Heller 1/48
F-84F Thunderstreak 'Make-Over'

The Project

One of my "fantasy" projects for the fall is to do a rebuild of my Heller 1/48th F-84F Thunderstreak that I built out of the box (OOTB) thirty years ago. This was my second natural metal model and I used Spray 'N' Plate for the overall finish with Pactra Flat Aluminum to do the center section of the wings and tail planes. Last night while watching the Astros finally win a game, I was able to carefully remove the landing gear, gear doors, underwing tanks, and dive brakes without any breakage. I was also able to remove 95% of the decals using a very sticky masking tape. I had thought it might pull up some paint, but as you can see by the attached photo, I did not lose any of the finish whatsoever. This will undoubtedly speed-up the rebuilding process.

When the kit was released, my old friend Larry Montgomery and I decided to both build the kit simultaneously using only the kit parts and decals, the models to be entered in the OOTB category at the 1977 Region VI Convention hosted by IPMS/Oklahoma City. I choose the French scheme and Larry picked a very nice camouflaged aircraft in Belgium markings. I was fortunate enough to win 1st in the category just barely ahead of Larry, my belief being that the natural metal finish gave me a leg up on the competition. Very few persons where building many nm finishes in those days, mainly due to the lack of good paints. I started using Spray 'N' Plate about that time and found it to be a superb metalizer finish; very smooth, durable, and easy to use (no primer necessary). The guys who produced Spray 'N' Plate went out of business in the late 70's or early 80's and I have been told that Alclad is a derivative of this formula and product. The kit has been in my display cabinet for nearly 30 years, and until last night, it still looked brand new.

Now that I am retired and concentrating on USAF 50's and 60's aircraft, I thought it would be neat to have this same model, but in USAF markings, in this new collection. Enter Wayne Fowler. Wayne and his brother (Fowler Decals) produced a decal sheet having very colorful markings for this model (from the 366th Fighter Bomber Wing I think) in the late 70s, produced after I had already finished the model. Taking a shot in the dark, I contacted Wayne a few months ago asking if he just might have one of these old decal sheets still laying around. He didn't, but his brother did, so Wayne has been gracious enough to obtain one of these for me and help in this rebuilding project. THANKS Wayne!!

Being able to save all of the stencils and save the paint means after I overspray the wingtips (painted yellow originally) and pick-off the remaining decal residue, I should be able to start decaling almost straight away. I guess after 30 years, the Spray 'N' Plate is pretty damn dry and won't come up or wear off with a bit of handling!

More to come.....