Thundering Jets

Most of you are familiar with the U. S. Air Force's Thunderbirds and the U. S. Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration teams.  You might have even seen the Canadian Forces' Snowbirds, too.  The Italians, rich in aviation history themselves, have their own demonstration team, the Frecci Tricolori, and they fly a spectacular routine with as many as ten jets in the air at once.  Before them, though, there were several "official" teams in Italy.  Cavallino Rampante, Diavalo Rossi, Tigre Bianchi, Lancieri Nero, and the subject of this post, Getti Tonanti preceded the Frecce Tricolori.

Getti Tonanti (literally translated it means Thundering Jets) was the 5^o Aerobrigata's demonstration team.  Founded in 1953 and based at Rimini, they flew Republic F-84G Thunderjets under the team name Guizzo before they changed their name to fit their mounts.  In 1959 they re-equipped with the Republic F-84F Thunderstreak.  They flew as part of the opening ceremonies at the Rome Olympics in 1960; their airplanes for the 1959-1960 season were decorated with various trim colors and all of them wore the Olympic Rings on the vertical tail surfaces.  Getti Tonanti were the last "independent" demonstration squadron; in 1961 the Aeronautica Militaire formed Frecci Tricolori as the Official Italian Air Force demonstration squadron (313. Gruppo Addestramento Acrobatico;Pattuglia Acrobatica Nazionale (PAN) Frecce Tricolori), and based them at Rivolto.

Monogram's 1/48 F-84F Thunderstreak

Back when this kit was originally issued in 1984, I attempted to build one. I say “attempted” because I never finished it—the reason or reasons why are fuzzy and lost to the sands of time.

Since then, I settled on 1/72 scale for most of my post-war jet models. I have the Italeri and Airfix kits of the Thunderstreak in the stash, but when one of the Monogram kits came up for auction at the annual IPMS/Flight 19 Holiday party, I bid $5 and won the kit. I have since purchased another (a Monogram/Germany release in sliver plastic), plus the Kinetic kit, and will probably spring for the upcoming Italeri version, too. I don’t know why….

One of the things that seem to put a lot of modelers off on the older Monogram kits is the raised scribing. To me it is really no big deal, as I will either build the kit and leave the panel lines alone, or re-scribe. Since I wanted a Thunderstreak in bare metal, I thought it best to re-scribe the panel lines. So, I grabbed my roll of Dymo label tape, my scriber, and some sandpaper and set to work. I use a sewing needle chucked into a #1 handle for my scriber—break a sewing needle in half, chuck the broken end of the pointy end into the knife handle or a pin vise. Break the eye itself in half, and then push that part into a pencil eraser so that the eye end sticks out like a “Y”. Now you have a scribing tool and a super glue applicator. I use the smallest needles I can find—a whole package of them usually runs about a dollar (US) at Walmart.

I used the German release of this kit, since silver gray plastic is A) softer and 2) retains a ghost of the panel detail when the raised lines are sanded off. I sanded the panel lines off of one wing top, and then laid a length of Dymo tape along the ghost of the panel lines. A few runs along the tape with the scribing needle, a quick set-sand with 600-grit sandpaper, and then I moved on to the next area. Two keys to this operation—go slowly and make a few light passes as opposed to one heavy pass. You can always deepen a line rather easily—it is much more difficult to fill a line that is too deep. While I was sanding, I removed the raised refueling receptacle door from the top of the wing and scribed an outline of the same. I was careful around all of the raised vents and bumps so as not to remove them. Once the model had been scribed, I gave it a wash. Any lines that were clogged with sanding dust got a scrubbing with a toothbrush to clean out the dust. If you run the needle along the lines to clean them out, use a light touch since you don’t want to create more burrs that will need to be sanded down again.

I scribed one fuselage half and then mated it to the other half. I then marked where the lines would pass over the fuselage seam. This ensures that the panel lines will match up from one side to the other.

With the scribing complete, I built the kit per the instructions. I won’t bore you with “I started at step one and glued part 1 to part 2”, etc. I built the model with no embellishments. The only area that gave me fits was the wing root on both sides—the right one was a little better than the left, but both were pretty bad. I set the angles and locked the wings in with super glue. Once the glue set, I packed the seams with scrap plastic and added more super glue. I sanded the seams, which revealed more gaps. I used Tamiya putty on the seam, and it was a disaster. I applied a thin layer of putty, set the model aside for two or three days, and then tried to smooth the putty out. For whatever reason, the putty reacted with the plastic and caused a great many air bubbles. I’ve been using Squadron putty for years, and while I’ve had it generate some small bubbles, they were nowhere near as huge as the ones the Tamiya putty left. Furthermore, the plastic remained softened for several weeks after the putty was applied. I don’t know why this happened, but after leaving the model to sit for a few weeks, I was able to proceed. The rest of the small gaps were filled with gel-type super glue, allowed to set up for about five minutes and then sanded smooth. In retrospect, that’s probably what I should have done on the wing roots…

