P-47D-20 "Big Squaw" 19th FS, 318th FG

[Tbolt]

This is my entry. Tamiya's 1/48th scale P-47D build as a D-20 from the 19th Fighter Squadron. The decals are from the very nice Thundercals sheet, Razorback of the PTO part 4. I'm going to use Ultracast wheels and seat and the excellent Vector P-47 upgrade set.

 

[Joss]

Looking forward to see what you do with this tbolt! Especially with the vector resin.

I've used their stuff on a corsair and it was very well detailed!

All the best 

Joss

[PlaStix]

Can't wait to see your build with this kit and the extras!

Kind regards,

Stix 

[Hewy]

Nice goodies to go along with the kit, a very good choice of markings for a drab bird, i expect this'll be a well faded and weathered example

Glynn 

[Tbolt]

OK so this is what I'm aiming for on this build. This is how "The Squaw" looked after some time  in Saipan. Like Hewy said plenty of weathering.

 

 

 

 

I did start building on the 30th June, but I've been busy with a few other things, so I haven't got as much done as I would have liked but I'm getting there.

 

A bit of work on the cockpit. I've add a few details, but not gone too mad. The Ultracast seat vertical and horizontal tubes have had the ends drilled out, supports added to the bulkhead and the adjustment lever added.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The exhaust outlet on the Bubbletop kit was improved over what was done on the Razorback kit. Here you can see the difference, the Razorback kit being the one on the right, it's a little flat.

 

 

 

 

So here I've drill them out and reshaped them. Added a pieced of tubing to the back of each one and made a butterfly valve.

 

 

 

 

The landing light has been painted Humbrol gloss black and then sprayed with Alclad Chrome. The inserts have then been fitted into the lower wings. Tamiya was nice enough to give us plenty of ejector pin marks in the gear doors so those have all been filled.

 

 

 

Tamiya did a great job of getting nice thin propeller tips on their old Corsair kit, but when it comes to this kit they are a bit fat, so a quick bit of sanding has them looking much more to scale.

 

 

Since I build P-47's a lot, it's easier to spray some bits together and my R-2800's are made in bulk. The engine I'm using for this kit is mostly done and just needs a few more details. The nicer looking engine at the top middle is the lovely Vector one for a future P-47M build.

 

 

 

 

I'll get some paint on the cockpit next week as I'm off to Flying Legends tomorrow.

Edited July 14, 2018 by Tbolt

[PlaStix]

WOW! Now you are just showing off! Awesome modelling! Don't know where you get the patience.

Kind regards,

Stix

[Hewy]

I'm begining to think you're into your thunderbolts, tb, this is a mighty step up, darn good show, i see you've got the same dizzys both sides, well done there😁,  

Too right with the weathering, the drab has almost bleached out. 

Glynn 

[Tbolt]

19 minutes ago, Hewy said:

I'm begining to think you're into your thunderbolts, tb, this is a mighty step up, darn good show, i see you've got the same dizzys both sides, well done there😁,  

Too right with the weathering, the drab has almost bleached out. 

Glynn 

Thanks. I do build other stuff as well, sometimes  

[Tbolt]

I've got a little more done.

 

A couple of close ups of the cockpit. I won't do this when it's painted as it will probably look pretty bad.

 

 

 

 

The Tamiya kit supplies open and closed cowl flaps, though the open ones are not quite fully open. I mentioned this to Sergey and he was good enough to work his magic and give us a more accurate and detailed version in the Vector set. I've added the flap actuating rods from some plastic rod. I extended the right lower flap a little as it's a bit short.

 

 

 

 

 

In the Tamiya Corsair kit they have molded in the exhaust pipes as these can be seen when using the open cowl flaps. They even did it in their 1/72nd scale version of this kit, so it was a bit disappointing when they bought out the P-47 without any detail in there. So I took some plastic rod and heat it gently and bent it to shape and added the shorter pipes from some slightly smaller rod.

 

 

 

 

 

Time for some paint. The tinted zinc chromate in the cockpit is Humbrol 226 and the zinc chromate is Humbrol 24 with a little 226 added. In person the zinc chromate is duller than it looks in the pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the over engineered parts of the Tamiya kit is the intercooler outlet doors. They mold them with little locator stubs on, but there is no need for this and they can be seen on the finished model. So I cut them off and filled the cutout in the fuselage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

That's some smashing modelling fella, lovely tidy work and your attention to detail is very impressive. 

