Republic RF84F Thunderflash in 1/48

[boatman]

HOORAY Tony I had completely forgotton about this build nice to see it restarted
chris

[yak face]

Bit more done on this one .Ive been making the supports for the cameras and done a bit of painting in the camera bays . The big side looking camera has been fixed directly to the top of the nose wheel bay but the others will need a bit of careful aligning . I also got the jet pipe painted and fitted and have made a start on the instrument panel. The kit supplied one is identical to the one in Hellers F 84 f Thunderstreak ,hence different to the Thunderflash . The Rf 84s panel differs in having no gunsight on top and a different instrument layout with a very prominent round periscope viewing port in the middle.I’ve started to make a replacement panel but I’m keeping the old one just in case Im not happy and can always alter that later. Cheers tony

[Jim R]

Hi Tony
You're certainly going to town on this. Great scratching skills and you'll end up with a unique model.
Jim

[flyjoe180]

These old kits can be gems, the great work continues Tony.

[yak face]

Bit more done on the IP , I’ve made the instruments by drilling part of the way into the plastic card and added switches etc from tiny bits of stretched sprue chopped up. It’s not Eduard but it’ll look fine once painted and under a closed canopy . Next up detailing the ejector seat and tub and getting the cameras fitted.

[Jim R]

Hi Tony
The IP looks great. That sort of scratching looks simple but takes a great deal of time.
Jim

[yak face]

Ive made a start on the ejector seat on this now. The kit seat is a representation of the AMI seat as fitted to early thunderstreaks snd thunderflashes ( later export models used a Martin Baker seat ) so is perfect for the National Guard markings im intending to do but incorrect if you wanted to do the kit in the supplied european schemes. Anyway its an accurate shape if a little simplified so off we go adding some little bits to tart it up a bit. Ive added the curved sides to the armrests from thin aluminium ( tea light candle) and cut out the sides of the seat.Plastic card has been used for the cushions and the shield over the head rest and a piece of guitar string is going to be the prominent oxygen hose fitted between the footrests and black wire for the other cables . Once its painted ill be adding a set of eduard ww2 US seat belts as these are very similar to the ones used on this seat .

[yak face]

Seat finished now , it’s far from perfect but it’s fine under a closed canopy . The cockpit tub has also been painted and a throttle added. I’ve also been fitting the cameras and adding the lenses from circles of holographic confetti to give the optical coating look.

[boatman]

Very nice work Tony on the seat looks very realistic
chris

[Guest]

That confetti is a very good idea. The seat also looks very impressive.

[flyjoe180]

Nice job on the seat Tony

[Fernando N]

Very neat work on the seat and camera’s Tony :thumb2: .

Thanks for the confetti tip too.

[yak face]

Cameras all fitted now and lenses sorted with confetti . Ive fixed the clear window on the port fuselage side as its the only one that fits from the inside before the fuse halves go together. The rest of the windows go in later. The cockpit tub has had a bit more painting done and the instrument panel has seem some paint too. The control column has been fitted and the tub is now ready to be glued into one of the fuselage halves, then I can get the fuselage together.

[colin m]

Good old silver plastic - that takes me back. The build is looking splendid, great seats / pit.

[boatman]

Good old silver plastic - that takes me back. The build is looking splendid, great seats / pit.

YEA I aggree with Colin the cockpit control panels look great keep up this great work
chris