Without a doubt, the USAF bomber of the Vietnam War was the F-105 Thunderchief. Sure, you can talk about the Phantom, and you can mention the B-52, but from the very first, the F-105's purpose in country was to drop bombs. They never were designed for combat air patrol or interception, but to carry bombs and do it while going very fast! Little surprise, then, that half of the Thuds built were lost during that conflict.

When it comes to modeling the 105 in 1/72, there is precious little to choose from. Hasegawa does a D and did a B model. Both kits are one of the earliest produced by Hasegawa and must be at least 30 years old. Even older is a Monogram F-105 kit that had operating features, but was in something close to 1/72. Probably the best of the lot, but not by that much, is the Revell F-105D/F/G series. These are reduced down versions of the Monogram 1/48 kits and while nice, are by no means easy builds. What we need is for Academy to start taking a look at upgrading some of these Century series aircraft kits as it has done with a number of others.

This sheet has quite a few planes on it. Of course there are no national insignia, but there is stencil data for four aircraft. All of them are in the SEA scheme, though photos of the plane in question would be helpful as there were variations in this scheme from plane to plane.

First off is a 49 TFW 105D in very plain markings. It only has a serial number on the tail and a set of all black insignia on the lower rear fuselage. No indication if these were also carried on the wing, but it doesn't matter as the sheet only gives two.

Next is  a 44 TFS bird 'The Polish Glider', probably the most colorful on the sheet.

An F-105G from the 17th WWS is next, resplendent with a nice shark mouth.

From the overhaul facility at Sacramento is an F-105 D with a very large unit insignia on the fin and a camo scheme with the light green and tan colors reversed.

Another F-105G wild weasel from the 57 FWW at Nellis AFB is the fifth subject.

Finally, a 355 TFW F-105D with RM tail codes.

Though the sheet is old, the subject is one that is still often seen and built.

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