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First finished from a twin Jugs build started a few weeks ago, here's my interpretation of a Colombian F-47D-30(?) based on Hasegawa's bubbletop kit in 1/48. SitRep F-47D-30 Fuerza Aerea Colombiana Madrid AB 1950's The end of the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War saw the establishment by the United States of America of a succession of plans intended to provide modern military equipment under conditions for most of the allied nations, among them certain republics of South America. The Lend Lease program, which lasted somewhat after 1945, was succeeded by the American Republic Project (ARP) from 1946, then the best known Mutual Defense Assistance Program (MDAP) and its many variations or sub-programs. In terms of combat aircraft, the USAAF / USAF kept the P-51 Mustang, so the P-47D Thunderbolt was selected, and several dozen airframes belonging to blocks 30 to 40 were thus be used in several Latin American Air Force. The Fuerza Aerea Colombiana took possession of eight P-47Ds in July 1947, while the country had been more or less immersed in a state of civil war since 1946 (If this ended in 1947, it was in fact only the first period of unrest in a long series which continues until today, making today the FAC one of the most experienced air forces in terms of anti-guerrilla warfare). Twelve other machines were authorized for sale in 1948, and delivered in two batches during 1949. All Thunderbolts are assigned to a Caza Bombardero Squadron, based in Madrid AB. Thirteen machines were still operational in 1952, and considering the direct participation of a Colombian contingent in the fighting in Korea, a new sale of fourteen machines was decided. Eleven of them arrived en bloc in May 1953, "diverted" from a ferry flight to Chile at the express request of the USAF Chief of Mission in Bogota, while the last three were delivered in September 1954. But the hour of retirement sounded, and the eighteen remaining machines were permanently banned from flying in December 1955, replaced by T-33s and Sabres. Place aux photos.

Ki-100 | Fine Molds | 1/72 Imperial Japanese Army, 111th Air Regiment, 5th Company, Akeno Airfield Japan, 1945 Finished this on 10/24/2021. This was build pretty much OOB. It was an enjoyable build without much drama. I like to characterize this Fine Molds kit (my 1st) as Tamiya detail with Hasagawa fit. The surface detail was very nice but there was a little slop in the fit, so I had to be careful to make sure everything was aligned properly before applying glue. Since painting all the national markings on my Frank and Tojo went so well, and because I like the look, I decided to do the same on this model even though I had all the decals. I also painted the yellow leading edges and the yellow stripes on the wings, even though Fine Molds supplied decals for those too. Painting the white border around the Hinomaru on the fuselage turned out to be a challenge since the yellow masking tape does stretch a bit, which could make it unevenly spaced if one isn't careful. As it was, I had to make a couple corrections. Still it all turned out looking very nice and I'm quite happy with all the markings. WIP is here Finishing: Gaps filled with CA Paint: Mr. Color RLM81 top / Tamiya silver leaf with Mr. Color Super Stainless Steel highlights bottom / Mr. Color yellow-orange for lines and leading edge / Mr. Color white for roundels and stripes / Tamiya Acrylic Red for Hinomaru / interior surfaces were a custom mix of one drop each of Hataka RLM79a (Sand), RLM02 and RLM82 / Mr. Color semi-gloss clear overcoat Thanks for looking, I hope you like it. Comments, questions and constructive criticism always welcomed!

Republic P-47D Thunderbolt - WZ-P - No.226551 As flown by Lt.Col. Benjamin Mayo, 84th FS, 78th FG, Duxford Air Base, 1944 Kit: 1/48 Tamiya "Bubbletop" Paints: Citadel, Humbrol and Revell - all applied by brush. Built mostly OOB apart from a few bits of scratch-built plastic and wire in the cockpit and wheel wells. This was built as part of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt STGB Work In Progress: Here This build represents a number of firsts for me. It's the first non-Spitfire aircraft build since getting back into making kits again a few years back (I'm not counting the Captain Scarlet Angel's Interceptor here!). I'm pretty sure I only made one American aircraft when I was a child which, I think, was a Hellcat. This is also the first time I have attempted a brush painted NMF on such a large area. With regards the NMF paint - I got a lot of advice from fellow Britmodellers, thank you, and did some practicing on some scrap bits before deciding to use Citadel's Runefang Steel - I've not really used much Citadel paint in the past either. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed building this kit - it is a well detailed kit and the fit is excellent. Some photos: The detail in the cockpit was excellent but I couldn't get any decent photos yesterday so here are a few from during the build: Photos of the undersides added 04/04/16: Edit 04/04/16: I have now added some photos of the detail on the undersides (above). I'll also do some more B&W versions when I get chance. Edit - B&W photos added 09/04/16 As always: comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix

Hi everyone. I’d like to join the line-up if I may - I was planning to use this from the stash and build it OOB... Here are the plastic bits... (And a fresh new cutting mat for a fresh new project) The canopy parts tried to escape... Other stuff in the box... However, I had problems with Eduards decals on a previous build, and these look to be a similar deal - a kinda home-lazer-printed blotchy colour feel. so i have ordered these fellas so its no longer an OOB project... The highlighted markings will allow me to build 308 Squadron Leader Pniaks Mk XVI. These are the reference photos I will use for the build. While i was at it and having broke the OOB plan, I ordered an eduard top cowl I think this could be really fun. I’ve only built a spitfire as a kid before, and that was one heck of a long time ago.

