The F-105 'Thunderchief', known as the Thud, the Hyper Hog, the Lead Sled and a lot more to those who flew her 'Downtown' in North Vietnam, is indeed a legend. The F-105 was the largest single-seat, single engine combat aircraft in history and although the F-105 was actually designed to deliver a nuclear weapon, it found itself thrust into the role of a conventional high-speed bomber instead when it was deployed to bases in Thailand in 1964. The F-105s flew long-range bombing missions which required aerial refueling along the way and rarely came as a surprise to some of the world's most heavily defended targets at the time like Hanoi and Haiphong. In fact, by 1966-1967, Thuds were flying about 75 percent of the Air Force's attack missions into North Vietnam, inflicting enormous damage to the North Vietnamese war machine but taking a severe beating along the way. Of approximately 600 F-105s, only about 300 were left by early 1967, most the victims of anti-aircraft artillery (AAA), surface-to-air missiles (SAM) and a much smaller number to MiG-21s (F-105 pilots claimed 27.5 air-to-air victories against North Vienamese aircraft at a cost of 17 of their own to enemy fighters).

While photography of these little gems is a challenge for our equipment and limited skills, check out the well proportioned models including the fuselage with detailed canopy, tail assembly and ordnance (never attempted on WEM's resin model!): a MER of 6 M117 750 lb bombs on the centerline pylon, the wings with fuel tanks on the inner pylons and one jammer pod and one AIM-9 Sidewinder on the outer pylons.

While the surfaces are not perfectly smooth (3D printing is done in layers), the plastic used can be sanded and painted much the same way you would handle resin or styrene. The models may still have some powder and oil-like agent on them that needs to be removed by washing in warm water with a drop of detergent in it. These are in-flight gear up models but it should be fairly straightforward to add PE landing gear for a great airfield diorama.

NOTE: While we currently maintain limited inventories of most items, some items may be "printed on demand", which usually requires 10-15 business days from order to shipment.