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F-105D tweak list


thierry laurent

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This one was started many moons ago.It was time to end it! The two-seater one will be published soon.

 

As usually, feel free to amend, update or correct if necessary:

 

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Republic F-105D Thunderchief TWEAK LIST

 

 

TYPE: Republic F-105D Thunderchief

 

 

SCALE: 1/32

 

COMPANY: Trumpeter

 

KIT Number: 02202

 

MOLD CREATION DATE: 2004

 

 

TWEAKS LIST VERSION 1.0 (publication date: August 2012)

 

Compiled by Thierry Laurent

 

 

The following list is intended to help modelers in improving scale accuracy of an airplane model replica. In no way is it intended to support or be offensive towards a scale model company.

As such, it is only the result of a progressive process and is in no way intended to be absolute or even comprehensive. Hence, it is intended to focus on commonly admitted discrepancies and will probably not cover some errors. It is up to the modeler to decide whether correcting the listed issues is worth the time and money he will have to invest in the quest for accuracy process.

No aftermarket correction or detail set is mentioned in this document as the availability of such items may be very variable. Hence, refer to other LSP sections to find relevant information. Moreover, aftermarket sets do not necessarily correct all listed issues. Please refer accordingly to relevant documentation.

 

 

 

  1. GENERAL REVIEW

 

  • The kit molding is generally crisp with engraved panel lines, rivets, strengthening plates and details. However, fuselage parts engraved details are softer and some areas need to be carefully sanded as the plastic surface is not homogeneously smooth. Fit is generally excellent for the large parts but the same cannot be said for the smaller ones (spoilers, windscreen, tank tails, etc.). There unfortunately a lot of ejection pin marks, some being located in tricky to clean areas (e.g. exhaust petals).

  • If shapes and dimensions are generally correct, the nose, canopy, spine and tail areas are clearly misshapen.

 

  1. FUSELAGE (from front to rear)

 

  • Replace pitot tube part (J39) with a stronger alternative.

  • The nose is not correctly shaped: it is too long and far too pointy. Its curve should goes down smoothly from windscreen to pitot rather than having a straight line tapering profile. Cut 3-4mm, sand it and rebuild it with epoxy putty or replace it with an aftermarket part. Replacing the radome will noticeably improve the look even if this does not fully correct the issue.

  • Kit has nose radar parts but only the major shapes are there.

  • If the airplane you choose had the combat camera, do not forget scratching the camera bay. Otherwise, simply omit the part and fill the hole.

  • Do not forget adding ballast weight (e.g. in the nose and/or behind the canopy) to avoid the tail sitter syndrome.

  • Vulcan gun bay may be left open but request additional details from plastic card and copper/solder wire. Note that the door part (J41) should be cut into three different separate sections. Open the cooling slots and add strengtheners on the internal face.

  • Refueling probe may be extended or closed. However, in the former case, the main door part should be sanded as it is far too thick and lacks any interior detail.

  • Trumpeter simply molded an oval-shaped depression under the in flight refueling probe bay door whereas full scale airframes have a hole. Drill the hole and put a thin tube inside.

  • Open up the various avionics bays vents and inlets.

  • Kit has the internal weapon bay. To open it, simply cut the marked belly sections. A3 & A8 parts may be used if you want an opened bay. However, keep in mind that SEA Thuds had an additional tank in the bay whereas no specific tank part is given in the kit.

  • The body spine behind the canopy is not correctly depicted but reshaping it is not really easy, more particularly without replacing the canopy. Rely on the Dremel/epoxy puttly combo or use an aftermarket part.

  • Ejection pins marks and seam should be removed from the air intakes internal side. As there is no duct behind the air intakes, it is necessary to use plasticard inside the intake to avoid seeing through them (only the engine front face should be partly visible). If you are not willing to correct this you may use scratchbuilt or aftermarket FOD plugs.

  • Ground away on the fuselage the fantasy thick step between the body intake area and the wing intake part.

  • Compressor face behind the engine starter and stator vanes has been forgotten by Trumpeter. Use and adapt a compressor face part from another kit or scratchbuild one from plasticard.

