Monogram's Thunderchief kit was state of the art in the early 80s. Praised as the best F-105 kit of that time. it still holds a place today. While not fully up to current standards, mainly due to its raised panel lines, it can still be built into an impressive model of the "Thud".
Notable Kit Features:
Excellent molded cockpit details with typical Monogram raised switches and dials
Nice Ejection seats with molded seatbelts
Positionable canopies
Optional front and rear crew figures
Vulcan gun muzzle details
Gear detail is good however due to the length of the plastic main gear, it will create stability problems requiring (difficult) bracing or metal main gear replacement
Nicely detailed wheel wells
Main wing spar provided
Well thought out intakes resulting in smooth intake surfaces
Separate fuselage jamming pods making a conversion to "F" model easy
4-separate speed brake petals (one posed in the dropped position
Positionable stabilators
Lots of weapons stores (Mk.117, Mk.82, AGM-45 Shrike, AGM-78 Standard ARM - complete with launch rail & Tanks (depending on the kit version)
Build Inspiration:
You can probably tell that I am a fan of the Thud, especially early on in my model making, as I have several of them.
Heads-Up Report: (This kit was built a long time ago so my memory is limited)
This model has been released by Revell, Monogram, Revell-Monogram, and Hasegawa with different kit numbers and decal options
Metal Main Gear replacements will be the best addition for this kit
Kit Additions / Modifications:
Raised panel lines were sanded down
Exhaust brake petal altered to be displayed in the raised position
Third-party decals
End Result:
The camouflage is the standard TAC Jungle scheme of the time, consisting of Tan (F.S.30219), Dark Green (F.S.34079), and Medium Green (F.S.34102) over Light Gray (F.S.36622) lower surfaces. Decals were from a Microscale sheet.
The After-Build Report:
Overall I would still recommend this Monogram F-105 kit. Although some may find the raised panel lines somewhat dated, it still gives the newer kits competition based on its reasonable price point. To me it builds up looking the part and will be a nice big addition to your display shelf.
If you want more detail for your build, you may find the Hobbyboss kit a better choice as it has options to display the engine, radome, gun bay and re-fueling probe.
Feel free to ask any questions and I will see how good my memory is of the build - Keep on building what you want, how you want - Cheers