Bill Maniace, Baldwin, New York
Not at all leery of an old kit, Bill jumped on Revell’s 1/48 scale F-105D, sanding down the raised panels lines and scribing new ones. “I like the look of the prewar Thunderchiefs,” he says, “so I backdated the model by sanding off the antennas on the vertical stabilizer, triangular antennas just aft of the radome, and filled in the vents for the gun below the cockpit. The hardest part was removing the doubler plates and engine compartment cooling scoops on both sides. Most of the Thuds back then were not bare-metal but painted silver. I painted with SnJ but did not buff it out, so it looks like paint."