| KIT: | Trumpeter 1/72 F-105D Thunderchief |
| KIT #: | 01617 |
| PRICE: | $29.95 MSRP |
| DECALS: | Three options |
| REVIEWER: | Scott Van Aken |
| NOTES: | New mold kit that only does a late F-105D |
| HISTORY |
The Republic F-105 was designed from the outset as afighter-bomber with some air to air capability. It was designed to carry itsweapons in an internal bomb bay and to be able to deliver that load atsupersonic speeds. If nothing else, the F-105 is VERY fast at low level. Itscompetitor in the fly-of was an F-100 follow-on from North American, the F-107.The F-107 was a very capable aircraft and equally as fast, however, the nod wasgiven to the Republic entry, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The Thunderchief or 'Thud' as it was generally called, was themost capable USAF fast attack bomber in the inventory when the Vietnam Warheated up in the mid-1960's. Almost every 105D built saw action in that conflictas did a number of F-105F twin seaters as well as the 105G Wild Weasel. Becauseof the high use of the Thud and the ferocity of ground defences, it shouldcome as no real surprise that a huge number of airframes were lost in thatconflict.
When the war was over, the few surviving airframes wereincorporated into some ANG and Reserve squadrons as the USAF had replaced themwith the F-4 Phantom II. The last F-105s in service were the F-105Gs of the 128TFS Georgia ANG and were retired in the mid-1980's.
| THE KIT |
There are many, many modelers who love to build Century Series Fighters and amongst that crowd are some who are major fans of the the F-105. It is hard not to like this huge brute, an aircraft that was pretty well the USAF's bomber during the Vietnam conflict. In fact, around half the production run was lost during the years that they flew, leaving few aircraft to soldier on post war with ANG and Reserve units.
Well, Trumpeter has brought us out a small scale F-105 to compete with the kits of various vintages from M
onogram, Hasegawa, and Revell, to name a few. Probably the best of those is the Revell kit, though it is by no means an easy build. The Hasegawa kit, one of their very early releases, is old school with very thick plastic and minimal detailing, though it was a nice one for the time.
So lets us look at this new one from Trumpeter. As I'd 
built the Revell kit about six years back, I was able to glean some F-105 knowledge and I can tell you that this is a late F-105D. What that means is that there are reinforcement plates on underside of the wings and aft fuselage. There are cooling scoops on the rear and an ECM blister on the trailing edge of the fin. It also has a strike camera and the usual mass of gun gas vents on the nose. In addition, it has a cable run on the spine and the smaller fin base intake.
The plastic is what we've come to expect from any scale Trumpeter kit. Engraved panel lines with engraved rivet detail. Some will like it, some won't and others won't care. The interior is OK for this scale, the instruments being represented by decals. The seat is also rather generic. I'd say that the Revell kit has the upper hand here.
The kit has separate flaps, which many of us will like as it was not uncommon to see these down on the ramp. Ailerons are separate as is the rudder. A hinged tail hook assembly is also part of the deal and if you want to show the 20mm rotary cannon, there are separate panels for this as well as the air refueling probe. The exhaust petals are separate as well so you can pose these open, though in reality, on the ground, usually only the lower one was deployed as the hydraulic pressure bled off.
For things under wings you are provided with two large wing drop tanks as well as two MERs and what appear to be Mk 82 slicks. Two Bullpup missiles are also part of the sprue as is a large centerline tank which was rarely u
sed except perhaps for ferrying.
Instructions are standard Trumpeter in that they are well drawn and show any needed pre-painting. Paints are Gunze references. Markings are for three planes. One is an early 105D in overall aluminum from the 334 TFS/4TFW. Another is 'Polish Glider', a camouflaged aircraft from the 466 TFS/419 TFW, and finally, a camouflaged 334 TFS/4 TFW plane. The decals are well printed though the blue borders on the US insignia seem rather anemic. I also noticed that the yellow is quite transparent as the lettering on the TAC tail bade is impossible to read against the white backing. I'm also thinking that the under wing USAF is a bit thin as well. Fortunately, there are aftermarket sheets for this plane and I'm sure more will spring up now that this kit has been released.
| CONCLUSIONS |
Overall, it looks to be a nice kit. A few concerns. One is that the instructions show all the control surfaces save the exhaust petals in the neutral position so they may not be able to be easily reset. Secondly, this is a late F-105D. I do not know when all those reinforcements and additional mods were added, but I'm betting it was after the overall aluminum aircraft (and by the way, that is aluminum paint not bare metal as only the very early planes were unpainted). Those wanting to do a camouflaged wartime and post war F-105D will be quite happy to have this one finally available. Now, if someone would tackle the other century series aircraft....
I bought this one to examine so you don't have to.October 2007 If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly, please contact the editor or see other details in the