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Jay Mitchell
33 articles

1/48 USAF Thunderchief

December 26, 2022 · in Aviation · · 27 · 0.9K

This is my recently completed - F-105F. The last one for 2022.

Although it's a kit from long ago , it still builds up nicely and looks good collecting dust on the shelf .

For such a large model it doesn't have a lot of parts , but the parts it does have are very detailed and fit together well.
The cockpit & crew figures are especially detailed and assemble easily and are easy to paint. It was also made in the USA, just like the real F-105s were.

After seeing this photo, I decided to issue my pilots orange flight suits.

I built this in the Work in Progress -Aviation group build and appreciated the encouragement and advice I received there on this project.

Reader reactions:
12  Awesome

12 additional images. Click to enlarge.


27 responses

  1. Enjoyed following this in the WIP thread- finished product really turned out great! Monogram kits are still going strong- you really nailed this one- well done!

  2. Thank you , David @dbutlr , I appreciate your interest and comments !

  3. You did an excellent job on this Thunderchief, Jay @ssgt
    A pleasure to follow your thread.
    The chosen scheme suites your build perfectly, a sharp looking 105.
    Two thumbs up.

  4. Nice job on your F-105 Jay @ssgt, it looks great! I really like the scheme you chose. Another nice Monogram build, the cockpit details and its overall shape matches the real one pretty well.

  5. Congratulations Jay! A great model, a really nice chosen scheme that you replicated perfectly!

  6. Thanks Bob @v1pro & Spiros @fiveten ! It was an easy model to build .

  7. Great looking two seat Thud! Nice photos too.

  8. Good looking Thud Jay, knew a pilot that flew then in Vietnam. Called it the triple threat, bomb you, strafe you, fall on you. Nice work on that old Monogram kit, they still rock.

  9. Very good looking, you scored a hit with this one, Jay.

  10. Great looking 105, Jay (@ssgt). The interior and NMF both look awesome. It was a pleasure following your WIP.

  11. Nice job on this. Very clean canopy work👍🏼

  12. Jay, you took a rough diamond and made it shine in all the right places. Overall this is an impressive result on many levels. Your paint finish and colors used looks spot on in comparison with photos used in your build. The cockpit looks great out of the box and skillfully painted. The crew with their orange flight suits add visual interest to the cockpit. Congratulations my friend. It's a top notch model!

  13. Great Build Jay! @ssgt, I have that kit in my stash, only one of the "modern" jets I kept when I thinned my stash. Your build turned out great, it sure is a big plane and it looks impressive on your shelf. My dad was a boom operator, and refueled them over Vietnam. He said they would fill every pylon with as much ordinance as possible and enough fuel to get them up in the air. Once up the KC-135s would fill them up because they could fly heavier then the could take off. My dad said post strike was often rough because often he wouldn't have to refuel as many planes. He has movies from his tours in Vietnam, I should tell him to get them digitized.

  14. Hi Walt @luftwaffe-birdman , thanks for the compliment, I appreciate it.

    The most modern jets in my collection is this F-105 and a F-100. Basically my interest in jets is from the Me-262 to the F-106. I’ve got several jets from that era to be build, they are going to be my modeling focus in 2023.

    That’s interesting about your dad’s duty as a boomer. It would be great to get those videos digitized, I’d love to see them. I think I’ve read about 1/2 the F-105s built were lost during that war.

    When I was in the Colorado Air Guard, many years ago, I had the opportunity to ride on a refueling mission on a New Hampshire ANG KC-135. (About 1982 or 1983). The inside of the fuselage was filled with pallets of Coors Beer. At that time Coors wasn’t sold east of the Mississippi River . I always thought that was amusing. It seemed like something that might of been done in WW2. It was interesting to watch our A-7s be refueled.

  15. @ssgt Lot's of bang for the buck in those Monogram kits Jay, and you've sure made the most of that one! Well done fer sure my friend! 👍

  16. Thank you, Gary @garybrantley ...
    I appreciate your compliment ! I seem to have my greatest success and enjoyment with old Monogram or Revell kits, although I do like many of Zvezda’s 1/48 WW2 aircraft.

  17. Fantastic build! Great figures and cockpit!

  18. Thank you , Lis @lis , I appreciate your compliment . This is really a nice old kit.

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