1/48 Kitech-Zhengdefu F-111A

by Robert T. Rio

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    Hello ARC this is my newest build, a 1/48 scale model replica in honor of the original F-111's deployed during the Vietnam war way back in the late 60's. The first operational missions of the initial 111's was codenamed "Combat Lancer".  There were initially six F-111's deployed from Nellis AFB to the Royal Thai airbase at Takhli, Thailand.  This model carries the 66-0016 serial number flown by Lt. Col. Dean Salmeier and Maj. Charlie Arnet and was among the first F-111's to fly a combat mission against the North on March 18, 1968.

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The Model Kit I used here was fun to build because it left a lot of details to the builder's imagination, this was a Chinese kit, which is a clone of the academy kit, however the instruction manual is a little vague and  the exact placement of the parts  could not really be determined because of lack of locating holes on the plastic, aside from this the fit was not so good as seen on the pictures, I had to use a lot of putty and eons of sanding jobs. I had to scratchbuild the cockpit and the wheel details including hydraulics and gear details.

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The paint job was done with an airbrush using Tamiya acrylics, I used partly water colors and chrome silver for weathering. Over-all this was a difficult build but the outcome was well worth the while.

Robert

Photos and text © by Robert T. Rio