Kinetic F-84F Thunderstreak 1:48

Nose intake

As you know I planned to add the aftermarket replacement intake but looking again I do think that this is completely unnecessary as you can easily modify the kit part. All that’s needed if you look at the shape of the kit intake, is to slightly open up each ‘corner’ of the opening. In other words lightly sand back the areas at 10, 2, 4 and 8, imagining you are looking at a clock face. The best thing I have found for this is to use rolls of wet & dry paper rolled into tight tubes. Just work these into the corners and in no time at all the opening looks spot on for what you can see in photos of the real thing.

I test-fitted the forward gun bay cowl and this is going to be closed on this F-84F. To get the best fit I just needed to hold the left forward fuselage slightly away from it’s natural position and inserting a cocktail stick in the gap works a treat while the nose intake is attached, glued and sets.

There is still a very small gap but when it’s dry some careful sanding should close the gap without the need for filler. The gap looks much bigger in the photo but is, in reality quite thin.

Wings

While the fuselage assembly sets up, I worked on the wings. The fit is again very good, although I did notice some slight distortion of the surface texture on the upper wing surface. A sanding stick reduces the effect for a much better look in just a few minutes.

And after…

The canopy main section is masked up inside and out as the inside will be quite visible on the finished model when displayed open. Not so the forward and aft sections. All are sprayed Tamiya Rubber Black (XF-85).

Looking at the forward instrument coaming detail the join lines showed and needed to be sanded back and also sprayed Rubber Black. This is a good time to also fill the gap around the forward left side of the upper gun bay door, using a mix of cyano/talc and when dry, sanded, buffed and re-scribed.

Read on…