[Hewy]

Oh, this ones going to town, and it seems your taking it there,fine work TB. 

Glynn, 

I'm not qualified  properly , but just one tip, you might be able to save some cash by not using as much interior green  with all that overspray, 🤑

[Redstaff]

Wow Tbolt, that's some serious attention to detail matched by your skills and patience in fitting all those small fiddly bits 

I'm following this with interest 😁

[Tbolt]

58 minutes ago, Hewy said:

Oh, this ones going to town, and it seems your taking it there,fine work TB. 

Glynn, 

I'm not qualified  properly , but just one tip, you might be able to save some cash by not using as much interior green  with all that overspray, 🤑

Thanks. The over spray is caused by spraying from different angles to get everything covered, but is really very little extra paint. But note the card I have the parts on has already been used before which is why there is a lot of color there. I could be a little tidier but that would take longer and I need to get a move on to get this build completed in time.

Edited July 21, 2018 by Tbolt

[Hewy]

17 minutes ago, Tbolt said:

Thanks. The over spray is caused by spraying from different angles to get everything covered, but is really very little extra paint. But note the card I have the parts on has already been used before which is why there is a lot of color there. I could be a little tidier but that would take longer and I need to get a move on to get this build completed in time.

Be as untidy as you like with work such as that, good job mate. 

 

[RJ-WobblyHands]

That looks awesome, love the extra detail

[Sgt.Squarehead]

6 hours ago, Hewy said:

Be as untidy as you like with work such as that, good job mate. 

What he said. 

[Thom216]

Appropriate nic!! Lovely work on the pit and the exhausts and the bays and the engine(s) and the flaps and the props and the ... 😀

[zegeye]

Fantastic work here. 

And I have a question about the blue paint on the 19th squadron aircraft. What paint will you use?

[Tbolt]

On 7/31/2018 at 6:47 PM, zegeye said:

Fantastic work here. 

And I have a question about the blue paint on the 19th squadron aircraft. What paint will you use?

To be honest I haven't really looked at that yet, but I was going to start with Colourcoats US28 True Blue, but will probably lighten it has the colours look quite sun faded. 

 

 

 

[zegeye]

Beautyfull photos. And I see unusual way of mounting the fuel tank. ? No four point mount?

[Tbolt]

1 minute ago, zegeye said:

Beautyfull photos. And I see unusual way of mounting the fuel tank. ? No four point mount?

When the 110 gal teardrop tank was fitted they often used two wooden supports as sway braces. Here's what it looks like on a P-51.

 

 

[Tbolt]

So things are going a bit slower than planned, but hopefully I will get some more modelling time over the next few days.

 

I've noticed that my pictures are coming out a bit dull and soft on this forum, but if you click on them to open the "original" Flickr image they look better.

 

So here is the cowl, intake splitter, Vector intercooler exhausts, Quickboost oil cooler outlets and deflector doors, supercharger turbine outlet, all painted with Alclad and given a wash.

 

 

 

Here's all the cockpit components painted up and weathered. I have some of the Quickboost Mk.VIII gunsights, but to save time I used the kit one, I just thinned the "glass" a bit. The instrument panel uses the kit decal instruments punched out with a punch and die set then once applied I just added some gloss varnish over them.

 

 

A few pictures of the assembled cockpit. I haven't worried about the rear of the instrument panel as I will be fitting the glare shield.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing I forgot to mention was the cockpit left hand sidewall is taken from the Bubbletop kit as Tamiya improved it for that kit. The fit is a little different and I had to add some plasticard to at the back edge to lengthen it a little. What I failed to noticed until I glued the cockpit together is that the cutout for the instrument panel is also in a slightly different place, which you can clearly see in the photo below. So I had to pull the left had sidewall apart and move the slot further forward and add a piece of plasticard to fill the gap. A bit of paint and a wash I then reattached the sidewall and the instrument panel is now square as seen in the photo's above.

 

 

Edited August 19, 2018 by Tbolt

[Thom216]

Some sweet work on the 'pit! That gunsight looks really good. Thinned up, you say, hmmm?

[Tbolt]

11 minutes ago, Thom216 said:

Some sweet work on the 'pit! That gunsight looks really good. Thinned up, you say, hmmm?

Thanks. Yes I just ran a sanding stick on the front side of it, polished it and gave it a coat of Future.

[zegeye]

Beautifully painted cockpit. Waiting for next update.