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HobbyBoss 1/48 th F-105D Thunderchief


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I'm almost finished my Graveyard Shift GB so it's time to get ready for this GB. As the title says, it's the HB F-105D. I don't know much about the F-105. This kit was a gift from my good friend HOLMES. Thank you, my friend! :thumbsup:/>

I know people have debated about the shape of the HB vertical stabilizer's shape and accuracy but that's a non issue for me. By the end of the build, it should look like a Thud if I don't bugger things up too badly. I've never tried a three tone SEA camo scheme so that will be a challenge for me. I don't know how the kit decals are but I'm going to press on regardless. There is naked lady nose art that goes on top of the nose but in the name of decency, I'm going to leave it off.

I have no photos but the kit has NOT been started. I'll be taking it to a build night tonight and starting this build then. I haven't looked at the kit in too much detail but I believe there's an option to display the fuselage in front and rear halves in order to show off the engine. Not going to happen. A great idea if you were to do a diorama but I'm not. I'm not sure if CorsairMan will be at build night tonight but if he is, I can have him vouch for me that nothing has been done to the model prior to my starting.

Thanks for letting me play in this GB.

Mike

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I snapped a few photos of this kit and my limited progress after taking photos of my completed build in the Graveyard Shift GB.

RKic - thanks for checking in.

So for, what I see isn't too bad. Styrene is nice. A bit soft but not overly so. I'm using Tamiya Extra Thin cement and it appears to do the job well. I had heard rumblings previously, and I can't remember where, about Tamiya Extra Thin not working well with Hobby Boss plastic. No issues here, so far. I don't see a whole lot of flash but there are some minor bits to clean up but nothing obnoxious. There's an option to pose the gun bay open along with the refuelling probe. I'm opting not to do that. The kit has you build the 6 barreled gun with six individual barrels. My vision is getting bad as I age. I don't need to fast track it like this.

I assembled the engine but there is not a lot of detail gone into it. That's fine as you won't see a lot of it anyway. As mentioned in my first post, you have the option to display the kit with the back half (afterburner) of the engine visible, The fuselage is a four piece affair. LF, LR, RF and RR. I've glued LF and LR together and RF and RR together. The engine won't be displayed so I'm not putting time of effort into it.

Box Top and Decals - as you can see, my thumb is blocking the naked lady's box art :woot.gif:

Box%20Art_zps4a6htaxw.jpg

Decals%201_zpsrbpdflby.jpg

Decals%202_zpssnocalfa.jpg

Parts, Cockpit Parts and Engine

Parts_zpsdxazkyex.jpg

Cockpit%20Parts_zpsohswx17c.jpg

Engine_zpszpk8ejt2.jpg

Front and Rear Fuselage Joint - it's a butt joint with no locating tabs but the fit is very good

Fuselage%20Glued_zpsdzyr7zxm.jpg

That's going to be it for a while now. Working midnights this weekend and into next week. Not much more than work, sleep, eat, physio and massage for my shoulder and other necessary jobs as dictated by the Imperial Household Minister.

As always, comments and constructive criticism is always in order.

Mike

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as you can see, my thumb is blocking the naked lady's box art :woot.gif:/>

Decals%202_zpssnocalfa.jpg

:lol: Box art!

I like the actual box art, that's very dynamic and quite different to what I've seen from Trumpy before.

I'm looking forward to this, I've only ever built an old 1/72 Wild Weasel Thud and that was big enough for my taste.

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Thanks for checking in K5054NZ. Next post, I'll take a picture of the fuselage and compare it to a 32nd scale Sabre and a 48th scale CF-104 for reference on size.

One of the good things, and about the ONLY good thing, about having a wicked cold is that you get to stay home from work. When you're not hunkered down in bed with the covers pulled over your head while trying to stay warm, or drinking hot beverages by the gallon in order to ease the pain (that feels like you've eaten a dozen razor blades and washed them down with a gallon of bleach) in your throat, or eliminating said gallons of hot beverages, or taking hot baths to stay warm and to help sweat out the cooties, or sleeping because you're so bummed out, is that you get to sit at the bench and work on a model. It started for me on Sunday night while at work. I left at 0300 hrs and got home and crawled into bed. I promptly thanked my wife for her gift as she contracted this cold 3 - 4 days prior. She's pretty well over it while I have a few more days to go.

In any event, I got a bit of assembly work done. I'm not going to do any paint work just yet. Even though I use an N95 respirator while airbrushing, I'm not going to tempt fate.

I've assembled the wings. The instructions for the kit are not bad. Not great and I have seen worse. Paint callouts are simple; red, white, flat black, aircraft grey. The instructions for the camo are very good and they give the selections for various manufacturers (Tamiya, Humbrol, Model Master, etc) and they include a colour drawing for reference. No photos of that sheet but here are sample photos of the instruction sheet.

