Republic RF84F Thunderflash in 1/48

[papa 695]

Looking really good Tony

[yak face]

Different shaded areas now done . I kept it to a minimum , just doing the centre section of the elevators , drop tanks, ailerons ,rudder, inflight refuelling panel on port wing ,exhaust ,and two panels under the cockpit . Pictures of the Thunderflash in Natural metal finish show that there weren’t many different shades . I’ve now started to get the wing walks ,anti glare panel and other bits painted with Model air NATO black and the intake fronts in red.

[papa 695]

Looking good Tony

[yak face]

Looking good Tony

cheers Ian , got the anti glare panel and the dielectric panel done now so next up is decals .:thumb2:

[flyjoe180]

Hiya Tony, looking good mate, very nice paint and etch work

[yak face]

Started the decals today - what a bugger they turned out to be!!! They looked beautiful on the sheet but i dont know if they are old ( they were off ebay so have no way of knowing their age) or what but they were a nightmare. They took ages to release from the backing paper and when they finally did, with a bit of splintering here and there, the glue had gone a lumpy opaque yellow . Of course this looked terrible , especially on the large USAF decals with all their carrier film. The only way to sort it was to soak till the decal floated off the paper then fish it out of the water and put it face down and scrub all the dodgy glue off with a paintbrush then rinse it in the water again . The now glueless decal was then put on , laid onto some wet Klear to stick it on . Eventually they all went on but a half hour job ended up taking about four hours! I had to cut the USAF decals to go around the wing strakes and on the underside , the undercarriage doors . These will need a bit of touching up where they splintered . The decal sheet didnt supply any stencils ( perhaps just as well!) but looking at photos i cant see too many anyway so im fine with it. Next up attaching the air brakes ,undercarriage and drop tanks then unmasking the transparencies . I’m not doing any sort of weathering as these national guard machines were kept very clean , ill probably just highlight the control surface joints. Cheers tony

[Jim R]

Hi Tony
Those decals sound like a nightmare. Your solution using Klear is something I'd not heard of. Seems to have worked though as it looks good. Air brakes are a model in themselves :smiling2:
Coming on a treat.
Jim

[Guest]

Scrubbing glue from decals … not the easiest job, I’m sure, but the end result doesn’t give any clue that you had to go to all that trouble, so well done

[papa 695]

Great fix Tony.

[yak face]

Hi Tony
Those decals sound like a nightmare. Your solution using Klear is something I'd not heard of. Seems to have worked though as it looks good. Air brakes are a model in themselves :smiling2:
Coming on a treat.
Jim

Thanks guys , they havent turned out bad at all , just a tiny bit if touching up on the USAF ones. Jim , i almost always lay my decals onto a patch of wet Klear , it helps to get rid of silvering , aids adhesion and when it dries out thoroughly will pull the decal to the surface a lot like decal solvent, see pics below , cheers tony

[yak face]

Finished the decals today . There were a few items i had to use off the Heller sheet ( red lines , red outlines) and the total lack of stencils was niggling me so it was out with the spare decal box and some suitable generic stencils were sourced and put in various places . I tried to study as many pics as i could to get the placement of them about right but photos dont show that many so i used a big dollop of artistic licence . Next is a few touch ups to the decals , a bit of painting round the elevator actuators and then it can have a final gloss varnish , after ive carefully masked the matt anti glare panel and wing walks.

[yak face]

Im at that stage now where I usually make a snagging list of what's left to do. Been crossing a few off today . The undercarriage legs have had a wash and the brake lines added from black crafting wire . The oleos were done withbMolotov liquid chrome pen and aluminium tape was used for the brake line bracket on the scissor link. Ive also given all the control surfaces a wash and its now had a final gloss coat after masking off the anti glare panel and wing walkways . Tomorrow I can get the rest of the bits on and its just about done.

[yak face]

Clear gloss coat done and here’s what happened when I took off the masking on the starboard wing walks !
oh bugger ( or words to that effect ) said I . This has now got to be touched up:angry:

[Guest]

Ouch … I hate it when that happens, and always dread taking masking off for that reason. Hope you fix it OK.

[Steven000]

Very nice progress Tony! Pity of the masking issue but you'll be able to touch it up :thumb2:
Fine model. Steven