Scale aviation modeller international

Tan Model’s 1/48 RF-84F Thunderflash

by Bruce Craig

I

t was the year 1996, and I

pulled out my Hawk F-84 kit.

Many of you have been there;

it’s one of the way-back-then kits.

I was pondering how to improve

the kit, so I started to research

Thunderjets. My quest found

several discrepancies and I soon

took advantage of the opportunity

to photograph the F-84C at March

Field, Riverside, and the F-84E

at Planes of Fame, Chino, both in

California. During this research, I

found that many of the established

“facts” were not correct!

At my son’s urging, I posted my

findings on the internet. This led

to two retired Republic employees,

who worked on the Thunderjet

from day one, to contact me and

provide me with a substantial

amount of Republic documentation.

Fortunately, Tamiya and Revell

soon came to my rescue, so the

need to work on the Hawk kit

was gratefully abandoned.

Even so, my interest in the

Thunderjets soon expanded to

the rest of the F-84 series and has

continued unabated since. For

over 20 years, my first focus of

modelling has been the F-84 series;

I think I have acquired every kit,

decal, resin, photo-etch

(PE), etc, that has come

to my attention.

Thus, having

completed 18 various F-84

models, from Thunderjets,

Thunderstreaks,

Thunderflashes and a

Thunderceptor (all in 1/48

scale), I have the habit of

taking notice when anything

new in the world of models

related to the F-84

series comes to my

attention. Ten years

back, I kit-bashed a model of the

Thunderflash in 1/48 by combining

parts from Heller, Fonderie, and

Monogram, plus AMS Resin detail

parts, my own photo-etch, and

a scratch-built camera load.

Then, in the mid-2015, along

came a rumour, which I quickly

verified, that a company new to

the industry was in the process

FLASH GONE

and

it’s

30 • MARCH 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

BY SACCO DE VRIES

RF-84F THUNDERFLASH

BY BRUCE CRAIG

1/48

030-35-FEAT-RF84F-0318.indd 30 09/02/2018 14:29