Would be best if the kit maker molded them properly to fit inside the model. A second best would be having a pilot standing on the outside of the jet or whatever.

    As a kid I can remember this type of kit. I think it must have been a 1:72 scale one. I remember disliking that the wings was so high and the landing carriage was sort of dangling down, or looked stilted. 😀 I think any jet at all that has long’ish landing gear looks flimsy to me. After all these years I am starting to like stuff I didn’t in the past. Like the Sherman tank (which wasn’t the obvious death trap I initially thoght it was, as it is apparently one of the easier tanks to escape from), and the F-104, which doesn’t really seem flyable with its tiny wings.

    I have a Challenger II main battle tank project, to finish these days, but it has been two years since I airbrushed anything, and being something of a perfectionist I am a little anxious to start, but ofc I know practice makes perfect. I’ve tried to glue on as many pieces as possible, to avoid having to airbrush a lot of small things.

    I think I will follow your advice on not piling up with gloss coats to seal the model. What I think I have learned is that tank models are very different than a slick submarine model, as any pooling of gloss coat on a tank will look very bad because of how many nooks and crannies there can be on a tank model.

  2. Pierre Lagacé

    We are always 10 years-old when building model kits.

  3. Guest

    Btw, as a sort of a side comment.
    I have for a long time had this grind stone lying around for my camping equipment (400 & 2000 grit), I never got around to start using it, but then last night I saw a youtuber offered this tip for working with photo etch: that one can easily re-sharpen ones hobby blades (those tiny ones), and although I knew that, it didn’t occur to me that I could just unpack my grind stone and sharpen my hobby blade on it. The blade sometimes gets gunked up with super glue and putty. I do have spare blades, but I might as well just re-sharpen them. 🙂

  4. Lee Fogel

    A very handsome build and a nice way to end your (semi) permanent break from aircraft. Something unique and a bit different than what you built in the past with regards to aircraft choice. Thanks for sharing your build and the journey with us, Jon.

    1. Thanks Lee!

      And thank you for being with me on this journey for over 10 years – I am grateful!

  5. TCinLA

    Interestingly, I discovered while researching my newest book (coming from the publisher in early 2022) on the USAF in SE Asia, that the F-105 – the sled! – actually has the best air-to-air victory/loss ratio of any US fighter since World War II: three F-105s lost in air combat (flak and SAMs were its lethal enemies) versus 27 credited victories over MiG-17 and MiG-21 opponents. 9:1 beats the F-86 in Korea (which was really only 1.3-1.4:1, not the 10:1 USAF wartime propaganda fossilized over 70 years into “fact-like matter” would have you believe). And this in an airplane in which the pilots never received A2A training, losing 2 of the 3 lost in A2A in the first engagement over the Dragon’s Jaw in April 1965 (what’s really aggravating is to read the now-declassified 70-page report about Project Feather Duster, instituted 30 days after that embarrassment at the Dragon’s Jaw way back in 1965, in which ANG F-86Hs played MiG-17s against F-4, F-105 and F-104 and proved everything the Navy later taught in Topgun – the USAF TAC resolutely refused to adopt any of what was recommended despite losses throughout the war, while ADC read it and sent all their F-106 pilots through DACT).

    Anyway, I came away from the project with newfound respect for the Lead Sled, and am even breaking TC’s law against jets newer than 1960, to do a HB 105, and thus I get to the point where I say thanks for these articles, now I have the necessary map to the minefield.

    1. Thanks! I’m glad you liked it. Enjoy the build!

  6. Bob

    Just discovered this build and your blog, very nice work on the thud, I have this kit myself and am looking forward to building it with a bit of aftermarket, seat and correct fin fillet and maybe some wheels. Keep up the good work. Regards Bob.

  7. Jon

    Hi,great work! I am currently working the same kit.Yes,its too much engineering.I messed up the Vulcan gatling part,so closed panel it is.Thanks for the tips and review!

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