Tamiya 1/48
F-84G Thunderjet

It's here! The Tamiya Thunderjet is here! There has been an absence in the 1/48 scale Republic line-up for some time. Monogram gave us an F-84F Thunderstreak, and Heller brought us the RF-84F Thunderflash. The first installment of a straight-wing F-84 was Battleaxe's F-84G. This kit featured some truly outstanding resin details, but some problematic plastic that is typical of limited production kits. Nonetheless, I have one and it will be joining the ranks of built aircraft soon (review to follow). Next, Revell-Monogram announced an F-84E kit due out near the end of this year. And then out of the blue, Tamiya announced the F-84G and beat the Revell-Monogram offering to market by months!

The kit appears to be nicely engineered. It offers a number of nice options and features:

• A choice of tip-tanks or bare wingtips (though you're on your own if you choose bare wingtips - no clear navigation light lenses are offered).
• A choice of external tanks or 500 pound bombs under the wings.
• Optional Rocket Assisted Take-Off (RATO) bottles (the pointy end does go to the back).
• Optional position flaps.
• Optional position ventral speed brake.
• Late style ejection seat (with decal seatbelts provided).
• A nose gunbay that can be displayed open.
• A boarding ladder.

The cockpit detail is nice, as is the intake ducting and nosewheel well. An optional BIG ball bearing is provided for ballast to keep this beast from tailsitting.

As you can see from the decal sheets (plural), you have three aircraft to choose from:

• F-84G, FS454 "Four Queens" of the 58th FBS at Taegu.
• F-84G, FS460 of the 8th FBS, also at Taegu.
• F-84G, FS271 of the 508th SFW (Strategic Fighter Wing), SAC, at Turner AFB.

There are alot of potentials here for modification and/or aftermarket possibilities. An earlier type of speedbrake for initial production F-84Gs, a refueling probe for the tip tank (the refueling receptacle in the port wing is nicely represented), HVAR rockets, and more.

The only concern I have at this point is that there appears to be a slight texture to the plastic. Nothing as drastic as the Battleaxe offering, but one that will have to be buffed out prior to the bare metal finish.

This kit is a very welcome addition to the flightline and I am planning on getting started on this straight away!