Airway Graphics’ 1/72 F-84G Thunderbirds Decals

By Chris Bucholtz

The F-84 was the first aircraft flown by the 3600^th Air Demonstration Flight, later known simply as the Thunderbirds. It was tough, forgiving, and, in 1953, still a front-line fighter!

Airways Graphics has taken its earlier 1/48 set and reduced it to work on the Tamiya 1/72 kit. This very complete sheet allows the modeler to build aircraft from either the 1953 or 1954 seasons, and does a good job of capturing the scheme’s differences: the Luke Field logo of 1953 giving way to the Thunderbird in ’54; the crew names coming off the canopy in 1954; the broken stencil "United States Air Force" of 1953 being filled in for 1954; even the change in Jack Broughton’s rank from Captain to Major is caught in the decals.

There are a few things that may take the uninitiated aback. The instructions say that, except for Capt. C.A. Patillo’s 51-16719, no correlation is given for the aircraft serials and pilots, making the choice of pilots, crew and serials a bit of guesswork at best. The last two of the serials are given, to be exchanged for the last two on the number on the tail decal, meaning you’ll get one F-84G out of this sheet.

A little more advanced is the treatment of the scallops on the nose and tip tanks. The instructions tell you to paint the vertical and horizontal stabilizers white and the tip tanks red and blue, using the decals to provide the white scallops. It also recommends painting the nose red and trimming the corresponding red off the nose decals. This is a problem; the modeler will have to trim away red decal from a double scalloped curve, not an easy task. Airway Graphics should have left the red entirely off of its nose decal if this was to be the recommended approach. Also, an FS match to the red and blue would have been useful in attaining a match with minimal pain.

The small details seem to be where the energy and attention went. Stars on the sides of the boarding ladder, errors on the flag panel and decorations on the wheel hubs are provided as dainty decals. The printing of these sheets is exemplary, with only a slight mis-registration of red-to-white on a nose decal (and that’s supposed to get cut off, anyway!).

For the ultimate in colorful plank-wing Thunderjets, this sheet is a must. Be prepared to do some careful cutting, however, and pay attention to details if you wish to get the most out of the sheet. Our thanks to Airway Graphics for our review example.