Instructions%202_zps3nvimgqi.jpg

Instructions%201_zpsexclligc.jpg

Most of the cockpit tub has been assembled. In these photos, you can see how the back of the tub will glue onto the back of the bulkhead at the bottom by sitting in the 'U' shaped slot. I had to sand the edges of the back of the tub to get the tub to fit into the slot. Not a lot of work for a good fit. There are decals for the instrument panel and for the side panels. I'll probably use the decal for the IP and paint the side consoles.

Cockpit%20Parts%201_zpsklck2p6m.jpg

Filed%20Cockpit%20Tub_zps44gk5fon.jpg

Wheel well detail is kind of spartan but that's ok. OOB, remember? In some aspects, this kit is a bit 'over engineered' in my opinion. There are separate flaps, spoilers, ailerons and leading edge flaps on each wing. The leading edge flap parts and the assembled wings have a butt joint. If you wanted to pose the LE flaps, you would have to perform surgery to do the parts proper justice. Here you can see the wheel well detail in the completed right wing and the butt joint of the LE flap of the left wing.

Right%20Wing%20Complete%20-%20Lower_zpskwg0pkwu.jpg

Left%20Wing%20-%20Leading%20Edge%20Flap_zps1sbn1s7w.jpg

There are four spoilers in each wing. It's best to glue them into place before assembling the wing halves. You will ensure a proper and flush fit with the top wing surface. You could glue them open, if you wish, but it would necessitate scratching the necessary actuators, plumbing, etc.

Spoiler%20Attachment%201_zpsyvumkleh.jpg

Spoiler%20Attachment%202_zpstjyaf04n.jpg

More in Part II.

Mike

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As you can see, there are some gaps and steps on the lower wings surfaces. I'm not going to pay too much attention to those as I will concentrate more on the appearance of the upper wing surface as that will be the most visible. Here are a few more photos of the assembly process. The instructions have you glue the separate wingtips into the top wing half before attaching the wing halves. I did so, making sure the top surfaces were flush.

Left%20Wingtip%20Attachment_zpslzry8jcb.jpg

Because of the shape of the flaps, you can't glue them into place after mating the wing halves. You have to rest (or glue) them in place and then attach the wing halves. I simply rested the flap in its place in the top half of the wing and glued the wing halves together. Gluing the wing halves together helps keep the flaps in place. You can then wick glue into the appropriate spots to keep them in place.

Left%20Wing%20-%20Spoliers_zpskh3a6dsm.jpg

Left%20Wing%20-%20Flap%20In%20Situ_zpslwbe3bha.jpg

Right%20Wing%20-%20Flap%20and%20Spoilers_zpsrgf5yvfa.jpg

The aileron slips into place.

Left%20Wing%20%20-%20Aileron_zps4jujrqkc.jpg

Here is an illustration of the gaps and steps noted above.

Right%20Wing%20-%20Lower%20Gaps_zpsysbqlwgm.jpg

Overall, again in my opinion, it would have been better had Hobby Boss moulded the spoilers, leading edge flaps and ailerons as part of the wing halves instead of individual parts. With a bit of patience and some it doesn't matter because you're not going to see it attitude, the wings turned out not too badly. Now let's see what the wing to fuselage join is going to be like.

That's it for now. Due to the assembly sequence, I have to spray all the landing gear bay and cockpit parts before assembly and insertion into the fuselage. Once this cold has subsided, I'll get down to painting and more assembly.

Thanks for looking in and as always, comments and constructive criticism is always welcome.

Mike

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for checking in guys. The cold turned into a really bad sinusitis. Sore ears. Sore throat. Sore neck. Sore teeth. Sinus headaches. Plugged sinuses. Not fun at all. It last 2 1/2 weeks. Still using a nasal spray to get rid of the residuals.

Between that, work and a new Golden Retriever puppy we picked up on 16 October (now 11 weeks old), there hasn't been much time for building. No new photos but I have gotten a bit more done since my last post. I've assembled the main gear legs. They're a bit finicky in design but they should be sturdy enough to hold the completed model. There were a few ejector pin marks to fill and sand on the legs themselves and the insides of the gear doors. There is no detail whatsoever on the inside of the main gear doors. The wells aren't too bad but one could do some work in there, if they were so inclined. I'm not.

The nose gear and well have to be assembled completely before being glued into place in the fuselage and then gluing the halves together. The well is made up of five pieces and the main gear assembly (going from memory) is 9 pieces (?), including the two wheel halves (no separate hubs and tires). I may prime the pieces this afternoon. It depends on how busy Sierra keeps me.

We've named her Sierra, which is short for Sierra Delta. Anyone who knows the phonetic alphabet knows Sierra Delta is the letters 'S' and 'D'. She is quite the little Shite Disturber. Hence Sierra Delta. Also, when she drops a rose, it can also stand for Stinky Dog. Either way, Sierra Delta is VERY well named.

