1/48 Hobby Boss Republic F-105D Thunderchief

Gallery Article by Steve Negley on Jan 23 2014

 

 

I had the Monogram kit on hand to build up an F-105 but I wanted to try the Hobby Boss kit because I saw one built up at the IPMS Nationals this year. Never got to talk to the person who modeled it but it looked like a really nice kit and the modeler did an outstanding job on it. 

 

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I’ve kinda made up a bucket list of things I wanted to model and the F-105 was the last kit I needed to build to complete a collection of the whole “Century Series” of fighters. This kit is really a big jump forward compared to the Monogram kit but I have to say the Monogram kit still builds up into a nice 105. The Hobby Boss kit comes with a nice selection of munitions and the extra fuel tanks but I had to borrow from the Monogram kit to arm this 105 the way I wanted to.

I built this kit OOB except for a Quickboost ejection seat and the centerline MER and Mk117 bombs from the Monogram kit. Lots of parts in this Hobby Boss kit. especially to build up the wings. All the flying surfaces are separate pieces so you have the option of having the flaps down. I armed this F-105D with six Mk117 GP bombs on the centerline MER and two AGM-12 Bullpups on the outer pylons.

I decided to go with a standard SE Asia camouflage scheme. Paint is ModelMaster enamels FS 34079 Dark green, FS 34102 Med Green, FS 30219 Dark Tan upper surfaces, and FS 36622 Camouflage Grey undersides. The entire model was sprayed with Testor’s Glosscote before decals. Decals are Superscale sheet 481220.

Before I applied the decals I read up on some weathering tips off the ARC website and used a water base acrylic to bring out the recessed panel line and rivet detail on this model. This was the first time I've used this technique and the outcome was really quite incredible. The technique was time consuming but the realism it added changed the whole appearance of the model so thanks to all of you ARC'ers who take the time to post your tips on the website. This F-105D was flown by Lt. Chuck de Vlaming, 354th TFS, 355th TFW, Takhli AFB, 1968.

Steve Negley

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Photos and text © by Steve Negley