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Republic P47 D Thunderbolt Razorback


One-Two

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Now, since I finished my Texan, its high time for another project.

But sometimes it can be difficult to make up one's mind, when looking at the ever-growing pile of new kits.

However...I really like the big bad radials....so I was definitely thinking about some American heavy metal stuff....and adding that my only one finished Thunderbolt (this one) was given as a gift to my best buddy...the choice was relatively easy this time.

 

So I decided that my next project will be the famous Tamiya 1/48 P47 D Razorback kit.

It is also the first time that I'm attempting to built one of these Tamiya wonder-kits...I heard some rumors that this kit it is almost building by itself, so I want to test this:)

Besides the plastic in the box (which I have to say, it looks far better than any other plastic that I have built so far), I have also some add-ons...like the Eduard dedicated PE sets, the Master gun barrels, some Quickboost oil coolers, and so on.

I only hope that I will make justice for this famous kit of this heavy fella':)

 

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Edited by One-Two
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Wow, always nice to see one of these beeing built! And the Razorback is a bit pushed out of the way like the Hurricae in the Battle of Britain, compared to the bubbletop....

 

What decals do you intend to use? I have one in my stash and cannot decide between Bud Mahurin´s from the box and Robert S. Johnson´s, one of his..

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22 hours ago, Paramedic said:

What decals do you intend to use? I have one in my stash and cannot decide between Bud Mahurin´s from the box and Robert S. Johnson´s, one of his..

I'm going for Bud Mahurin's airplane.

I have 3 Razorbacks in my stash and the first one to be build I want to be an early one. The others will be later marks of Razorbacks.

Mahurin's plane, named "Spirit of Atlantic City" was an early D5.

That means "toothpick" propeller, no wing pylons and early cowl flaps, which are not included in Tamiya's package.

That's why I also acquired the dedicated Loon Models resin replacement.

 

Anyway, the finished product should look like in the attached picture.

At a later stage, the airplane was modified...new paddle blade propeller, wing pylons, newer cowl flaps - but I want to represent Mahurin's machine as it looked at the time of this picture (early 1944) - and at that time, it was an early D5 with all the related features.

I will use Tamiya's decals...I heard that they are not matching the quality of the kit itself...hope they will work out ok, though...

a806e941-619d-4650-80e4-ee097afae484.jpg

Edited by One-Two
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Wow...!!! Nice build, One-Two! Interesting collection of AM bits as well. Wondering about Loon Models cowl flaps... :hmmm:

Gonna follow your progress.

 

On ‎02‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 10:42 AM, neil5208 said:

Always preferred the razorback over the bubble top

Me too, but do you think it'd be accurate if I grafted the Aires detail set #4110 onto the razorback kit? It's somehow meant for the bubble top one.

 

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Cheers, :cheers:

 

Unc2

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And it seems it is meant for a late one.

There is no such thing as a difference between razor and bubble except those obvious considering the shape. There was just a development of the construction. The Aires kit is not right for Mahurin's bird when it comes to oil tank, hydraulics reservoir and it's area and (AFAIR what's in the box) ignition system. At least ;). And there are  some elements missing too, like constant speed propeller governor. If You care for such a thing... .

Be careful to use right markings for toothpick prop. This P-47, like others got a replacement paddle blade screw as soon as it was available. I mean it may be good idea to check if the decals fit the time frame.

 

Hope the built will go swell.

Edited by greatgonzo
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Ok, so I started with the cockpit (so surprising:)).

First, I just cut free all the bits and pieces necessary in order to build the cockpit.

They are all in this picture (excepting the gun sight).

 

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Very nice and detailed plastic - but nevertheless improvements can be made, especially if one is considering an open canopy.

Now, since I intend to use the eduard PE set for this one, I read in the instructions that I should shave all the raised detail on the face of the plastic IP, in order to put on top of it the PE instrument panel.

Instead of doing this, I preferred to scratch a new backing plate for the PE instrument panel, using the original plastic IP as a template.

On the left, the new IP back face with the related PE bits and on the right the original pieces from the kit:

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This approach has 2 advantages.

First, is leaving me with an intact plastic IP, just in case I don't like how it looks the PE one, or if something fails.

Second, it allows me to further detail the back face of the IP, which will be kinda visible from outside (there was no coaming to cover the IP) and which should show all the related back covers for the various onboard instruments.

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I also had to replicate on the back side of the new IP the mounting elements for the rudder pedals assembly and for the gun sight.

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Of course, next step is to install wires coming out from the back of the instrument boxes - but this will be the next step.

 

That's all for now.

Cheers and thanks for looking.

 

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Since I started work in the cockpit, I also made some research work and came to some unexpected conclusions.

Now, Bud Mahurin's P47 was an early D5 sub-type.

Normally, the cockpit color for a P47D should be interior green or bronze green on some late models. But most probably interior green.

However, some sources are showing that on some early P47's (C series and very early D's), the famous Yellow zinc chromate (YZC) was used for the cockpit interior.

Although they are rare, I saw some b/w and even color photo evidence of early P47's painted with YZC in the cockpit.

Returning to my "Spirit of Atlantic City", there is one color photo of good quality which is depicting Bud Mahurin seated in the cockpit of this plane.

