F-105B/D Open Canopy Correction Set

1/32 scale for Trumpeter

Cutting Edge Modelworks

HyperScale is proudly sponsored by Meteor Productions

The shape of the fuselage spine and canopy on Trumpeter's 1/32 scale F-105D is too slab-sided, and does not reflect the characteristic double curve along the sides of the upper fuselage and canopy.

Cutting Edge now offers a correction set to address this shortcoming.

This set comprises four parts in grey resin and two parts in clear resin.

The largest part of the conversion is the replacement forward fuselage spine. This is beautifully cast with recessed rivets to match the Trumpeter kit. It is cast directly onto a resin block, so care should be taken not to remove too much material while separating the spine from this casting block. The remaining grey resin parts are the canopy rear support and two lateral frames. These are equally well cast.

The two transparent resin parts are very impressive indeed. My samples are clear and sharply detailed, with no distortion evident. Cutting Edge's clear resin casting has taken another leap in quality with this release - apart from the casting block these canopy parts are almost indistinguishable from injected styrene. Previous experience shows that these clear resin parts respond particularly well to a bath in Future floor polish, but please note that the photographs show untreated resin straight from the box.

Some cutting of the kit fuselage is required before the installation of both the spine and the windscreen. The spine area is easily identified by panel lines, so this should not be a great challenge. More care will be necessary for the removal of the instrument coaming, however, as the section to be removed will be needed later to glue underneath the windscreen.

Instructions are quite clear and supported by four construction photos.

Although this is a relatively simple correction, some experience working with resin will be helpful.

Please note that this set does not include parts to convert the F-105D to an F-105B - Cutting Edge CEC32171 is available for that task - but this canopy and spine correction is also applicable to the "B" Thud.

If you have a few resin updates under your belt, and you feel confident enough to build Trumpeter's big Thud in the first place, you should have little trouble with this very helpful correction set.

Recommended.