elger

Glad that the photo was of some interest. Here's the actual URL of the source: https://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/9682

Based on various references and the wonderful input from the forum I've started work on the cockpit. I'm using the kit parts and the Eduard detail set a basis. The thing is, this detail set is from Eduard's pre-painted self-adhesive era -which, especially for seatbelts, is the worst of all worlds (photo etch, pre-painted, self-adhesive). While I'm going to be using a fair bit from this set, I dreaded using the seat belts as they came. I couldn't figure out a way to get the paint or the glue off the parts, so I ended up holding them over a lit candle burning everything off. The added benefit I suppose is that I annealed it as well. The Eduard set does correct the rudder pedals to the early type: The close up of the aircraft with Sobanski reveals it was equipped with a British mk.II gunsight; I added a resin Barracuda Spitfire gunsight I had in my spares box. (I've since corrected the angle): Scratchbuilding the identification lights switch panel with toggle switches from Anyz And finally, the cockpit floor and walls with the first round of the Eduard detail parts fitted as well as some other scratch built details. I've removed some of the radio boxes on the right hand side of the cockpit and I'm replacing it with a spare SCR-522 radio box (also from my spares box - this was from a Mosquito). Next up some painting and the rest of the Eduard etch, as well as a Yahu instruments panel. Thanks for looking, C&C is always welcome.

Up next: Trumpeter's big 1/32 scale P-47D as P-47D-1 42-7924 flown by Frank D. Gallion In the beginning of 1995 there were some articles in Dutch newspapers about the recovery of a P-47 wreck from the IJsselmeer Following that recovery, in the summer of 1995 there was an exhibition entitled "If something were to go wrong" of various aircraft wrecks including the P-47 recovered earlier that year. The aircraft had been flown by 29-year old Frank D. Gallion from Millersburg, Ohio. The aircraft had been missing since it was lost on November 3rd, 1943. On November 3rd 1943, Frank Gallion had taken off with his squadron from an airbase in Essex, England, to escort formations of B-17s and B-24s on a misson to bomb the harbor facilities at Wilhelmshaven. The allied aircraft flew over the occupied Netherlands. Above the IJsselmeer, the American escort fighters were surprised by a flight of German Messerschmitt 109s attacking them. Gallion's aircraft was one that was shot down. "No chutes seen" was reported by the flight leader Lieutenant Colonel Donald Blakesee - Frank Gallion was Missing in Action for over 50 years until his aircraft (and his remains) were recovered in 1995. [source image: americanairmuseum.com] Dave Moyer, Frank Gallion's nephew, wrote in 2012: "all I have is memories from my youth…conversations between family members at family get togethers, specially around the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I do know he had a wife, Phylis, and actually did know her as I was growing up..late 40’s early 50’s. I know that she got a telegram about 2 weeks after Frank went missing, advising her of that situation. Frank was the love of her life. She never remarried. She died in 1990 and I think it so sad that she never knew the complete story. I know that among Frank’s affects were his zippo lighter, what was left of his flight log book, part of his woolen flight jacket, and his dog tags." (from http://aircrewremembered.com/gallion-frank.html) [source image: americanairmuseum.com] Gallion was flying this aircraft on November 3rd, 1943: P-47D-1 42-7924 QP-F. In fact, 42-7924 was the aircraft that was more regularly flown by Winslow "Mike" Sobanski - an American with a Polish background. Here we see 42-7924 in close up with Sobanski in the cockpit. Sobanski was killed in action himself on D-Day [source image: americanairmuseum.com] Trumpeter's P-47's virtues and vices have been quite well documented. Overall it's a very sound kit and I'm looking forward to putting it together. I've already had a great amount of help from this forum figuring out some of the particulars, here: Work will start with the cockpit. Updates to follow and any input is always appreciated!

Yeah in hindsight I might as well have used the Revell kit. It's cheaper but it also has major problems: out of the box the clear parts are problematic: the main canopy is in two parts and has a seam line right through the middle. The shape of the canopy is also a bit odd. The side windows are horribly inaccurately shaped, but it's more of a matter of making them smaller on one side to make the top and bottom parallel. The exterior surface details of the kit are raised, and the interior is really, really bare. The Revell wing shape is much better than HK - and it would take less effort in that sense to mate the Revell (front) fuselage to the Tamiya wings. If I were to make a B.IV again out of a Tamiya kit as a basis, I'd use a Revell fuselage and not one of HK Models.

