Scale aviation modeller international

sight, along with a corrected ejector.

I used Testors FS 26408 Interior

Gray and Testors 2470 Semi-gloss

Black as appropriate, with detail

picked out in several shades of

silver and grey, plus other colours

as appropriate with reference to

photos. The Martin-Baker seat was

detailed with reference to photos

of a seat used in a Norwegian RF.

For the ejector (jet pipe),

I used Testors Gun Metal

Non-Buffing Metalizer.

BUTTONING-UP THE

FUSELAGE

There are alignment features

moulded into the fuselage halves

to aid in positioning the two

bulkheads, but I noticed that if the

glazing frames are in the opened

position, the forward bulkhead

shows through the aft edges of the

openings, so I adjusted it slightly. I

glued the various sub-assemblies

• cameras, mounts, bulkheads,
  cockpit, internal intake and
  engine face, and the ejector – in
  place on the starboard fuselage
  before adding the port half.
  I then installed the nose camera
  and mount; my experience with the
  OOB build showed that it is much
  easier to position these after the
  two fuselage halves are assembled.

EXTERNAL DETAILS

After the fuselage was closed

up, I elected to dry-fit all

the wing assemblies before

adding the intake runners

and boundary layer parts, as

the position of the intake runners is

critical to the proper alignment of

the wing assemblies. The boundary

layer parts are moulded too thick

for scale, so I filed them down to

make them look more accurate.

When I built the RF-84F kit-bash

ten years ago, I created artwork

that included the wing fences and

the wing spoilers, then using that

art, I had some PE brass frets made

up. I used one of my remaining sets

for this build, but if you have some

plans you can do the same, using

thin Plasticard instead of brass.

The custom wing fences were

designed to insert into .010 inch

slots cut into the wings; I used a

razor saw to cut these slots. The

spoilers required that I cut away the

moulded detail supplied as part of

the upper wing parts. I backed the

PE spoilers with some fine mesh

cut from an industrial filter. The

fences were attached into the wing

slots before painting; the spoilers

were then painted separately,

and, backed by the unpainted

mesh, attached into place during

final assembly. During my dry-

fitting, I noted that there was a

gap between the flap and wing

root, but more about that later.

LANDING GEAR AND GEAR

WELLS

The nose wheel and gear is very well

done. To me, the parts breakout of

the fender, wheel, and fork/axle on

the Tan kit is the best of any F-84

kit. Unfortunately, the nose wheel

does not fit over the axle, so I drilled

the wheel out with a #55 drill. I had

noted early during test-fitting that

the upper port side of the assembly

has to be rebated slightly if you

want to get the camera assembly to

align correctly with the glazing.

The outer surfaces (facing

the fuselage) of the main wheels

are representative of those on

Thunderflash aircraft. The inner

surfaces (facing the gear doors) are

correct for Thunderstreak aircraft,

but not for Thunderflash. When I

did my original kit-bash, I created

wireframe geometry for RF-84

wheels on my computer, but at the

time I was unable to do 3D printing.

Now, with the help of my club

members Andy Doty, who converted

the files, and John Geigle, owner

of Masterpiece Models, and who

has a 3D printer, I could hand

over some 3D parts to Harold

Offield of AMS Resin. He has used

these to make masters of correct

RF wheel and tire parts and has

added them to his RF-84F upgrade

set, which I used on my model.

The main gear and gear doors

are nicely done and generally

assemble easily. For this build,

I replaced the main gear struts

(with integral doors) with SAC

white metal struts. Though the

detail in the wells is quite good,

the thickness of the upper surface,

plus the upper wing thickness

results in a very shallow gear well.

PAINTING AND THE EIGHT-

MONTH HIATUS

After assembling the wings to

the fuselage, and with spares

of the canopy and camera bay

covers in place, I commenced

painting with an overall gloss

black Alclad II base coat. I used

four shades of Aluminum Alclad

II on the underside. With the

underside masked appropriately,

I laid down the first camouflage

colour, Model Master Enamel

FS-34079 NATO Dark Green. All

was well –or so I thought. I used

a liquid mask and Tamiya tape

to mask and lay down the second

camouflage colour, Model Master

FS-36231 (similar to NATO Dark

Grey). And then the fight started.

When I removed the masking,

substantial but random areas

of dark green came up with the

masking. Worse, some of the grey

overlaying the green came up

with it. I removed what I could,

redid the green, masked again,

and redid the grey. The result

was the same, if not worse than

when I removed the masking.

This was a big-time bummer.

Now, while pondering “What

34 • MARCH 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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