THE FIRST THUNDERBIRD

Growing up the son of an aviation enthusiast was quite a bit of fun in stodgy old 1950s mile-high Denver. We had Stapleton Field, where many new prototypes would come for their high altitude tests; often they would stay longer than planned when the dry termperatures would send the density altitude soaring beyond their ability to leave. These were the days before security gates and metal detectors, when a pair of 14-year old boys could dodge school to go out and see the prototype of the Boeing 707, and get a personal tour from cockpit to tail by Boeing Chief Pilot Tex Johnson. They were also the days of airshows, and with both Lowry AFB and NAS Buckley within ten miles of each other, and separate service holidays still being celebrated, one could see some incredible sights.

I was fortunate that, in 1954, the Thunderbirds came to Denver for the first time to celebrate Air Force Day that October, and the Blue Angels came a month later for Navy Day. Lucky because it was the last year that the Thunderbirds would fly their first airplane, the Republic F-84G Thunderjet, and also because it was the last season for the Blue Angels in their F9F-5 Panthers. I have often thought that my soft spot for these two aircraft types came from my youthful memories of those two long-ago Saturdays. These were the days before the Federal Aviation Administration came up with crowd "dead lines," and both teams performed many of their maneuvers directly overhead. They were load, they were low, and they were cool!

Over the years, I have built several Thunderbirds models - the F-100 Super Sabre (in which I still think they did their best shows), the F-4 Phantom, T-38, and F-16 Fighting Falcon. And I would wish there was some way to do that first Thunderbird; I once tried a mishmash of the old Hawk kit and the MicroScale decals for the T-33 Thunderbird, but it didn't look really right. When the wonderful Tamiya Thunderjet came out, I not only began hoping for Thunderbird decals, I was in a position to actively lobby decal designers for it.

Fortunately, Jennings Heilig - best known for his Liveries Unlimited airliner decals - also loves the Thunderbirds, and wanted to make a splash with his first venture in 1/48 decals. The result, as can be seen in these photographs, is stunning.

The Airway Graphics decal sheet provides all the markings to make two different airplanes from the two different years the team flew the F-84G, with detailed information about markings differences. I chose to make the airplane of team leader Captain Jack Broughton in the second year, the year I saw him fly this airplane. As an Air Force Colonel some 15 years later, Broughton created quite a controversy with his tactics regarding "protective reaction strikes" over North Vietnam following the 1968 bombing halt, and he was forced into an early retirement from the Air Force. His book, "Thud Ridge," is one of the best accounts of the Southeast Asian air war one can read.

These decals are not for the inexperienced. As the instruction sheet cautions, "this is not an evening's project." I found myself doing it in three steps, which worked out well.

The airplane itself was assembled "out of the box" and given a multi-hue natural metal finish by using SnJ aluminum paint as the basecoat, with additional use of the SnJ polishing powder on small doors and other panels when the underlying paint was dry to the touch but not yet cured; this way the powder would adhere to the paint as it dried, and would not need to have a sealer on it. The next night, after this had all dried, I masked it off with drafting tape and put on some different panels with ModelMaster Metalizer paints, which I did seal. I then began the decaling.

Rather than paint the tail surfaces white, I used a large sheet of solid white decal from Cutting Edge, and cut out patterns for the vertical fin and horizontal stabilizers. I also put a white center to the tip tanks. This is a good solid decal, fully opaque, and no silkver undersurface showed through. When one is doing this kind of work, never fear to use too much MicroSol. I slathered it on, with repeated coats, and the next day the sections were melted into the surface like paint. I then applied the tail decals from the sheet, doing the vertical fin first, and following that with the horizontal stabilizers. Again, I used plenty of solvent and as the process worked I poked holes to deflate air bubbles with the tip of my craft knife blade. I also applied the nose patterns, which go on very easily, and the tip tank patterns.

In all cases, I put the decal on initially after making sure there was a lot of water on the surface, but no solvent. These decals react quickly to solvent! I floated them into position, then swabbed them with Kleenex to absorb the excess water, then applied the MicroSol. With these done, I set the model aside for the decals to dry overnight.

The next day, I gave the decal surfaces a shot of Future to protect them during handling. When this was dry, I proceeded to apply the national insignia, and all the other small Thunderbirds insignias. I then set it aside and let things set up. The following day, when they were done, all the decals were again given a coat of Future, and I proceeded with the final assembly of landing gear and canopies.

Airway Graphics can be contacted by e-mail at: jrh@airwaygraphics.com