Revell 1/48 Scale F-105D Thunderchief

Hi John, yes that is a good philosophy to treat each subassy as it's own model.  It remains to be seen if I can overcome my lazy habits ;)

Oh ya - well done ordinance really makes a model shine.  I had one guy tell me treat each subassembly like it's own little model.  

Hi stikpusher, so many models and books, so little time.  However, I'm taking my time with this build since I am not expecting my Ammo-Mig alcrylics to arrive any time soon.  So I'm working on the ordnance rn.  I'm actually applying putty to the glue seams on the bombs!  I never thought I'd do that lol.  But when I think about it, the bombs, racks, and fuel tanks are actually kinda important.

Hi cbaltrin, that is a beautiful A-1, one of the workhorses of the Vietnam War!  I love the camo, the exhaust stains, and the fluid stains on the fuel tank.  I think you nailed the colors right on, and it looks smooth as silk.  I used non-scientific mixes for my Me-262, and I liked them.

I also love the ordnance on your A-1.  I used to treat ordnance as an afterthought.  The plane is done, just glue the bombs together, ignore the seam gaps, slap on some OD paint, sloppy hand paint the yellow stripe, then glue them on the racks.  But for this build I am doing the ordnance, racks, and fuel tanks first.  Hopefully that will help prevent me from doing those half-assed at the end.

burrito king

Hi stikpusher, thanks for the tip for the AK Real Colors.  Smoother than Tamiya, sounds like a must try!  Amazon has the AK set for Euro-1 camo that would be perfect for my next A-10 build.  $12.95 + $4.95 delivey for 4 colors.

The Thud is also my favorite.  If you haven't already, you might want to check out Thud Ridge and Going Downtown by COL Jacksel Broughton, USAF.  Great descriptions of the Pack-6 missions he and his unit flew out of Takhli during Rolling Thunder.

 

I have read Thud Ridge several times over the years, but have to read Going Downtown. If I ever come across it, I will certainly do so. 

I'm looking forward to your Thud project here. 

Hey Burrito King,  I used Tamiya on this Monogram A-1H. If you are going to build more than one SEA schemed a/c. Just mix a whole bottle of each. For tan, I used XF-59 with a few drops or red added to the bottle and Nato Green with a few drops of XF-4 yellow green and XF-26 for the dark green (which probably a tad too dark and could stand a few drops of yellow or yellow green as well). These are non-scientific mixes, but I like them.

Hi stikpusher, thanks for the tip for the AK Real Colors.  Smoother than Tamiya, sounds like a must try!  Amazon has the AK set for Euro-1 camo that would be perfect for my next A-10 build.  $12.95 + $4.95 delivey for 4 colors.

The Thud is also my favorite.  If you haven't already, you might want to check out Thud Ridge and Going Downtown by COL Jacksel Broughton, USAF.  Great descriptions of the Pack-6 missions he and his unit flew out of Takhli during Rolling Thunder.

Hi John, D or G would be equally great under the tree!  I love the G with the wild weasel mouth markings.  One thing I noticed when I opened my 105D, it is a huge plane.  It makes the P-38 look puny.

Hi Pavel, thanks for your encouragement.  I looked at the Hataka paints and they look like a great option.  They are indeed available here (amazon, Sprue Bros, etc.)  I now have a bunch of different paints to try out.  After this I have The F4 Phantom Mig Ace so I'll be needing some FS36440 gull gray and some FS17875 insignia white.  My main problem is trying to choose from all the great options out there.  Maybe if I live long enough I can try all of them!

Btw I never noticed the vietnam.net link at the bottom of your post until now.  I love all the photos, I will study them and get some inspiration.

Hi eaglecash867, I was looking to get all MRP or all Mr Color from one shop, I didn't even think to mix and match the two brands.  It seems so obvious now, sometimes I wonder how my dumb ass made it this far in life.

Yeah I am anticipating the slow boat delivery.  I'm going to take my time on this build.  I think I'll like this 105D, although my skills are not much sharper the available products and information should make things a lot better than 35 years ago.  I took a good look at the model for the first time in 10 years and I noticed the box art shows Mk 82 500-lb bombs on the centerline rack.  I had a moment of disappointment because I think the usual load for Pack-6 missions was six Mk-117 750-lb bombs.  But the photo of the completed model on the side of the box shows six Mk-117s, and also the instructions for bomb assembly say 750-lb.  Most importantly, the pieces look like Mk-117s.

Good luck on your F105G, hopefully we can see some photos when done.

I put the Trumpeter kit on my wish list and a little bird told me it's under the tree  - Though I can't recall if it was a D or G.

Have a look at AK Real Colors. When thinned with Gunze Mr Levelling Thinner, they airbrush as smooth as can be and will surpass Tamiya in quality of finish. Not to mention thier extensive line up of aircraft and armor colors to match those of various nations and eras. If you want to stick with enamels, Humbrol makes the SEA colors in their paint line.

I'm looking forward to your Thud build. That is my favorite aircraft of the Vietnam war.

Well, I'll be watching this one!

I don't know how the stock of them looks like in the USA, but if you can get a hold of them, I would like to recommend Hataka paints, the orange line to you. I'm just trying them out for the first time and they are very nice to work with.

Good luck with your build and have a nice day!

Paweł

I was just looking on Sprue Brothers for the SEA colors, and it looks like they have everything in MRP, except for the FS36622.  But, Mr. Color has their GUNC311 lacquer, which is the FS36622 equivalent, and their lacquers spray like a dream too.  So, if you're in a pinch you might consider that route.

Pretty much any paint shipped from overseas is almost always going to be considered Hazmat, even though some of it really isn't, and they literally have to put the stuff on a "slow boat" to get it here.  Can't ship it by air.  I think I waited a little over 2 months for some MRP colors I had ordered from a hobby shop in Poland once.

I think you'll like that F-105.  I've been working on the Revell F-105G on and off as my skills have been sharpened with other projects, and its been a pretty solid build so far.  No major issues with that one.

On previous posts I got recommendations to try MRP and Mr Color acrylics.  These look great and the color selection is fantastic.  But the domestic suppliers like Spray Gunner and Sprue Bors were out of stock on one or more colors  The availability with European suppliers was good, but I wanted to avoid the shipping costs.  I tried Walmart and amazon, but didn't find any good options.  I saw a lot of other hobby online sources, and eventually I would have found the right one.

But then I saw the Ammo by Mig 60's-70's TAC kit with the four SEA colors in one package for $8.50 plus shipping.  It was on the Ammo website, they are located in Spain and the cheapest shipping option was $13.50.  So it was about $22 for the whole thing.  I placed the order last night, and this morning I got an email saying my order has shipped.  It says 7-30 days, but that's what you get with cheap shipping.  I won't be ready to spary for a few weeks anyway.

The reputation of Mig acrylics in the model community seems to be mixed, dedinitely not as well liked as Tamiya, MRP, Mr Color, etc.  Maybe not as bad as Vallejo's rep.  I will give it a try, and see how it goes.  In the articles and videos, it says you can spray it right from the bottle without thinning.  So it just might be the ticket for me.