”Thunderbirds”
Miniwings 1/144 Republic F-84G Thunderjet and F-84F Thunderstreak by Jonathan Davies
SUBJECT: F-84G
MANUFACTURER: Miniwings
SCALE: 1/144
TYPE: Resin
STATUS: New decals
NO. OF PARTS: 21
DECAL OPTIONS: 1SUBJECT: F-84F
MANUFACTURER: Miniwings
SCALE: 1/144
TYPE: Resin
STATUS: New decals
NO. OF PARTS: 16 resin plus two vacform
canopies
DECAL OPTIONS: 1THE SUBJECT
W
hen the Thunderbirds
team was officially
named as such in 1953,
the F-84G Thunderjet was the
first aircraft to serve with the
new team. Based at Luke AFB,
the team was originally known
as the 3600th Air Demonstration
Team, but following a competition
in Luke, which drew a lot of
interest, they were renamed the
Thunderbirds. The name came
from Native American folklore,
in which thunder and lightning
are attributed to a giant bird.
The Thunderjet was superseded
by the F-84F Thunderstreak
in April 1955, which went on to
serve with the team until May
1956, having given 91 shows.THE BUILDS
Both kits are moulded in a creamy-
coloured resin that holds detail
well and is surprisingly easy to
work with. The F-84F comes with
two vacform canopies, whereas
the F-84G has what appears to be
a clear resin canopy and a vacform
canopy. Decals are designed by JBr,printed by BOA Agency, and are
clean and in register. Panel lines
are engraved, although if one were
to be critical, they are rather heavy
for this scale. Each kit also includes
a sheet of pre-cut canopy masks.
First off, I went about removing
the parts from the pour stubs. Most
could be easily removed by running
a scalpel along the separation line
a few times before it came away, bitin a few cases a fine saw and a little
sanding was required for clean up.
I started with the G model, which
is a little easier as the fuselage is cast
as a single piece. The wing joints
are pretty sound, and a little time
spent cleaning and squaring themup removed the need for any filler.
Once I was happy with the joints
the main wings were attached with
super glue, the tongue and slot
joints ensuring a firm fit. The extra
preparation paid off and I found Ionly needed a slight dab of Tippex
(correction fluid), wiped down with
a cotton bud and alcohol, to remove
a slight gap at the root trailing edge.
The next stage was to add
the tip tanks, and this was also
straightforward. The wing tipsslot into grooves on the tanks
and whilst the groove could
have been a little larger, the
joint was secure when glued.
I then added the tailplanes,
although in hindsight I should
have left these to the end as it
made decaling the fin very hard
with them in place. On this kit,
there is a slot in the fin into which
you insert the tailplanes, and
given how thin the fin is in this
scale, this is a rather fiddly task.
I found it useful to attach one fin
with the tiniest dab of superglue
to get it held in the right position,
before adding more superglue
from the open side and inserting
the second tailplane. This worked
well and no filler was required.
The underwing drop tanks
should be removed from the pylons
as the Thunderbirds aircraft were
usually seen with just the pylons in
place. Note that the pitot tube should
be omitted. I added the nosegear
doors and the smaller main gear
doors at this point, although as it
turns out, these are also better left
to the end to make decaling easier.
The cockpit is supplied as a
single-piece casting, which when
painted is inserted into the cockpit
tub. After priming with Halfords
White Primer, I painted it using
Ammo of Mig Acrylic Zinc Chromate
Green and Citadel Miniatures Black.
When dry, it was superglued into the
fuselage and the fumes left to vent.
I used the clear resin canopy
rather than the vacform version,
attaching it in place with Gator Glue.
The supplied pre-cut masking was
then applied, a somewhat fiddly
task requiring needle tip tweezers
and a magnifier. It was, however, a
great boon to the whole process.
Turning to the F model:62 • APRIL 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
KIT REVIEWS
062-67-Reviews-0418.indd 62 09/03/2018 16:09