The HK model has some shape issues - the nose is definitely off. The angle of the side windows makes it worse and can be corrected, but it's also the entire shape of the nose cone. I found this out after this build. Another shape issue of the HK kit is the leading edge of the wings - especially at the radiators; there's a too steep of a drop, much too much of a curve. The leading edge of the wings was much flatter. There's some curve, but the HK kit exaggerates this way too much

Perhaps also worth keeping in mind when we're talking differences between the IV and IX/XIV, HK Models did take a few additional short cuts: the pressurized version has that little air scoop on the nose in front of the cockpit; this wasn't fitted to the IV so you should get rid of that when building an early variant. the identification lights on the bottom of the rear fuselage are also appropriate for later marks, not the earlier ones. the top of the canopy is only appropriate for pressurized variants - non-pressurized variants had a square hatch that wasn't divided so when building an early version get rid of that thing down the middle of the clear part. Here's the canopy from my attempt of adding the HK nose part to the Tamiya wings (and 'correcting' the angle of the front fuselage windows by swapping the left and right parts)

fantastic stuff! thanks all!

the YouTube channel UK Aircraft Explored has a video exploring the fuselage from the right, left, and from above. Here's the one exploring the port fuselage:

I've got the Eduard interior set which takes care of the rudder pedals. Wasn't aware of the oil cooler outlet doors - will check to see if there's photos. Trumpeter gives you two options for the engine front and distributors; it was my understanding that the earlier P-47s were equipped with the smooth front and parts S6 as the distributors, as seen in the instructions here: Or was there another type that I should be looking for? Speaking of engine variations - the instructions also provide options for different looking cylinder heads - single part R4 or S5/R5 put together. I'm going to be building it with the cowl closed so you probably won't be able to tell - but do you know what the difference is with these?

I'm figuring out the cockpit details here. I'm making an educated leap of faith that the D-1 I'm building was retrofitted with the deeper keel while in service, because I don't feel like addressing that issue. Cowl flaps are a bit different, and I'm getting rid of or not fitting any of the details associated with wing pylons, but other than that I'm not aware of any major issues that would make it problematic to build a D-1 out of the kit - anything major I'm overlooking?

I'm having a go at the big Trumpeter kit

@greatgonzo #3 revisited... I was looking at the photos again trying to work out the dimensions of that box, but then I came across some info of someone saying that on early P-47s the propeller controls switch located on the main switch board. This can be seen in the P-47 pilot's manual - here is the main switch board of a P-47B: And it actually is mentioned in that P-47 training film as well: In one of the shots of the film, as the pilot enters the plane, a stencil on the cockpit behind him states "P-47D-5" but of course with editing you can't be sure if these detail shots of the interior are that same airframe. Then in the P-47 pilots manual for the P-47 C, D and G the main switch box looks slightly different in the upper left corner, but there is also no mentioning of a separate box with a switch for the propeller. So I'm still a bit confused then about the configuration of a D-1...

E&M? There's a nice copy of a training video on YouTube with what looks like a D-5 and this shows a lot of the cockpit features in nice features but they don't reference that propeller box as they go through the starting / take off procedures. is there any way to tell if the photos above are the only close ups I have?

Very helpful, thanks! #1 answered - thanks. #2 also clear - I don't know why I thought it was IFF but SCR-522 radio makes more sense but you're saying they were fitted to ETO P-47s? And #3 - I figured indeed that there would have been a box like that for the late Curtiss Electric propellers as seen in the photos, but the aircraft fitted with the earl Curtiss Electric propellers would have the same box.

Hello all, I'm looking into some details pertaining to specific cockpit equipment of a P-47D-1. The aircraft in question is 42-7924 and it was Mike Sobanski's aircraft in the late summer/fall of 1943 serving with the 334th Fighter Squadron out of England. I have three issues at this point that I'm trying to figure out. 1) this might be an easy one but I'm having a hard time with it: what is the type of gun sight fitted to the aircraft? This photo from americanairmuseum.com shows it fitted, but what type is it? 2) The right side of the cockpit was dedicated to radio equipment. A photo in P-47 Thunderbolt In Detail and Scale shows a type of IFF box fitted (black with five red switches on top that's also seen in Spitfire and Mosquito cockpits). Would 42-7924 have this type of box given the context it was operating in? 3) On ww2aircraft.net there was a discussion about a box fitted on the left hand side of the cockpit between the throttle quadrant and the instruments panel. There's photos of two types of boxes and they are different depending on what type of propeller was fitted: the Hamilton Hydromatic or the (late) Curtiss electric. Would the D-1, fitted with early (pointy) Curtiss Electric propeller blades have a control box there and, if so, what did it look like? https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/p-47d-25-re-cockpit-box.55818/ Any insights would be greatly appreciated!