Back to the topic at hand, I've completed the cockpit assembly. The tub is spartan but the side consoles aren't too bad as you can see in previous photos. You can pick out assorted knobs and switches with various colours, as I did. The seat isn't bad either. There are moulded in belts that suit my purpose. For those wishing to add a bit more pizzaz, a resin cockpit assembly (or seat at least) is the way to go. The instrument panel is pretty poopy. There is some relief on it but there are no faces in any of the instruments. Failing a resin cockpit, Airscale Allied jets individual instrument decals would work quite well here, I think.

http://airscale.co.uk/store.php#!/1-48-scale-Allied-Jets-Cockpit-Decals/p/39195032/category=10110361

I used the kit supplied decal and trimmed it as closely to the outline as possible. Even then it's too big. A liberal dose of Solvaset was necessary to get the decal to settle down over the moulded detail on the IP. For the results I'm going for, I can live with these shortcomings.

That's it for now. Hopefully it won't be over a month for my next post. But with Sierra Delta at the ready, along with work and life, who knows?

Thanks to those who dropped in and had a look and read.

Take care.

Mike

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Good luck with your continued recovery, Mike. When I'm sick I don't dare hit the bench in case I'm spotted!

That's amazing to see just how many parts they put into each wing. Like falcon20driver said, it's almost like building the real deal!

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Thanks, guys, for looking in and your support. Gianni...very nice progress on your Thud. In this kit, the extra detail is nice, but IMHO, not necessary. That's just me though.

As promised, a few pics.

For some reason, Sierra likes my size 13 clodhoppers. She doesn't eat or chew. She just carries them around as a trophy. Every once in a while she'll fall asleep (or is it pass out!?) beside or on top of them. When she's not tormenting Bronson (he'll be 14 in the spring), she actually sits with, and cuddles up to, him. Depending on her mood, he is a play toy / chew thing or protector.

DSC_0002_zpsii9aafiy.jpg

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On to the model.

Here are a couple of shots for comparison's sake. It's just a bit bigger than a 48th scale Hornet.

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Ejector pin marks on the landing gear leg and inner gear door.

Gear%20Ejector%202_zpssmuz4zn6.jpg

Set in place cockpit tub and side wall.

Tub%201_zpsjvivdtcd.jpg

Finally, a few shots of the completed cockpit assembly. Not too bad for a kit piece.

Tub%208_zpsrhcfawtb.jpg

Tub%207_zps0nrafn3q.jpg

That's it for now. Working midnights tonight. Hopefully some painting of front gear parts tomorrow or Tuesday.

As usual, comments and constructive criticism is always welcome.

Mike

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My mojo seems to be taking a kick in the pants on this one. Slowly but surely. Whenever I get into a funk, I build for 5 - 10 minutes at a shot and before you know it, a model appears.

I've finally painted the landing gear parts. Primed with MM Light Grey and then sprayed with MM Flat White. I'll assemble later this evening or tomorrow. Maybe... The parts still look grey but they are white.

Painted%20Gear%20Parts_zpsdjpxjhol.jpg

Mike

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People don't realize the size of a 105 unless you worked on them as I did. Standing on the ground under the wing, It's about 8 feet to the bottom of the wing! :coolio: Yours is looking really good. I may have to tackle the Hobby Boss version if you say it's worth it when it's done. :yahoo:

Dean

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Good pit mate!

I've some doubt about the landing gear doors color,I don't remember to see a 'Nam Thud with the white on the landing gear but generally in Aluminium or Interior Green,but I'm not an expert after all and I can be wrong!

Keep up the good work my friend.

Gianni

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Andrew - thanks very much. The cockpit isn't half bad for a stock bit of kit. Did I take a bit of artistic license? Yup but it looks good to me. Too bad about the dial faces having no relief and having said that, the decal option is quite acceptable.

Dean - thanks for your input. It's always nice to hear from a man who has "Been there. Done that." I read somewhere recently (Dave Bashow's CF-104 book...I think?) that Canada was actually considering the F-105 as a replacement for our Sabres. The big wigs in charge of the Air Force chose the CF-104 instead. Please feel free to pipe in with any comments and constructive criticism. It's always appreciated. :thumbsup:

Gianni - here's a link on the ARC Walkarounds page of a Thud with, what I believe, are white gear door interiors. It might be camouflage grey too. This is what I'm basing my painting on. They are the photos taken and posted by Rick Chin. I'll paint the main gear legs and hubs aluminum.

http://www.arcair.com/awa01/101-200/awa182-F-105D/00.shtm

The nose gear strut assembly has been completed. A few paint touch ups and I'll build the wheel well around her.

Thanks for looking in folks and leaving a note. I appreciate the support.