  • The front section of the tail keel is misshaped. Reshape it.

  • Drill and add the rear belly drains and drill/grind missing holes in the fuel dump mast edge.

  • Scratchbuild the drag chute bay with plasticard if you want to leave the tail door opened.

  • Tail is too tall and the ECM fairings are located too high. Remove them, fill the holes, cut a 4,5mm high section from the tail top, reshape the tail profile and put the cut ECM parts on their correct locations. Rudder chord is also incorrect. Alternately, use an aftermarket tail.

  • Open the afterburner bay cooling vents.

  • Fill and smooth as much as possible the exhaust cylinder seams.

  • Exhaust petals are marred by injection pin marks. This will be difficult to clean. Possibly replace with aftermarket parts.

 

3.WING/WEAPONS

 

 

  • Take care before mating moving surfaces to wing parts as their parts are located on the opposite wing sprue.

  • Wings control surfaces separate parts (flaps, slats, ailerons & spoilers) may be depicted in various positions. However, keep in mind that on the ground, spoilers are only extended during wing maintenance activities. Unfortunately, closing them is not easy as their fit is far from excellent. Moreover, leading edge slats fixing parts do not depict correctly actual ones. It is easier to scratchbuild new linking points.

  • Wing tip lights (parts H9&10) do not fit as such. Sand them to fit.

  • Wing tips have the AN/ALR-32 RHAW receiver bumps. This is correct for a G but not for a D.

  • Kit has a lot of ordnance parts but no AIM-9B Sidewinder:

  • Slick Mk. 82s suffer from the classical Trumpeter Mk eighties bomb syndrom: too large nose and too thin body. Normal or extended bomb fuses are included.
  • M117 are acceptable but not accurate.
  • MERs bodies are misshaped. They should be heavily rebuilt or replaced with aftermarket or Tamiya Phantom counterparts.
  • AGM-12B Bullpup missiles are correct.
  • AGM-45 Shrikes front fins are misshaped and located too far back. Replace them with correctly shaped Plasticard ones.
  • ALQ-71 ECM pods are correct.
  • Napalm tanks are correct.
  • Fuel tanks are correct but the reinforcing straps located either side of the centre line pylon are missing (between the pylon and the bomb bay doors).

 

  1. COCKPIT

 

  • Side consoles have too soft details.

  • Front instrument panel is nicely detailed but far too tall (at least 5-6mm). This is not easy to solve. Cut a little bit of the upper edge and the rest from the lower section. Cut the side panels and glue the front IP deeper (this asks for cutting part of the tub sides). The panel hood (J52 part) has to be cut shorter and the whole thing moved some 3mm deeper into the cockpit. Check the relative position of the stick, front panel and rudder pedals to obtain a better result. Alternately, choose a correctly shaped aftermarket cockpit set.

  • Area behind the windscreen also lacks a lot of very visible details.

  • Seat has accurate shapes but is too basic. Launch rail, head rest, arms and sides should be improved. Moreover, 2 mm should be removed from the seat legs (F10). A lot of details (pipes, wires…) are missing on the fuselage sides and on the bulkhead behind the seat.

  • Replace the far too thick HUD glass (L8 part) with a thinner one.

 

5.CANOPY

 

 

  • The canopy shapes are unfortunately off: the canopy and windscreen parts being notably "squashed". There is no other solution than scratchbuilding new parts or replacing them with an aftermarket set. If you still want to use the kit parts, at least do not close the canopy… Last but not least, some early released kits had a quality control issue (a small bubble and or molding line in the windscreen plastic part thickness).

  • Do not forget adding the ducts, missing locks, mirrors and other details on the canopy framing. Add the missing compass and control box on the windscreen internal frames.

 

6.LANDING GEAR

 

 

  • The doors are too thick, have no internal detail and are marred by ejector marks. Moreover, main LG ones are not correctly located: they are located far too high on the wheel-leg combo.

  • The plastic main gear legs are a too weak to support a kit with full weapon load. Moreover, if you want to use some resin detail sets, there is no choice but to reinforce them with steel/brass rods or use aftermarket metal ones.