I hadn’t decided on a final scheme for this model until it was well under way. I was originally torn between a Pennsylvania Air National Guard airplane and an active duty USAF plane. I went digging through my decal stash and found MicroScale sheet 48-112. It has markings for one French airplane depicted during the 1956 Suez crisis and one airplane in the colors of Italy’s “Getti Tonanti” demonstration team during 1959/1960. Since I wasn’t sure that the Monogram kit’s configuration was correct for the Suez airplane (all of the photos I have show the small tail bumper and small suck-in doors, i.e., a Block 20 or earlier from what I've been able to discover through research), and since the Italian airplane had some splashes of color, I decided to go that way. Boy, that was another can of worms…

MicroScale’s sheet gives you the Olympic rings in black, along with the Squadriglia and Aerobrigata markings, serials, and roundels. The painting instructions are typical early MicroScale in that they are vague and incomplete. The serials on the decal sheet weren’t representative of any one airplane. The painting guide shows the overall bare metal with the tri-color wing and the spine, intake, and tail bumper painted in the various colors for the team (red, yellow, orange, white, black, pale green, and pink were the actual colors, the decal instructions show the orange option) but don’t tell you that the underside of the wing and horizontal stab have a dart design in the same color. The underside of the wingtips is red regardless of which airplane color used. So, here’s what I did…

The model was primed with Tamiya Fine White Primer from the aerosol can. This stuff is beautiful—it lays down smooth and thin. Once that was dry, I buffed it with an old handkerchief to remove any dust that may have become embedded. Then I applied my own acrylic mix for Bare Metal—5 parts paint, 2 parts Future, and 10 parts Isopropyl Alcohol. This is a very thin paint, almost a tinting color. Airbrush this on in light coats and let the paint set up between coats. This stuff will run in a heartbeat, so pay attention! The first few passes won’t look like much, but as you add thin coats, the silver will start to shine. Once the base coat is applied, allow it to dry for an hour or so. In the meantime, tint your silver with some blue or black. When the base is dry, mask the panels you want to appear darker and apply the tinted sliver. Remove the masking and let the model dry overnight. Since there is a large proportion of gloss added to the mix, you shouldn’t need to clear coat the bare metal areas. You can mask and add other colors (trim colors, anti-glare panels, dielectric areas, etc.) as required. If you use flat paints, those will need their usual gloss coat (I use Future) before decals—you can coat the entire model using an airbrush with no problems if you wish, or you can apply Future with a Q-Tip to the affected areas. Don’t worry—it works, trust me.

I mixed Tamiya’s Sky with some Tamiya Park Green for the pale green trim color. I used straight Park Green for the green on the upper wings. Testor’s Acryl Insignia Red was used for the red areas on the upper wing and underside of the wingtips. I used Tamiya Tape for all masking. I originally goofed and, based on a photo of a museum airplane, painted the underside of the wing white. No big deal, as I wanted a white base for the pale green areas and tri-color wing tops anyway. I simply masked as needed, applied the appropriate color, and re-shot the bare metal where needed over the white primer.

There was some question as to the fitting of pylons—most photos show the inners installed all the time, and the outers were only rarely used on these airplanes. Having relegated the pylons to the spares box when I decided to do a demo airplane (and having lost track of just which spare parts depository they landed in!), I simply omitted them—the model still looks god, so no harm done.

I masked the around the wheel wells and gear doors and painted the interior color using Tamiya’s Yellow-Green, which would have been correct according to a friend who maintained F-84’s in the USAF.

The decals, old as they were, went down with no issues. I cobbled up correct serials from the scrap decal box. I refined the leading edge color separation with thin strips of MicroScale's red decal film. The various other colors (anti-glare panel, antenna dielectric areas, etc.) were masked and painted using Acryl, Tamiya, and ProModeler acrylic paints.

Final assembly was done per the kit instructions. I broke one of the main struts at the mount, so I drilled and pinned it with brass rod material. I had sanded the position lights off of the wing tips, so I added them back by drilling a small hole where the lamp was, inserting short lengths of stretched sprue (painted the relevant color) and built up a lens using Pacer's RC 56 Canopy Glue. (And, true to form, I broke one of the stabs off while maneuvering the model during the photo shoot. And, to add insult to injury, I broke the other main strut while bringing the model home from the club meeting. Sometimes...)

