ACADEMY 1:72 F-84 E/G THUNDER JET
'INBOX Review'

 

Reviewer: Kevin Ronayne kevin.ronayne@nuigalway.ie

Aircraft History

The straight-wing Republic F-84 Thunderjet is something of a conundrum: although it was not a good dogfighter, it was built in large numbers, and served extensively in a number of countries - especially in Europe. The first significant production version was the F-84E (843 built), featuring a lengthened fuselage and improved fuel capacity over the 'D' version. The F-84G was the major production version, with some 3,025 being built, many being supplied to NATO allies. It also featured in-flight refuelling and an even more powerful engine. Thunderjets were widely used in the Korean war for interdiction missions. They were also used as nuclear bombs carriers, presumably when operating in Europe. The Thunderjet was in turn used as the basis for the swept-wing F-84 Thunderstreak, and the RF-84F Thunderflash, which were are also built in large numbers.

The Kit

It's strange how some aircraft suddenly become fashionable. For years, the only decent kit of the Thunderjet in 1/72 scale was the old Heller offering - and a very good kit it was too! Now, we have brand new tooling from both Academy and Tamiya in this scale. As Academy are also producing the F-86 and F-89, it obviously sees a market for some classic 1940's/50's US jet fighters. I was a bit surprised to see that this kit had not been reviewed on SMAKR already - so here goes ...

This is a 1999 release from Academy. The box is the same type used by Academy for most of it's single-engine WW II fighters and similar-sized subjects - a large, spacious two-piece effort with excellent artwork. Actually, the box is slightly deeper than usual - something you notice when you have to stack heaps of boxes together! There are four main sprues, held in two bags, one of which also contains the transparency sprue. The enormous decal sheet has it's own plastic bag - also standard Academy practice. The kit is moulded in standard light grey plastic, with a total piece count of about 100 (including 11 transparent parts). Parts and decals are provided for three machines: a Korean War USAF F-84E, a 1955 Japan-based USAF F-84G, and a French F-84G.

The general impression of this kit is one of superb quality. The recessed panelling looks to be top-notch, combined with delicate countersunk riveting where appropriate. Of course, there are some raised sections and relief detail where required as well. It would take too long to go over the various areas of the kit - suffice to say that the only area of detail overlooked is the internal gun-bay, which Tamiya have covered. The cockpit, engine intake, engine exhaust and the undercarriage, doors and bays are all excellent. The main undercarriage bay detail is recessed into the underside of the upper wing section. Also, the main bay walls don't just follow the outline of the undercarriage doors, but have the correct boxed shape outline. This was also a feature of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt - Academy's P-47 kits do not handle this area correctly (although Revell's P-47 M does). Obviously, Academy are learning fast!

The E/G differences are handled with the required alternate parts - as well as some different fuselage parts, tailpipe sections and airbrakes, there are also some small wing panels, to handle the fact that the F-48G had a refuelling receptacle on the upper leading edge of the port wing. The kit has a panel for this, as well as refuelling probes built into the wingtip tanks. These have to be cut off if building the 'E' version, or the French 'G'. All three subjects use the framed canopy. An unframed canopy is provided but not used, even though I've seen a number of photos of F-84E's with this canopy.

As well as the wingtip tanks, there is a second set of fuel tanks for the wing-root pylons. A pair of 500-lb bombs are also provided for these stations. There are also 4 pair of stacked rockets for the outer wing stations. Although Academy calls these 2.75" rockets, they seem to scale out as 5" rockets, which could also be carried. Separate fin units are supplied for each rocket. One of my very few criticisms would be that the fins could be a little bit thinner - and the rockets noses should probably have a slightly different profile as well. Finally, there are a couple of underfuselage RATO packs for the F-84E.

I assume that this model goes together without any major trouble - I'm not about to start removing parts from the sprues just to do some dry-fitting, especially for a review! Accuracy-wise, I would assume that it's also got things pretty much down-pat. I know from experience that accuracy is never to be taken for granted, but I've yet to read any negative comments about this model, despite the wide 'press' that it has received.

The instruction leaflet is pretty comprehensive, and is standard Academy issue. This means painting instructions for detail and internal items as part of the construction guide, and a sprue layout at the back. The painting reference is a mixture of 'generic' minor colours, and FS numbers for all the main colours. As usual for Academy, there are no paint manufacturer cross-references. However, this is not a problem, as the FS numbers are can be easily translated, and are also reliable, given the subject matter. All three machines have standard overall metallic schemes - a camouflaged Portuguese option would have been nice. We live in hope ...

The decal sheet is truly staggering - the box has to be the size it is to handle something this big! There are over 100 different items, with over 150 separate decals. A couple of serial codes are on a tiny separate sheet. There is a separate foldout leaflet to cover the decaling and main painting guides. There are upper, lower, starboard and port views of all three subjects, plus 'blown' views of the rockets, bombs and pylons - mainly for decal placement. As you can imagine, there is a bewildering amount of stencilling to be applied. Even thought the instrument panels are provided in relief, there is a partially transparent main panel decal also provided. The decal quality looks to be very good on paper (as it were) - I'm only just beginning to build Academy kits in any quantity, so I can't comment on this area any further.

Finally, the model includes a display stand. Most people - including yours truly - would consider such things to be passé. However, this is a bit different. Moulded in flat black, it can be built with a rigid or ball-and-socket attachment between the base and the main 'arm'. A curved attachment piece means that there is no need to deface the model by chiselling out an attachment slot in the undersurface.

Conclusion

This is a wonderful kit in every aspect bar one - the price. Academy kits are generally reasonably priced, especially for subject matter of this size - usually at £5 STG. However, this retails at STG £7, which is about IR £9 - 10. This is just about OK - the Tamiya kit is even more expensive (surprise!). The new Academy Sabre is also more expensive, and I shudder to think what the forthcoming F-89 Scorpion or F-8 Crusader are going to cost! The Euro factor is really a killer here - the Irish £ was at parity (or better!) with Sterling only a few years ago. This has only come on top of the increase in prices in the hobby generally, which has been far greater than the rate of inflation. Of course, we have seen significant leaps in quality and accuracy in the past few years. As Revell have conclusively demonstrated, that doesn't necessarily mean that the cost must always skyrocket. I can handle paying the cover price for one Academy Thunderjet, but not two or three. Academy seem to be a bit confused as to who they are trying to position themselves against in the market. Therefore, it looks like my existing stocks of Heller Thunderjets, Sabres and Crusaders will have to do for the moment.

 

Related Reviews:-   

SMAKR Home  |  What's New  |  Submissions  | Information Requests |  News  |  Links  |  Reference Corner  |  Site Info 
1/72 Reviews  |  1/48 Reviews  |  INBOX Reviews