  • Brake hoses and different hydraulic lines are missing on the landing gear legs.

  • The wheel wells are reasonably deep and have basic details but a lot of structural details, ribs, fuel lines pipes, hoses and hydraulic plumbing are either wrong or missing. Drill the auxiliary air vent in the fuselage sides of the MLG wells. Fortunately, as the front LG bay is made of flat sections, correcting and improving details is easy. Correcting the MLG wells is unfortunately less easy. Check references to replace molded hydraulic lines and add the missing items or choose the lazy approach: replace them with aftermarket ones.

  • The dimensions of the LG wheels (front & main) are inaccurate: tires are noticeably undersized. Replacing them with correct aftermarket ones is recommended. However, take care as some aftermarket sets have been based on the incorrect Trumpeter parts.

 

 

7.OTHER REMARKS

 

 

  • Kit has a full J-75 engine but unfortunately no part of it is visible except in case of major surgery intended to depict a maintenance scene.

  • Kit has photoetched parts and rods to make the control surfaces hinges but it is not necessary to use them. It also has rubber tires (with a Good Year logo) and ammo belt as well as a film sheet for the cockpit front instrument panel.

  • Kit has an extremely comprehensive sheet of weapons data stencils and excellent “Two-Bobs” decals.

 

 

 

The following sources were used to build this list.

 

Modelling essentials:

 

  • Kinzey, Bert, F-105 Thunderchief, Detail & Scale, vol. 8, Aero Publishers, 1982.
  • Neubeck, Ken, F-105 Thunderchief, 5523, Squadron Signal Publications, 2000.

 

Scale plans and TM extracts:

  • Darling, Kev, Republic F-105 Thunderchief, Warpaint series, n°38, Warpaint books, (no pub. date).
  • Davis, Larry, Menard, David, Republic F-105 Thunderchief, Warbird Tech series, vol.18, Specialty Press, 1998.
  • Drendel, Lou, Thud, Modern Military Aircraft, 5004, Signal Publications, 1986.
  • - , Republic F-105 Thunderchief, Famous Airplanes of the World, Bunrin do co Ltd, n°4, 1987.

 

Colour pictures photofiles:

  • Campbell, John M;, Hill, Michael, Roll call Thud – a photographic record of the Republic F-105 Thunderchief, Schiffer Publishing Limited, 1996.

 

Other used books:

  • Anderton, David, Republic F-105 Thunderchief, Osprey Air Combat, Osprey publishing, 1983.
  • Davies, Peter E., F-105 Thunderchief units of the Vietnam war, Osprey Air Combat, n°84, Osprey publishing, 2010.
  • Donald, David (ed.), Century Jets – USAF frontline fighters of the Cold War, Airtime Publishing, 2002.
  • Dorr, E. Robert, F-105 Thunderchief, Warbirds illustrated, n°49. Arms & Armour Press, 1988.
  • Drendel, Lou, F-105 Thunderchief in Action, 1017, Squadron Signal Publications, 1974.
  • Drendel, Lou, Fighting Colors, Century Series in color, 6501, Squadron, Signal Publications, 1980.
  • Kinzey, Bert, Jet fighters of the U.S. Air Force – The Century Series, Detail & Scale, Revell-Monogram, 2002.
  • Neubeck, Ken, F-105 Thunderchief in Action, 1185, Signal Publications, 2002.

 

Other references:

  • Some magazines articles (more particularly from SAMI, Replic & Wingmasters)

  • Some web pages (more particularly LSP & ARC)

Edited by thierry laurent
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Wing scab plates.........They are molded to the bottom of the wing, but the top scab plate directly over the landing gear is missing.....So for a late d / g you have to add the top plate......For an early d/f the plates on the bottom need to be sanded off and ......scribing replaced and wing pylons adjusted....I did not notice that in your writings I may have missed it. If so disregard.

Edited by Rob Colvin
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The F-105G is a fine kit and most of Thierry's always expert remarks with the nose and ventral fin apply.

