This all began a year ago last winter when a vintage 1/72 Heller F-84G showed up in the mail (thanks a million, hamsterman!) Few things convey the thrill of early jet flight like this box art:
For a year I was stymied by what to do with this kit. One idea was adding a belly intake like on an F-16.
I thought I was going to go with this so I started by attempting to improve the tailpipe.
That's a little hard to make out. Here's a close-up:
Not being thrilled with the concept, I lost interest and the kit sat, the only progress being that straw stuck in the rear end. Then my haul from the Renton show arrived. Inside were two
Italeri Italaeri Italaerei (apparently) F-84Fs. Once again, more incredible box art:
So now I had two F-84Fs and an F-84G. In a moment of beer-inspired modeling clarity it came to me. While I'd seen a Zwillig, I'd never seen a Twillig. Three fuselages it would be!
Originally, I hoped to make it with swept wings etc. since I had an abundance of them between the two F-84F kits, but that led to all sorts of problems. I hoped the straight F-84G wings would work, but I only used half of them to connect the center fuselage. The outer wings are refugees from a T-33 since what was left of the F-84G wings ended up too short.
The tail feathers were all left-overs, the horiz. stabs. from an Airfix DH Herron and the new fins and rudders from a nameless Me-410.
I had a bugger of a time getting it all together and ended out dropping it between coats of paint. That meant I had to get the fuselages lined up and attached again, but at least they ended out a little less cock-eyed second time around.
Speaking of paint, the old hairy stick was used along with a lot of acrylic Polly Scale Weyerhauser Green.
The canopies were tinted with Model Masters Flat Black and the tailpipes finished with Model Masters Jet Exhaust.
Decals were mostly from those three Admiral Ansaldos I picked up recently which thankfully provided 10 matching red stars.
The nose and fuselage Bort numbers are all left-overs from Monogram P-36s.
Despite a few problems, I had a lot of fun putting this one together.
I'd like to thank Bill & Jeff for their eagle-eyes at the show and for helping me truly appreciate the F-84!
I'd also like to thank Commissar Lemon Jello for his wise GB leadership and steadfast commitment to the cause!
I hope you enjoyed the Tupolev Troika and reading a little more aircraft history that's been forgotten in triplicate.
Brian da Basher