T04 Republic F-105 Thunderchief (1964 six shows)

Dave Burgess Autore
Gonna have to modify the LG a bit. This old Hasegawa kit molded the landing strut and hydraulic oleo in one piece. There are two mount points in the wing, one for the strut and the other for the oleo. Unfortunately either they made the strut too long or the oleo too short, because if you cement it into the two mount points, either the gear lean too far forward, or too far inward. I'm going to nip the oleo at the strut, straighten the struts, and then re-attach the oleos to the struts only a bit lower. I can't leave it the way it is - the aircraft looks bow-legged compared to my other F-105 (Trumpeter).

Dave Burgess Autore
L/G sorted out. I had to break them off, separate the hydraulic oleos from the struts, then re-attach the struts and oleos separately. Decals were a challenge on this kit. the (light blue) backing behind the decals (the substance that makes the decals slippery when wet) had deteriorated to the point of a powder that stuck to the underside of the decal. The only way to remove it was to slide each decal, upside down on my workbench (glass) surface, brush the decal with a paintbrush and water, then pick it up with a pair of tweezers and place it right side up, back on the decal paper (which also had to be washed off).. Fortunately the decals themselves were robust enough that they held together through the process. If I'd had to do that on the T-38, I'd have a pile of crumbs instead of a decal! Oh, the joys of working with old kits! Still, it turned out well