RNLAF F-84F Thunderstreak, 315 Sqn, Eindhoven AB, 1969

And another Dutch jet is finished! This time it’s an F-84F Thunderstreak from 315 Sqn stationed at Eindhoven AB. The F-84F was a fighter-bomber that could carry nuclear weapons and for that reason several NATO countries were supplied with the jet under the Mutual Defense Assistance Act. The RNLAF operated the F-84F from 1955 to 1970.

The Thunderstreak has received fairly little love from model kit manufacturers but the Czech company Sword has set things right. Sword produces not one, but several Thunderstreak kits, one of which includes the parts and decals to build a Dutch version.

Overall, I really liked the kit. The details such as the many panels on the fuselage are very crisp and there is very little flash. The kit even comes with painting masks for the canopy and a very detailed, resin ejection seat. There are a few minor things, however, that show you that the kit is not from one of the bigger companies. The first isn’t a major issue, but it’s just a little odd. While all parts are numbered in the instruction manual there are no corresponding numbers on the sprues. As the only way to find the required part is by shape, there really is no point to the numbers in the instruction manual.

Picture of the original.

Most of the kit went together well, but I did have to do a fair bit of cutting, sanding and filling to make some of the parts fit properly. Keep in mind also that none of the parts have registration points. Proper alignment of the parts, like the two halves of the fuselage for example, is completely up to you. One more little niggle, the painting instructions include detailed drawings of all sides of the aircraft, but the camouflage one the left side does not seem to join up with that on the right. Some futzing is therefore required to make the camouflage pattern make sense.

With a bit of patience and careful test fitting, though, you get a lovely model. The Thunderstreak may not be the sleekest looking jet, but I think it has a really cool, taking-care-of business look.

Apart from the blue underside, the paint colours used are identical to those on my NF-5:

Camouflage: 70.992 Neutral Grey and 70.887 US Olive Drab

Underside: mix of 70.904 Blue Grey and 70.898 Dark Sea Blue

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