 

The main problem with the 'G kit, apart from those aforementioned 'D afflictions, is that the fin chord needs extending along the front edge, and that the canopy hoods in early releases (I have one) suffer from random 'built-in' seam lines where the hot injection plastic joined, making them flawed - but otherwise correct in shape cf the 'D version.

 

It's probably the better of the two kits in terms of accuracy, but unfortunately - unlike the Monogram/Revell F-105G releases in 1/48th scale, which had them as separate parts - has built-in AN/ALQ-105 ECM blisters which makes building an 'F or early 'G Wild Weasel III a fuselage chop, back-plate with plastic card, fill, sand and rescribe operation.

 

It's a grossly underrated kit from work I have done on my own, but is one heck of a big beast! F-4s look tiny next to the ones I've seen completed!

 

Tony T

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Great tweak list Thierry - thank you. I like the F-105 Thunderchief a lot!

 

To me, there are three classic 1950's aircraft that I see as both contemporary stable mates and iconic aircraft in their own right, and those are the EE Lightning, the Sukhoi Su 7 Fitter, and the F-105 Thunderchief - all three aircraft share the same heavy-metal character and soul to my mind.

 

One day, I will get the Trumpeter Lightnings and Thunderchiefs - I don't know about the fitter though - I'll probably have to scratch build that particular beastie if I can find some good plans.

 

I don't know exactly what AM stuff is available out there for the 'chief, but it sounds like one kit that could do with some resin AM TLC!

 

Cheers

 

Derek

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Totally agree with all these necessary fixes. I spent a great deal of time and money fixing this kit. Some parts are so so wrong and just plain bloody awful! The MER is a disgrace! I used the following parts to fix my 105 - sadly many of these parts are no longer available.

 

Cutting Edge

- canopy and turtle deck fix

- replacement nose

- replacement fin/rudder

- MER

- replacement ALQ-71 pod

 

RC Resins

- replacement seemless intakes

- replacement lower dorsal fin

 

Aires

- replacement cockpit

- replacement wheel wells

 

I also used metal gear, metal pitot and some Eduard etch here & there. The AIM-9B's & Aero-3B rails came from E-Resins - just jewels I think! I scratch built the twin AIM-9B launcher using the Aero-3B rails.

 

I decided not to tone down the "rivets" too much - just a little, as the 105 has millions of fasteners on panels around the aeroplane, which do show up a lot on photos. Perhaps I should of hit it more with Mr Surfacer 500 - not sure. Anyway, I still want to fade & filter the paintwork a little more to show it more "worn" and scratch build a boarding ladder and add a pilot. This is of course Col. Jack Broughton's "Alice's Joy". Broughton was sacked as the Vice "Wingie at Takhli when he exposed the gun film from two of his pilots, when they straffed the Russian trawler "Turkistan" - thus ending this career essentially.

 

DSC_0445.jpg

 

DSC_04392.jpg

 

DSC_0449.jpg

Edited by Adam
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Thanks for the comments!

 

Regarding the wheels, I must amend my comments: the problem is not limited to the MLG ones... :-( The front one has a similar issue. In fact the rim details are not fully correct but this is not a terrific problem. The big issue is the tires size: they are far too small in diameter and width. As far as I know, Fisher is the only aftermarket producer who released correct ones. They also released the big mama bomb (the M118)!

 

Rob, thanks for the update regarding the wing scab plates, I shall add this one!

 

Aires and Avionix sets are still available but all the RC or Cutting Edge ones have disappeared for ages.Unfortunately, such manufacturers were the only ones taking care of the upper fuselage and tail issues. Note that the RC F-105G correction tail is not fully correct as they did not correct the rudder chord issue.

 

Very nice kit Adam! Finally, looking at what you used, the main advantadge of the Trumpeter kit in comparison with a vacform Thud is the fact that the fuselage and wing parts were sturdier and engraved ;-)

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  • 1 year later...

Yep!

 

In fact I think I complicated noticeably the job of the participants in the SEA group build as I made tweak lists for the Phantoms, Skyhawks, Supersabre, Corsairs and Thunderchief kits!

 

This is probably a good clue regarding one of my favourite aircraft themes... ;-)

 

Thierry

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