Airfix 1/72 Republic F-105G Thunderchief

AIRFIX 1:72 REPUBLIC F-105G THUNDERCHIEF 'WILD WEASEL'
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Carlos Giani (carlos_giani2002@yahoo.de)

Aircraft: When the F-84F Thunderstreak entered service in 1954, Republic immediately went into a development program concerning a high performance fighter-bomber which should eventually succeed the F-84. After proposing it to the USAF (project AP-63), they got a contract for two YF-105A prototypes, the first of which flew for the first time on 22nd October 1956, propelled by a Pratt & Whitney J75-P-25 developing 6600 Kg thrust. This output, almost twice the Thunderstreak´s one, was needed due to the big dimensions and the overall new concept of „fighter“ present in the F-105A, capable of carrying up to 5440 kg of assorted weapons (it even had a bomb bay!).

There was no series production of the F-105A, since the new P&W YJ75-P-3 capable of 7484 kg thrust soon was available. This, combined with some design modifications in the fuselage and the air intakes, led to the YB-105B. Some 70 F-105Bs were built, beginning to serve on August 1958. The main series version was the F-105D, from which some 600 were built. They had a P&W J75-P-19W developing 7800 kg thrust, all-weather avionics and some further minor changes.

The last series version was the F-105F (143 exemplars), which had an elongated fuselage to accommodate two pilots. Initially projected as an advanced trainer, they saw a lot of operational service, due to the demands of the Vietnam war. Some 60 exemplars, known as EF-105F, were extensive updated with state-of-the-art electronics, and were used on very specialized ground-missile detection missions. They were later redesignated F-105G.

Parts: Since I knew that Airfix once had a Thunderchief, I was long searching for it, and immediately bought this one when I saw it at my local hobby store, some years ago. A couple of weeks ago, whilst putting some order in my unbuilt stock, I decided to rip of the cellophane and take a look inside... Well, my inner voice immediately said: „something's wrong here“. What was that? I looked carefully at the sprues and then I knew: this kit definitively doesn't look like Airfix - too much detail, a complete cockpit, „dense“ raised panel lines, some plumbing in the main gear's wells, detailed undercarriage, even the pilots looking like human beings!

Take a look at the photos and judge for yourself. On the rear section of the left fuselage half there's stated „©CPG Products Corp 1982“.

If anybody out there knows anything about the origins of this kit, please send an Addendum to Mark.

(Thanks to a number of helpful emails and follow up source info, appears that MPC came under the corporate banner of CPG Products, both shared the same address in the early to mid 80's. Appears that this kit therefore was produced for/by MPC and subsequently reboxed by Airfix during their cooperative agreement at this time on both sides of the Atlantic - Ed)

Inside a sturdy top-opening box you get three sprues containing 73 crisp molded parts in light grey, one sprue with 3 very clear non-distorting transparencies and one extensive decal sheet. Although nothing is bagged, the clear parts fortunately are unscratched. There's absolutely no flash, and no ejector pin stubs on visible areas. All the surface is throughout covered with raised panel lines, which compare well to a drawing of a F-105D I've found on the Web. The cockpit comprises of a tub, seats, control sticks, bulkheads and instrument panels, these having a dense array of raised dials. The front wheel well is formed on each fuselage half, showing some structure. It is fully enclosed, so that there will be no looking-through effect. The cockpit assembly is trapped between the fuselage halves, which then can be glued together. There's no recommendation for putting some weight in, but I presume this will be a tail-seater if you don't do so. Anyway, there's a lot of place in the front.

Each wing consists of upper and lower half, the upper one having some plumbing for the wheel well. These are not enclosed, and there are no intake trunkings, so some scratch-building will be needed here to get it looking realistic. The elevators are one-piece each side, then the exhaust cone is glued in, the latter showing no interior detail, so that flat black is a must here (or you scratch-build a fan...) The undercarriage is well detailed, although the front leg has the wheel molded on. The well's doors are acceptably thin consisting of three pieces each side for the main wells. The instructions clearly show how to proceed to build a wheels-up version. There are two pylons under each wing, the inner one carrying what I presume is an external fuel tank, the outer one transporting a missile. There's also a ventral attachment point, carrying another fuel tank [I'm by no means a weapons expert, so if I'm wrong here please don't hesitate to correct this entry]. Finally, some external „fittings“ complete the whole thing, mainly air intakes.

Instructions: They do look like Airfix, consisting of one paper sheet some 72cm long and 24cm wide, folded seven times to a length of 10cm. There's a brief history/technical data and recommendations in nine languages, symbols explanations, six clear and detailed construction steps and four-view painting / decaling guide diagrams for two subjects.

Versions:

1) 35th TFW, George AFB, California, July 1978;

2) „Thor´s hammer“, 17th Wild Weasel SQN, 388th TFW, Korat, Thailand, January 1973. Both finished in standard two green tone/ tan upper surfaces and light grey undersides.

The color call-outs are given in the Humbrol and Airfix range, the later being, of course, only approximate matches. The upper colors are Green H116 (HU7), Green H117 (HU8) and Tan H118 (HU9). For the underside the right color should be HU10, a very bright kind of greenish-grey, often being matched to H175 (RLM76!), which is definitely too dark. The best match used to be H97 (as per the instructions), which is now discontinued; maybe H28, H147 or H196 could be a possibility.

Decals: Looks good, well printed and of good register. The sheet is divided into three sectors, one for each version and one common to both. You get some stencilling also.

Detail: As you could read above, the detail level is astounding high for an Airfix model, looking much more as 80´s Hasegawa (except for the cockpit) or maybe ESCI.

Options: The only option is to build your model wheels up or down.

Impressions: Well, what more should I say? I like this kit, regardless of its heavy raised panel lines. It's very well molded and easy to convert into a real winner with some attention. A few dry fits suggested no problems.

Recommendations: I've never seen the Hasegawa Kit, but since there are not much Thunderchiefs in 1/72 out there, I can warmly recommend this kit. I bought it together with the Airfix RA-5C Vigilante, and the difference between both is famous.

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