TANMODEL RF-84F THUNDERFLASH WORKS

Some steps of Tanmodel RF-84F building:

Cleaning of the cockpit parts.

Cleaning of the nice detailed camera equipment parts.

All parts glued, sanded and cleaned.

Nose wheel well bay parts has some injection marks need to fill. All circles were filled with round evergreen plastics punched proper size and sanded.

Cockpit parts assembled with addition spare pilots parts. Parachute bags from epoxy putty.

Camera bay were detailed with some plastic.

Some metal wires were added as a power supply. They are going to correct after final assembly of the camera parts.

Panel line details are really good and precise but some of them weak or missing. I remarked all lines need to rescribe.

Clear parts added to camera and i also added some more detail according to references. Added materials are evergreen plastic, streched sprue and some masking tape.

Air intake assembly is little tricky. You must position inner part really precise during fuselage assembly which is very difficult. I attached the inner part to one side of the fuselage dryfit and crosscheck from the other side. After correct position found i glued inner part to one side. This way is more safe in my opinion.

Camera bay doors removed. Cutting phase is very critical. If you cut little more than normal, orijinal door will not fit proper as i did its my mistake.

Main wheel well areas were detailed with some wire.

Camera area painted black than after clear coat.

All detail painting and also chipping made with a brush and acrylics. Then after sealed with flat coat. Decals are from my spare stencils box to make more realistic.

Cockpit parts painted grey and than clear coat. Note the instrument panel. Every gauges were drilled to prepare for next steps.

Drilled gauges were filled with kits decal. All gauge decals punched carefully for proper gauges.

Wheel well bays painted interrior green and clear coat.

Same process for detail painting.

Cameras painted proper colors.

Seat and pilot painted and then clear coat. After a day drying time all detail painting was made with acrylics and a brush. Pilots heads, arms and bodies are collection different plastic pilots. Seat belts are from metal band.

Cameras after detail painting and chipping with help of nice Tanmodel kit instruction reference page. Again decals for detailing from other spare kits decal.

Cockpit detail is really nice. Looks like extra detail set after painting.

And fuselage is ready for assemble

No fitting problem during fuselage assemble. But assemble of cameras are not easy.

As you see there are gaps between front door and fuselage because my cutting mistake. Front camera door size extended with streched sprue to minimize gap.

Glare shield was detailed with some plastic. Behind of gauges i added some rods to imitate aft of instrument panel. And also some cable works. Than painted, drybrushed, detailed.

Compass detail is also extra. Metal wire glued end of small cylinder rod. And of course compass decal.

Canopy is really nice and clear. Fits easily. Tanmodel gives two option for canopy. Open canopy is 3 parts and closed one as my choice.

I glued canopy first with Tamiya extra thin. After dried i added some ca glue from outer side to make more strong attachment. After ca glue is dried i sanded all junction. And resicribed canopy lines more precise.

Result is acceptable.

Lower camera window is right on the joining line. Therefore fitting is difficult. Gap occuring after joining. After gluing it needs good sanding than rescribing and after polishing.

I glued fins first. They are fitting normal. After dried i clean the parts to remove sprue marks.

Nose tip is clear part for front camera. Little fitting problem occuring during attachment. Gaps filled with ca glue. Than sanded and polished.

Side cameras attached only with patafix for painting phase. I am going to make all camera windows are open.

Ready for painting.

Painting:

Vallejo Grey Primer 74601 first. After a day drying time Vallejo Metal Color Alluminium 77701 applied. After a day drying time black, red, grey tail tip and dark green airbrushed with help of masking tape.

Chipping was made with a very thin brush over black surfaces. Color was used is Dark grey for chipping.

Finally all panel lines marked up with pencil.

Chipping was made with orange color over red areas, interior green for green glareshiel. And finally same alluminium color was used metal chipping with same way.

External tanks:

I made freehand green camouflage for right tank. Same chipping method. Left tank painted standart RF/F-84F tank colors.

Very thick clear coat applied all surfaces. At least a day or more drying time is needed for decal application. I used mostly Tanmodel kits decal. Some stencils from Icarus F/RF-84F stencil data.

After all applications dried all decals sealed with another coat of thick clear coat. And another day for drying.

Oil paint weathering:

White or light grey oil paint for black surface weathering. Black oil paint weathering for metal surfaces.How much oil paint applied is depends your wish. You can easly delete with odorless turpentine.