1/48 Revell F-84E Thunderjet a tribute build to my Dad’s childhood friend who was MIA in Korea

Started by Louis Gardner · 81 · 2 years ago
  • Profile Photo
    Chuck A. Villanueva said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    This is coming along very well Louis. Always an interesting story behind the F-84. Like many of the early jets in the 50's found many NATO operators. So you can actually build a few with different schemes, weapon configurations. And they also was a Photo recon variant that is well known. Always liked the coke bottle air frame the F-84 sported. I did start on the Monogram kit, never finished it. I do know it was to the point of getting it painted. And you know it may even packed up somewhere. Still love the multi build approach. Glad your back at it.

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    Chuck, @uscusn
    These F-84's can be found wearing all kinds of different paint schemes, and since they were used by many different Nations, you have a lot of choices when it comes to markings. Thanks for stopping by... 🙂 and for the compliments.

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    Robert, @roofrat
    Thanks for stopping by ! It's good to hear from you. Please stand by, as I have another update coming right up...

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    This weekend was very productive. I was able to meet my goal of getting the fuselage completed and foil applied to the F-84E.

    I have a very good book on the F-84's and how they were used in Korea. This book is loaded with Korean War era color pictures.


    I have been using it to determine exactly how the outer aluminum panels were applied in sections on the fuselage.

    You can see how the light reflects off these panels. I tried to mimic what is seen in the photos.








    Hopefully the wings will get finished soon.

    As always, comments are encouraged.

  • Profile Photo
    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    Wow, what a great progress and gorgeous looks, my friend @lgardner!
    Those panels look totally amazing, they look exactly like at the photo!
    Looking forward to see the wings done!

  • Profile Photo
    Tom Cleaver said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    I've always shied away from doing this @lgardner, but you are achieving a great result.

  • Profile Photo
    Robert Royes said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    Simply amazing foil work!

  • Profile Photo
    George R Blair Jr said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    Add my amazement to the rest for the immaculate NMF, Louis (@lgardner). Until recently, I religiously avoided NMF on my models, but it will be a long while before I can get the results you do. Well done.

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    Greetings everyone, and thank you all for the kind words.
    Spiros, @fiveten
    Tom C. @tcinla
    Robert @roofrat
    George @gblair

    Soon I promise to make a better reply to your latest comments, but tonight I am pressed for time. Meanwhile I made a little more progress tonight.

    I was able to cover the tail feathers with various shades of Bare Metal Foil. Here are a few pictures showing the elevator / horizontal stabilizers are now done and permanently installed.



    I also added a small section of foil on the vertical fin, in preparation of the partial serial numbers that will be added later. This is how it appears to have been done on most of the F-84's serving in this unit. Too bad the paint line between the red and white colors have shown through. Hopefully this will not be too noticeable once I add the numbers on.

    As usual, comments are encouraged... I'm working hard to get this one done by November 10th.

  • Profile Photo
    Tom Cleaver said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    Whoa! That looks great @lgardner!

  • Profile Photo
    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    Looking great indeed, my friend @lgardner!

  • Profile Photo
    George R Blair Jr said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    Looks great, Louis (@lgardner). I have never used Bare Metal Foil, but it certainly produces great results.

  • Profile Photo
    Robert Royes said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    I don't want to add to your work load, but how about a Thunderbird Thunderjet! with that same amazing foil work.

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    Robert, @roofrat
    You must have been reading my mind. I still have the 1/48 Tamiya F-84G, and it would be perfect for building into a Thunderbirds jet. In fact, Tamiya even released a chrome plated version that came with decals to make a Thunderbirds jet. If I can get my hands on one or even just the decals, it's definitely going to happen. I have seen several of these chrome plated kits for sale on EBay, but they are too expensive for me. Last night I made a purchase at Sprue Brothers, and if I were to spend more money chances are I would be in the dog house.

    These are two of the items I have on the way. First up is a Trumpeter F-100D. It will be good to do a comparison build with the two Monogram kits I have. One of them I have had since I was a kid, and its an original release kit. It's about time it gets built.


    Then I picked up a set of 1/48 Thunderbird decals.

    I have two of the old Monogram F-105 Thuds in the stash, and on one of these kits, the tip of the rudder was short shot. I found an article that tells you how to backdate this kit to the earlier version 105 that the Thunderbirds used. These planes will look great covered in foil.

    I have another Thunderbird plane underway as part of this build article. It's the 1/48 Monogram F-84F swept wing jet. Thanks for asking, and please stay tuned as these projects will likely find their way on the work bench in a little while. I have been toying with the idea for a Century Series group build... 😉

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 2 years, 6 months ago:

    Tom, @tcinla
    Spiros, @fiveten
    George, @gblair
    Thanks gentlemen for the kind words. I sincerely appreciate the compliments.

    George,
    I think you would not have any problems using foil. The nice thing is that you can tone down the shine of it, simply by spraying it with a flat clear coat. It's a great way to replicate a bare metal finish, because it's actually metal (to steal a line from their advertising).
    Please follow along with tonight's update.

    Tonight I was able to get the wings completed. I had to cut off the refueling probes located at the nose end of the wing tanks. This area was then sanded smooth, and repainted using Model Master Metallizer from a "rattle can". I noticed the planes from his unit in Korea in the pictures didn't have the probes present. So off they went !

    Once this paint had dried sufficiently, I went to work covering the wings with foil. In several hours they were done.

    Now all of the foil work is done on the F-84E.

    Here are some picture of the foiled wings. Starting with the undersides first.




    I flipped the wings over to show how they look from the top. The foil has a grain to it. You can use the same color, and achieve a different look, simply by changing the orientation by rotating the foil 90 degrees. You can see what I mean here, It shows up very well in this next picture.




    I took these pictures from different angles to show how the light reflects from the foil, showing the different colors.

    If things go as planned, tomorrow I will install the wings on the fuselage. The initial mock up shows they should fit nicely.

    As always, comments are encouraged.