Joining you with this kit. To build this option, I've already built the metal option. Here are the parts.

Spitfire Mk.XVI Bubbletop Weekend Edition 1:48 Eduard The Spitfire XVI was a variation on the IX that were built using Packard Merlins (licence built engines from the USA). They were optimised for low level operations and some had clipped wings, with a slightly bulged cowling to accommodate the changes. They were armed with two 20mm cannon with an additional pair of .303 machine guns inboard, and a great many of them had the reduced fuselage spine or bubble-canopy. Just over a thousand were built overall. The Kit We have reviewed both the ProfiPACK and Limited edition versions of the is kit from Eduard. Now Eduard have released this excellent kit as a Weekend Edition. The modeller gets 4 sprues of grey plastic, the canopy sprue and decals for two aircraft. Construction starts with the cockpit (where else!) detail parts are added to both sidewalls, then the rear cockpit bulkhead is added. The cockpit floor is built up along with the seat, the seat is then attached to its armour plate, and then to the floor. For this kit the seatbelts are supplied as a decal. This completed part is then added into the cockpit side and the control column is added. The front cockpit bulkhead along with the instrument panel is then added. Here the instrument panel is provided as a decal. The HUD is installed into the panel before it is attached to the cockpit side panel. Once all of this is finished the other cockpit side is installed. Once all of the cockpit is finished it can be inserted into the main fuselage along with the engine firewall, tail wheel housing, and front engine plate. The main fuselage can then be closed up. Construction then moves onto the wings. They are of conventional mode type with a one part lower wing, with left & right uppers. Concentrating on the lower wing the first job is to install the wheel wells. There are 15 parts for these which while a little complicated make up this complicated area very well. Once the wheel wells are dont the upper wing panels cane be added. The completed wing can then be attached to the main fuselage. The tailplanes are also added at this stage as are the engine exhausts, and the top engine cover. The separate tailplane control surfaces and rudder are added next. Construction then moves back to the main wing. The ailerons are added, then on the underside the (5 parts each side) radiators are added, then the separate radiator flaps are attached as well. The main wheels are added to their landing gear legs and the doors are attached. The tail wheel is added to its housing. The propeller is added to its spinner, then added to the aircraft, the pilots door is added, the cannon barrels are added to the wings; and then lastly the canopy is added. Bombs and pylons are provided in the kit, though they are not used for this boxing so they will make a handy addition to the spares box. Decals As seems to be the case with the Weekend editions you get two decal options with the kit. Both are for aircraft which took part in the 1949 Cooper Air Race. RW393, No.601 Sqn RAuxAF (Overall silver) SL718, No.612 Sqn RAuxAF (Camo) Conclusion It is good to see this excellent kit released on a Weekend Boxing. Highly recommended. Review samples courtesy of

Hi everybody, My entry in this will be the academy 1/48 P47D Bubbletop Gabreski kit. [/url] It will be built as as Frank Oiler's P47D-30-RE of the 84th FS of the 78th FG based at Duxford late 1944 just before the "Spam cans" were bought in. This aircraft has been quite a controversial aircraft as far as colour call outs go and I have asked questions on here before which triggered some discussion as academy on a previous decal sheet call out medium green over neutral grey. The general consensus of opinion however is RAF dark green over either Medium sea grey or Sky. I have decided for one reason because it looks good and for another to go with the crowd to go for RAF dark green over Sky with a Steel belly tank and neural grey pressed paper wing tanks as seen in the Photo's of the 78th FG aircraft at bassingbourn https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Duxford_Aerodrome_-_78th_Fighter_Group_-_82d_FS_P-47_Thunderbolts.jpg Now for the contents the Kit comes with the Hamilton standard cuffless prop however Academy also made a version of this kit with the Cuffed paddleblade prop in which I had an incident with a can of airbrush cleaner. so I have decals and a prop for the kit It does however have academy decals which have been known to be a bit erm. rubbish so I will be using the cartograph decals from the gabreski kit for general markings and the academy decals for serials and nose art as for the checks on the nose well I don't know yet i will try the academy ones first if not i will either order the cutting edge set or paint them (not a challenge I'm relishing) So here goes