Republic RF84F Thunderflash in 1/48

[yak face]

Little bit more done on this one . I’ve added the two strakes to the back of the splitter plates and fitted these to the inlets on the wing . The kit would have you fit them to two locating pins on the fuselage but a dry fit showed this would hold the splitter plates off ,so the locating lugs were cut off and the plates added to the wings instead. The wings have had the spoilers added top and bottom from the Airwaves PE fret , and the fuselage has now been glued together. Next up the fuselage seams then it’s on to fitting the wings and canopy.

[yak face]

Fuselage has now been glued and the camera windows have been fettled and glued in. Ive very carefully scraped/sanded the seams while trying to retain the raised panel lines. The gunsight reflector and glass have been added from holographic confetti cut to size and ive made a canopy release handle ( yellow bit) The seat has now been glued in and the canopy added which will be masked later.

[scottie3158]

Tony,
Lovely detail work

[Steven000]

That cockpit looks very detailed indeed :thumb2:
Nice progress

[yak face]

This one is coming together a bit faster now . The many camera windows have been fettled and masked off , the canopy has been done also and I’ve now got the wings, elevators and underwing pylons fitted . Fit was great ,only needing a slight smear of Vallejo acrylic putty on the underneath wing joint . Next up is a Quick prime with Halfords finest grey then a gloss black primer base coat .

[yak face]

Halfords grey primer on and the only thing that needs any attention is a smear of acrylic putty on the rear canopy joint. Next is a quick rub over with some very worn 1200 wet and dry then it’s having the black gloss base coat before the Vallejo metal color .

[Guest]

Tony lovely work on that seat, think the use of the confetti was brilliant.

[Guest]

That Halfords primer certainly does the trick Tony. Do you use the regular or plastic one?

[yak face]

That Halfords primer certainly does the trick Tony. Do you use the regular or plastic one?

Just the bog standard grey acrylic primer Andy ,it always gives a great finish , cheers tony

[Guest]

Thanks Tony.

[papa 695]

Looking very good Tony.

[yak face]

After a quick rub down with the ultra fine wet and dry and a clean up ,its had a coat of gloss black metal color primer. I’ll see how this dries as to whether it needs a bit more or if it’s ready for the metal color top coats . Not too many different shades on this aircraft just a couple of areas on the elevators , round the jet exhaust and a few access panels near the cockpit to pick out in darker colours. The National Guard aircraft which I’m doing however was very highly polished so I’ve got to get it looking very shiny!

[Jim R]

Hi Tony
Very neat, skilled work. Cockpit looks excellent. Seems to have gone together well.
Jim

[yak face]

While I was waiting for the black gloss to fully harden I started on the photo etch airbrakes . The set supplies an outer and inner piece which have to be bent to shape and glued together. The kit airbrakes were accurate in as far as the location and number of holes BUT they are represented by raised dots whereas the real thing has holes. Drilling these out is impossible as they are too small and too numerous ( about 160 on each airbrake) plus it would be impossible to get them in straight lines. The photo etch set is designed for the Monogram kit so they are slightly smaller and have a different front profile and hinge position. I’m having them open anyway so the slight difference in size won’t be noticeable, there’s just the front edge to cut off straight and some new hinges to fit.

[yak face]

Vallejo metal color chrome applied all over , just a few bits to do in different shades now and the tricky wing walk masking .