Ohhh! Noes! Mama get the smelling salts! TC is doing a modern jet! (Well, "modern" if a design that was first ordered 67 years ago and an airplane that left service 40 years ago is "modern" to you - it is to me)

The Hobby Boss F-105D. I'm always likely to do a model associated with the book I am writing, and having just completed "Downtown: The US Air Force in Southeast Asia 1960-75" I'm finally "up" for doing some Vietnam aircraft. (Watch for an early F-4C when the new Fundekals sheet comes out)

Interestingly, for an airplane that was thought not to be so good for air combat, it turns out the F-105 holds the record for "best air to air victory ratio" of any U.S. fighter since World War II. Three were shot down in air combat with the VPAF, for 27 credited air-to-air victories. 9:1 is even better than the F-86 (which never came close to the "10:1" 70 year old Air Force wartime propaganda that has fossilized into "fact-like material" would have you believe). Another case where "the common knowledge" doesn't quite hold up in the face of "the facts," like the P-40 and P-36/Hawk 75. This will be done as "Cherry Girl" from the 357th TFS, 355th TFW, which shot down a MiG-17 on June 3, 1967, using the Meteor/Cutting Edge decal sheet that's been sitting here for 18 years. Definitely "NSFW" artwork on the nose. ( 🙂 )

The HB F-105D is generally considered both more accurate and far more fiddly than the old Monogram kit. Having read Dan Lee's "map of the minefield" review over at Modeling Madness, I have done my usual trick of attaching all the fiddly "open stuff" closed before proceeding, so as to be able to work on the fit of things from inside and outside. This included the cover hatches for the refueling probe and the gun cover for the Vulcan gun on the fuselage, and the spoiler flaps on the upper wing. As you can see from the photos, doing that means everything is nice and smooth like it should be.

I also discovered that the cockpit interior doesn't match the fuselage interior! One could go spend as much on an Aires resin cockpit as on the original kit, but I decided to do the necessary surgery with Evergreen sheet, as you can see in the photo. I did take the opportunity yesterday to order a resin seat, which will vastly improve things.

I think that with care, the kit will go together well and there won't be any major hassles in assembly or fit, other than that business with the cockpit. We shall see.

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

For sure this bird will be in good hands, Tom.
It's like "getting out of your comfort zone", building a jet this time.
I'm really looking forward to this build.

Fitting does indeed seems nice, Tom.
Great progress.

Like I said, with the fuselage assembled, it's an easy process to put it all together. Ready now to mask the canopy and start painting.

The kit has a really strange ordnance load - 250-pound Mk. 82s. Went up on eBay and found the old Hasegawa 1/48 Weapons Set A that covers Vietnam-era ordnance, so will use that.

Overall, I don't really think this kit makes the old Monogram kit from 40 years ago all that obsolete. There's a lot of little details, like detailed gear doors, that Monogram got right, not to mention an accurate ordnance load. With care, the fit of that model as I recall is not that bad. Big problem is Revell modified the molds to make the limited-use T-stick version, so all you can do is look for used F-105D kits on eBay and such. At least the HB is available.

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Great looking with those characteristic air intakes.

At least that "close" gives you some freedom to apply the camouflage, Tom.
Looks nice already.

Hi Tom. Your Thud is looking great! The F-105 is one of my favourite "Thunders" from Republic's Locomotive Works. Since it carried the brunt of the Rolling Thunder campaign it faced an ever growing ground to air threat and coupled to ridiculous rules of engagement, target lists micro managed from the Oval Office by LBJ and Macnamara only invited disaster with half of the F-105's built destroyed due to combat and other related causes. I am eagerly waiting for the final reveal.

@mornem - if you're looking for a good book on the Thud, Ed Rasimus' "When Thunder Rolled" is excellent. A very honest memoir, including lots of the "little things."