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Well I’ve got a lot going right now however when an opportunity presents itself you’ve gotta pounce on it Ironically I had just started following Dave Culp’s vac form WIP’s when one of the guys at our Cincinnati club volunteered to start teaching how to build a vacuform model. So I’ve got my F-84F out of the box from Tigger Models and have followed along in the 1st 2 classes. There’s alot to this so I don’t expect to be fast. I’d also like to make a real beauty out of her so not going to rush anything. One note that came out of class 1 was kinda standard but way more entailed with a vac, getting all your pieces and extras collected for the build. Geez, i need a cockpit, jet intake and exhaust, wheels wells, wheels, the list goes on. My 1st big score turns out to be a care package from our very own Harold at AMS Resin! He had a cockpit and some main wheels, misc parts, and some drawings he’d started on that he graciously sent my way. Thanks bud! let’s kick it off with the parts. Exciting stuff here i know This will be my 7th Thunderbirds aircraft. Only this and the F-105 to do. I need to figure out if it was NMF or silver paint. If anyone has any insight drop me a note in here. My next task is locating another F-84G for parts. Looks like the wheel wells will work perfect and the engine and possibly the jet intake could be modified to work as well. I posted a looking-for add so if you’ve got anything let me know on this as well. Chris

Ooooh-hoooo I've somehow ended up with a good bit of aftermarket for this build! That's what brought it to the forefront for my next project. I've just found individual pieces for it cheap over the years and so I decided to go ahead and get the rest that's available for it. Check out the treasure chest I've amassed - From Eduard I've got the self-adhesive placards, slats, air brake, undercarriage, and wheel well sets. For cockpit choice I've got both the Verlinden and the Aires sets to work from. The Aires set I picked up at Nationals a few years ago. last day, last hour and they had the whole table 50% off. Couldn't pass it up. The aires set has canopy and wheel well upgrades in addition to the engine details. It looks pretty good. Honestly I don't know which cockpit tub I'll go with as they both look crisp. Will have to check accuracy for my bird and make a decision. Thats a master Pitot tube in there along with the Zacto nose enhancement for a facelift. Then lastly I was looking at all the Eduard pieces and just didn't like the fuselage PE they had. It all sticks off the surface too much. That's when I remembered seeing an email about Archer Fine Transfers announcing a new sheet. I used their hatches, hinges, and other resin bits on my T-38A and now they have redone the sheet at 1/2 the thickness of the original. This should do perfectly for the access hatches, fuel doors and the like on this AC. I'll post details up on this as soon as possible. I don't think I've seen a review on them yet. There's been alot of these Huns done and I think I have every one of them on a separate tab on my ipad for review as I get going. Given that, I plan to post fewer mid-term updates as most people have seen it all on these. I'll try sticking to the finished assemblies and just post up some details on the new stuff, like the Archer panels and the foiling, especially the Titanium tail and the archetypical bluing and burnt metal look they have!

This is nearly all out of the box, a few scratch built parts to add some detail in the cockpit is all I added. I used the decals from the Tamiya F-16 Thunderbird to make up for anything I couldn't do with graphics. I used Maketar paint masks for all the scallops & curves on the bird and 3M fineline tape to connect everything together. I used MCW (Model Car Works) lacquer paints mixed to the correct FS colors for the Thunderbirds. The nozzle and cockpit is done with Vallejo paints and varnish. You can find a detailed work in progress build in Group Builds: Stars and bars. I decided to do tribute to the outgoing F-16 and I found the perfect art on the USAF site. This poster was created by SSgt Jon DuMond of the USAF Thunderbirds and they had a 3mb file available for free download, perfect. The key for me was the 2 F-16's outbound in the visor reflection. I used watercolors to blend the photo into the base and wrap it up into the F-35A Thunderbird. My bird is the Solo Lead with pilot and crew from the 2004 season reflected on the F-35A. I hope you enjoy these. I keep learning from everyone elses posts so I I've tried to add detail in the WIP that may be useful to others. If you see something you'd like to know more about drop me a line. And if you know the secret to the perfect build, or even a few of my model building dilemmas as detailed here, feel free to post it up. Chris

Gonna reserve my spot right here for a Trumpeter F-100D in the Thunderbirds scheme. I am in the process of getting a lot of the detail sets needed for this, but I have the kit already as well as the decals. I will be using Cam Decals 1967 sheet which represents when they went to identifying as 1 through 9 instead of the serial numbers on the side. Also, the Aires detail set, Zacto intake, Quickboost refuel probe, and maybe some Eduard bits depending on how good the Aires stuff is when it arrives. Look for this to start around the beginning of August. I am currently fighting to complete my Kfir and have a certification exam coming up so this must wait a bit.

Thought of doing something different so purchased one of Tamiya's great P-51D 1/48 scale kits. I found Warbird's set of Thunderbird Decals for the Tamiya 1/48 P-51D which are a beautiful Red White and Blue. Should build up to a nice looking plane. Painted the cockpit white in keeping with a show aircraft and the entire aircraft is MM Metalizer Buffing Aluminum Plate. I really like the Metalizer paints, but you definitely have to watch the fumes so excellent ventilation is mandatory. They shine up nice, and lose a bit of luster once sealed. Still, looks shiny! There is an ongoing story behind the decals, see below. Other side a bit different Top view Now a bit of the saga with the decals. In the picture above the USAF letters have cracked a bit after a coat of MicroSet. The insignia on the left also looks like it is cracking, but I really hope not. Interestingly enough - used MicroSet on the insignia on the fuselage sides and it seems fine. Also on the US Flag and the Thunderbirds insignia on the right side. Really curious. In the picture below, the nose and tail decals are red white and blue and for both the nose and the tail decal the red is incredibly brittle. I was extra careful with the tail decal, but even minor movement shatters the red part of the decal, which is a large part of the decal. Ugh. I contacted Warbirds and they promptly responded and are sending out a replacement set. Hope they work better! The decal on the left is the Warbirds Thunderbird Tail decal. The right is what is left of the nose decal. Where the decal was red it shattered very easily from just a little bit of movement. Down below, the sharks mouth is from a 1/32 P-40 set which I used to test fit on a P-51 before I used a different mouth from the same set. Even with all of the moving and pushing around, and ultimately, it did not even tear. So I don't think I'm doing something wrong here. Hoping the new set from Warbirds works much better. Otherwise I'm masking and painting the red white and blue!

Having a "feasibility" thinking session on doing a Thunderbirds F-16. Tamiya Block 32 is OOP, which leaves sourcing markings for a Tamiya Block 50 F-16CJ kit or an Academy F-16D (from the Sufa box). Are any generally available ? And, is it my imagination, or have the Thunderbirds switched to metallic insignia red and blue ? http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4883763915_756c9da45f.jpg Wonder what the chances are of Tamiya releasing the C with new decals ? Tony