Although this photo it is not showing much of the cockpit interior, a close inspection led me to believe that this airplane was even more interesting, due to the fact that the cockpit was, most probably, painted with YZC and partly with interior green also. So some sort of hybrid in terms of interior colors:)

I attached this photo I am talking about...and if my interpretation is correct, this is how I will paint the cockpit:

- interior green on windshield and canopy internal frames;

- interior green on turtle deck behind pilot;

- interior green on the big armor plate behind the pilot's seat (the armor in clearly visible in the photo and its color is the same like turtle deck/internal cockpit frames);

- there is an area, just near the right side of the instrument panel, that is showing clear evidence of YZC. That color is very close to Bud Mahurin's yellow rescue west, which can also be seen in this picture. It is quite probable, I guess, that the cockpit interior walls were painted with YZC.

8ca51ac5-b8ee-41da-bb72-fa8b5f50619a.jpg

 

So on basis of such evidence, I intend to paint the whole cockpit interior (including pilot's seat) with YZC, with the turtle deck, canopy frames and the pilot's armor back-plate in interior green.

 

Any other opinion or additional information on this issue from you Gents, would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you and regards,

 

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That "Yellow" area might also be a lighter, yellower green?

 

On the subject of Tamiya decals, I used the instrument panel decal on my Razorback, with some skepticism, and it settled down very nicely over the topography of the kit part.  I imagine I used Micro-Sol or the equivalent, but it has been quite a while since this event!  (And no, I didn't finish it, though I ought to dust it off and carry on.)

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  • 2 years later...

Ok time to reactivate this too-long forgotten project of mine.

P47 D5 Spirit of Atlantic City, flown by Bid Mahurin.

I just finished the main parts of the cockpit.

As explained in the previous posts, most of the cockpit parts were painted YZC, excepting the rear armor plate, which is Interior Green. I also used two PE sets from Eduard…P47 placards and the big PE set for P47D Razorback.

Some wires were added here and there and throttle linkages also….they were pretty bulky and visible.

Another addition to the cockpit floor was to install some kind of small rollers which were used for the control cables running from the rudder pedals from the back of the fuselage. They are yellower than the rest of the floor, because I have used another type of YZC on these.

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That’s it for now.

I’m glad I have returned to the Thunderbolt project.

Quite a big guy…I’m looking at this plane and I don’t believe my eyes how big was this fella :))…

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Cockpit closed.

In order to install the rudder cables, I had to deviate a little bit from the assembly instructions.

First I glued together the cockpit floor with the lateral walls and and IP.

After this, I installed the rudder cables.

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And then, the rest of the cockpit...stick, seat and back armor plate.

So, this is how it looks now.

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Thanks for looking and regards.

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All the interior stuff is installed and I'm ready now to close the fuselage.

Very god fit for the plastic parts, only some minor problems with the fit of the big PE ducts for the intercooler outlets.

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I have installed a PE frame to the armored glass and masked/painted it and glued it to the windshield.

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On the left-hand side of the windshield, at the early D’s there was a small triangular window which could be opened from inside. Since I’m making a D5, I had to do it also. Tamiya had thought of this and provided a decal representing this small window, which should be installed on the left side of the windshield.

My first attempt was to install this decal on the interior of the windshield, as per instructions. The result was horrible, because the “transparent” part of the decal was translucent at best, in sharp contrast with the rest of the windscreen.

So I changed the approach, placed the decal back on its supporting paper (while it was still wet and controllable), waited some time do get dry again. Then I cut the decal in 3 small pieces with a new blade, eliminating the translucent middle of the decal, leaving only the 3 separated black frames of the window.

Then I placed again the 3 “frames” of the small window on the interior of the windshield, adjusting them carefully into position. At this time, the small pieces of the decal were showing signs of disintegration, but somehow I managed to avoid this.  

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Thank you Guys!

 

In the meantime I worked a little bit on the gun sight.

I decided to use the original gun sight mount, which was ok, but molded in one piece with the gun sight itself, which is not so ok.

The original plastic gun sight it is too grossly represented and since this item is so visible in the cockpit of the Thunderbolt, I decided to go for a resin replacement.

So I just cut the plastic gun sight from its mount and adapted the mount for the Quickboost gun sight set, made out of resin + PE+ acetate. 

I used the Quickboost 48580 set. It is fiddly, but so much better that the original gun sight.

Then I just added some wire at the bottom of the gun sight and that's it - this one it is almost ready to be installed in the cockpit.

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Thanks for looking and stay safe!

 

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Ok so I installed the gun sight in its place, on top of the IP.

Also the spare ring-type gun sight (PE) was installed, together with some additional supporting lateral bars for the main gun sight.

The fit of the main gun sight was not good, I had to do some modifications in order to fix it on the top of the IP. But this could be because of me, not the kit, since the back of the IP (where the gun sight should be glued in place) is not the original piece, but a replica scratched by me from plastic. 

Also the gun sight seems to me as a little bit too big in size...although this is a resin gun sight, not the original plastic one, which was even bigger! 

 

Anyway, this is how it looks now:

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Thanks for looking guys and cheers to all!

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