The Little World

They said it couldn’t be done. They said it shouldn’t be done. But I did it.

Now tell me why I did it…because I am not that  convinced that it was a good idea.

I have completed as much work as I intend to do on the Mister Craft Republic F-84G Thunderjet. It is stand-off representation of a 1950’s fighter-bomber in what should be a close-up scale. You gain an image of the plane, but you would be wise to regard it as impressionism rather than realism.

Like any curate’s egg, parts of it are excellent. The two fuselage halves mated very well. The wheels are round and detailed. The fuel tanks are sturdy, and their mounting pylons fit the wings well. Even the tail planes are all that one might want in such a small scale.

All that said, the fit of the rest of the goods is marginal at best and frankly wrong much of the time. The canopy is a travesty in two parts and the landing gear rudimentary.

The decals are in three sheets – two of which are adequate and one downright abysmal. The colourful livery promised by the tail decals is impossible to realise as they are simultaneously wrong-sized and brittle. At least I did not have to get too far down the path before I realised they were useless and threw them away.

This is a back-of-stage model. A member of the chorus to be seen in the shadows as another plane takes the starring role at centre stage. That plane will likely come from Tamiya or at least from Hobby Boss. The prototype is an attractive ship – it just needs a better manufacturer to make it worth the time to build. I shall look forward to the next Thunderjet.

I shall look forward, as well, to the next Mister Craft model I encounter – as I intend to cut it dead in the hobby shop.