Mike

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The nose gear well and nose gear assembly are done. Well is 5 parts; top, front, back, left and right. Fit is exceptionally good and mounting the nose gear tabs into the holes in the left and right sides is easy.

Assembled%20Nose%20Gear%201_zpso3bo6era.jpg

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Nose%20Gear%20Bay%20Parts_zps4n1bjoqw.jpg

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Assembled%20Nose%20Gear%20Bay%202_zpsnaabnmru.jpg

I've also glued together the radar and nose cone pieces. You can display the model with the nose cone off and radar visible. I'm not going to do that. But, in order to build it with the nose cone attached, you have to build up the radar assembly anyway. Kind of silly but not difficult to do.

Radar%20and%20Nose%20Cone_zpsckgautoh.jpg

The mounting tabs for the engines are handed. You can't reverse them when installing the engine into the fuselage. They only fit one way. Note the cross shaped tabs on one side and the 'U' shaped tabs on the other. Nice touch. I haven't painted the engine as you will see VERY little of it when the fuselage is glued together.

Engine%20Mounting%20Tabs%201_zpsb6cfd2nj.jpg

Engine%20Mounting%20Tabs%202_zpsxc2kpejj.jpg

More photos in next post.

Mike

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I've also painted the intakes white prior to assembly. Part of the main gear bay detail is moulded onto the fuselage assemble as you can see in photo 3, behind the intake. Doing so now in the assembly process will be easier than trying to do it when everything is assembled. It is in my mind anyway. I'll let you know how that turns out. <_<

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Painted%20Intake%203_zpsxgaxywtf.jpg

With the large pieces of main canopy glass, the view into the cockpit should be pretty good. I plan to build with the canopy shut, as I usually do. Here are some photos of the assembled cockpit tub in the fuselage while the glue sets on one set of mounting tabs and slots.

Cockpit%20In%20Situ%201_zpsx5tigrsn.jpg

Cockpit%20In%20Situ%202_zpsglsbyzpg.jpg

Cockpit%20In%20Situ%203_zpsr3ppn39r.jpg

Cockpit%20In%20Situ%204_zpsjr0r757j.jpg

That's it for now. Thanks for looking in and as usual, comments and constructive criticism is always welcome.

Mike

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The nose well has been glued into the right fuselage half. Here it's held in place for alignment while the glue sets.

Nose%20Gear%20Installed_zpsipxe4ucy.jpg

After the glue had set, I installed weight in the nose. The instructions say add weight but nowhere does it say how much to add. This is four 3/8 oz steel sinkers. That should do it.

Weight%20Instructions_zpsstqhlupb.jpg

Weight%20Added_zps2zoh4q93.jpg

And the engine installed.

Engine%20Installed_zpsv2sv1yvr.jpg

Next update should have the fuselage halves joined and the nose cone installed along with a few exhaust area bits done.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

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Dean,

I wish you'd piped up with that suggestion before I glued the bejeebers out of the gear leg and door. :woot.gif: Separating them now would be a disaster. The front gear will (read hope and pray!) be sturdy enough to hold the weight and I think (again...read hope and pray!) that it's far enough forward that it won't (yet again...read hope and pray!) splay the main landing gear struts.

Not that the Revell / Monogram F-86 was as big or heavy as the F-105 (I'm guessing), I did have problems with the apparent flimsiness of the main gear legs on my Sabre. I found that a good dose of CA glue really caused them to be quite firm. I guess I'm going to hope and pray for the same results on my Thud.

Thanks for popping in and offering your suggestion. I really appreciate it.

Mike

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Hey Mike!

I finally caught up to you, my friend, in this excellent thread. As you know, I have been keeping a very low profile lately. No sickness (tapping head/knocking on wood), but just feeling generally swamped by life. My F-4C took forever to build, as you saw. This Thud is coming along REALLY well!!! :thumbsup:

I just received this very same kit from Lucky Model. Neo and I went together a few months back to get a big % off with a larger joint order; his wife just came up this week to visit her parents in Chicoutimi, and she brought my two kits (F-105 and F-100D) with her. Picked them up Thursday. I am currently completing an SR-71 in this GB, but that shouldn't take long. Seeing how you are making this kit, I will shamelessly copy your approach and build it up quickly. I am really happy with the detail in the kit seat and main instrument panel with the decal. Terrific job getting it to settle in place like that; the instruments look very good.

I think you should be OK with the nose weight. All that Sabre experience of yours has given you a sixth sense about how much is needed, and I think the kit gear will be sufficient.

I remember reading the book "Thud Ridge" when I was in my teens in Germany. I talked about the F-105 with my father, and he raved about how the Thud was the only airplane that could walk away from a 104 at low level. This thing is huge, but it was a real fast-mover. Shaping up nicely!

ALF

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