F-84 Thunderjet 1/72

This model was built for a special event named “Wash & go” during IPMS Open (Sweden) a couple of years ago. The deal was to build a model in quite a limited time; one week ahead of the event you got to know what model was to be built and then it was off to the closest hobby shop to buy one. In this case it was the Academy 1/72 scale F-84 Thunderjet. I also grabbed the Squadron F-84 Thunderjet In action for the build.

Earlier on I have never had any thoughts about this aircraft; to me it is just the wrong aircraft from the wrong era. But as it was, a friend of mine (Magnus Fridsell @magnusf) had announced this special event so I had to sign up 😉

I looked through the In action book and thought the aircraft on the front cover looked quite attractive (and colorful!). But of course the decals didn't include that machine …but the Tamyia F-84 Thunderjet kit does include them! Exactly how I got my hands on the decals in just one week I don't remember but I did! I was a little worried the decals wouldn't fit properly (the red-yellow-blue parts), as they were made for the Tamiya model but the fit was just perfect and they went on without any silvering at all. The model itself was a pleasure to build and as time was limited I added nothing extra (perhaps except for the seatbelt decal, I think it came from the Tamiya decal sheet). The cockpit is just fine right out of the box.

Painting was done using Tamiya acrylics, the base being Titanium Silver. I like the Titanium Silver as the metallic pigment is so fine but the shade is a little on the yellowish side. I mixed the color with white and different gray shades to get the panels in different tones. I am quite pleased with the result.

On the day of the competition I think about seven builders had completed their models.

And in the end I actually like both the aircraft and the model 🙂
Hope you like it too!

Regards
Rickard

5 additional images. Click to enlarge.