Hobby Boss 1/72 F-84G Thunderjet

The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) proposal for a "day fighter", the F-84 first flew in 1946. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thunderjet was plagued by so many structural and engine problems that a 1948 U.S. Air Force review declared it unable to execute any aspect of its intended mission and considered canceling the program. The aircraft was not considered fully operational until the 1949 F-84D model and the design matured only with the definitive F-84G introduced in 1951. In 1954, the straight-wing Thunderjet was joined by the swept-wing F-84F Thunderstreak fighter and RF-84F Thunderflash photo reconnaissance aircraft.

Early air to air combat showed that the plank wing Thunderjet was inferior to the new MiG-15s. As a result, the type became the USAF's primary strike aircraft during the Korean War, flying 86,408 sorties and destroying 60% of all ground targets in the war as well as eight Soviet-built MiG fighters. Over half of the 7,524 F-84s produced served with NATO nations, and it was the first aircraft to fly with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team. The USAF Strategic Air Command had F-84 Thunderjets in service from 1948 through 1957.

This is one of Hobby Boss' selection of 1/72 Easy Assembly kits. The parts count is lower than that of a standard kit, but the detail level is quite high. This one actually has a full cockpit, something other aircraft in this series are lacking due to the way the fuselage is molded. In this case, the upper and forward fuselage are a single piece. The lower rear fuselage and the wings are also one piece and include the bottom half of the tip tank.

The kit provides two different seats and it is up to the modeler to choose which to use. It also has both styles of speed brake. For the G you want the one with all the holes. This can be posed down. Landing gear is quite nicely done and you are provided with a pair of drop tanks as well as rockets for the wings. The canopy is a single piece and has the reinforced framework of the later E and all G model F-84s.

Instructions are nicely done and provide Gunze paint references. Both options are overall bare metal with olive drab anti-glare sections fore and aft of the canopy. Two very colorful scheme are provided. One is the 'done to death' 58 FBG boss bird from Korea while the other is the box art plane of the Thunderbirds. The large decal sheet is quite nicely done and should work just fine. There are aftermarket decals if you want something different. A downside of this kit is that there are no canopy masks made for it so break out the magnifiers, tape and sharp knife.

A lot of people overlook these kits. Yes, they are basically snap kits, but they are well engineered and look very nice when you have finished with them. The complex decal schemes make this kit not for beginners as i am sure they would be frustrated when applying them. Note that you do need to leave off the horizontal stabilizers on these two until after the decals have been applied and the Thunderbirds plane would not normally be carrying rockets so you'll need to fill the holes for those. You'll also need to remove the air refueling probes for the Korean War version.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_F-84_Thunderjet

June 2021

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