F-105 Thunderchief
in Detail and Scale

Printed and Digital Books

Reviewed by Floyd S. Werner Jr.

When people think of the Vietnam airwar, most will think of the F-4 Phantom or the F-105 Thunderchief.  Going Downtown meant a whole new thing for the Thud pilots. 

As is usual with the Detail & Scale series of books, the author is Bert Kinzey, but this book has a co-author, Jim Rotramel, who flew in the F-111.  As always, the book is expertly illustrated by Rock Roszak.  So with this winning team I knew I was in for a treat. 

The first D&S book on the F-105 was a 72 page book printed in 1982 when the Thud was still in NG and AFRES service.  Most of it was printed in black and white photos.  Welcome to the 21st Century.  This digital book offers 193 pages with most of the photos (230 0f the 260) in full color.  Not only are they full color but the digital format allows you to enlarge the picture.  Any resemblance to the original book is purely coincidental.  This is an all new ‘book’.  So what is in the book?  Let’s find out.

The layout is typical of the D&S series of books.  It starts out with the Thunderchief’s history and it is quite comprehensive.  It covers from before the F-105 all the way through to the F-105G.  One of the things that struck me was that of the 833 Thunderchiefs that were built, 612 were lost in combat or operational causes.  That’s 73% of the entire production run.  Still the Thud performed well in combat and was loved by those that flew it.

The variants of the F-105 is the next chapter, starting with the YF-105A, YF-105B, RF-105B & JF-105B, F-105B, F-105D, F-105F, and finally the F-105G, including the Wild Weasel Thuds.  Each variant has the differences between them noted, a boon for modelers, and each variant is lavoused with full color photos.  I especially loved the treatment that the F-105F and F-105G Wild Weasels get.  It is very in depth about the mission and the changes in the airframe along with the mission equipment.  A veritable one stop shop.  Worth the price of the book already.

Arming the F-105 is next and includes some great illustrations and drawings from Jim and Rock.  Everything from the cannon to nuclear missiles are shown.  Missiles, rockets, nukes, bombs, cluster bombs, you name it it is included.  If the F-105 carried it, it is in this section.  Again invaluable for the modeler.

Then we get into the walk around stuff, starting off with the cockpits of the various versions.  Ejection seats are included in this section as well.  Moving onto the windscreen and fuselage details.  This has everything a modeler who wants to super detail his kit could ask for.  Including the modifications that needed to be done to the aircraft to make it ready for Vietnam.  The wings and underwing pylons are next and this is where Jim’s expertise adds greatly to this volume.  There is all the information needed here that a model or aftermarket company could ask for to design accurate parts.  ECM pods are included as well.  Landing gear, tail and engine details round out the chapter.  Literally covering everything from front to back on the Thud.

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The next chapter is the one that set D&S apart from the rest of the walk around books of the past, the Modelers Section.  Everything from 1/144th to 1/32nd is covered, including a box scale 1/75th scale.  I love the way they address the strong points and the short comings of each kit.  For some modelers it will matter, for others not so much but all the information is included in here for them to make a decision on. 

The digital book is a great way to build your library without taking up serious shelf space.  The amount of detail in these books makes them worth every penny.  Sure if you like to have an actual book in your hand they are also available through Amazon for $19.99, but for $12.99 you can have the same book that allows you to blow up the pictures and print them out as you need them.  Either way you can’t go wrong. 

As with every Detail & Scale book, this book is a one stop shop and a bargain.  If you were going to have one book on the F-105, this is that book.

Highly recommended

Thanks to Detail & Scale for the review copy.  You can obtain yours by going to the Detail & Scale website, https://www.detailandscale.com/detail-scale-publications.  There you can find a link to the printed edition as well as the iBooks and Kindle versions of it. 

Thanks to Detail & Scale or the sample.

Review Copyright © 2023 by Floyd S. Werner Jr.
This Page Created on 24 July, 2023
Last updated 24 July, 2023

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