Pictures?  Oh, yeah...

_{That cockpit is all Monogram--I added nothing but careful painting.  They were the masters of cockpit detail in the day!  You can also see a bit of the re-scribing work that was done.  The panel lines on the Thunderjet are relatively simple and made a good candidate for your first total re-scribing job.} 

_{A veiw of the belly of the beast.}

_{A port side view.  The team name was to port, the Aerobrigata emblem was to starboard.  Microscale got both a bit off, size-wise, but they work nonetheless.}

_{And here you see proof--the Huntress Diana emblem of 5^o Aerobrigata.}

_{And an overhead--well, more or less--view of the completed model.  It is a colorful addition to a display case, no doubt about that!}

On my next bare metal finish, I will try Hawkeye Models’ Talon acrylic. It wasn’t available when I built and painted the model. I would also forgo the tinted silver and make the panel differentiation before the bare metal by masking some panels and using Tamiya’s gray aerosol primer for those. Since this mix goes on so thin, you can use the underlying primer to do your panel tinting…

Another “Next time, I’d…”: I would definitely use Harold Offield’s AMS Resin parts on my next 1/48 F-84F. He has detail/correction sets to correctly depict most any F-84F from either the Heller/FM or the Revell-Monogram/Kinetic kits, including cockpits, seats, and a corrected aft fuselage/tailpipe for the Monogram kit. He even offers a backdate kit with the smaller tail bumper and suck-in doors for any 1/48 F-84F kit. Nice. 

I’ll leave the accuracy issues for last. When this kit came out, it was heralded as the more accurate of the two 1/48 F-84F kits then available (Heller being the other). It seems that only recently have some “issues” been brought to light. I’ll state them here and let you decide what is good enough for you…

1. The aft fuselage on the Revell kit is wrongly shaped. It would appear that Monogram took the splice all the way to the tailpipe, which leads to an oval opening around the tailpipe. This should be round. AMS Resins’ set fixes this.

2. The tail is wrong on the _______ kit. Well, sort of. What I’m seeing is two different issues—Monogram’s kit has a taller tail, which seems to be in line with photos of late-Block F-84F’s. Heller’s kit has the shorter, earlier tail. Monogram’s tail may be swept a little on the shallow side, while Heller’s may be swept too much. Either way, it doesn’t bother me as much as it bothers die-hard F-84F fans. I’ve seen one model “corrected”, and the work is well within the means of most modelers. If it makes you feel good….

3. The speed brakes—what a can of worms. Monogram’s kit existed for 20-some years before people started citing the location and size of Monogram’s speed brakes as being wrong and holding Kinetic kit up as the “proper” example. If I read my references correctly, I’m willing to say that this falls in the same boat as the tail—for the late-Block F-84F’s, Monogram’s brakes look to me to be correct. Another take on this issue is that Monogram and Kinetic both got the length of the actual brake wrong (they're too long) and that Monogram has the aft end of the well positioned correctly, and Kinetic has the forward end positioned correctly. Whatever error seems so small to me that I’m willing to live with it regardless. Unlike the tail, this will require far too much work for far too little improvement. I’m going to let sleeping dogs lie on this one. Again, if it makes you feel good, do it. Me, I’m not that masochistic.

4. A note to those of you with the Kinetic kit (This doesn’t apply to the Monogram or Heller kits, because they both got this part correct): Kinetic’s intake shape isn’t correct—the correct shape should be an oval with straight vertical sides. Kinetic’s intake is a pointed oval (like an American football). I plan on casting a copy of my remaining Monogram kit’s intake to use with the Kinetic kit I have—unless Harold at AMS beats me to it.

For those of you not willing to re-scribe a Monogram kit and see the Kinetic kit as an easier alternative, I partly agree. Outside of the intake shape issue I mentioned, Kinetic’s kit isn’t bad—unless you want to do a bare metal scheme. It will take some priming and sanding to eliminate the pebbled texture on the plastic, but once done should be easy going. I'd probably hit the parts, on the sprue, with a coat of sandable primer (automotive supply houses and some auto parts stores stock it, it is made by Dupli-Color), let that dry, then give the parts a wet sanding. Repeat as required. Then, I'd assemble the model...

You 1/72 scale builders out there have a few options as well.  I've already mentioned the Airfix and Italeri kits of the Thunderstreak.  Neither is particularly good, but you can combine the two into a fairly nice model.  Or, PJ Productions does a resin kit that has seen some very good reviews since it was released.  Tauro Models have done the decals in 1/72 scale, so with a little work you should be set.  Tauro has also done some of the other teams as well. 

Thanks for reading.  Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.