1/48 Tamiya Razorback - Cpt. Walker Mahurin - March '44 - update 25/09/18 - FINISHED

[giemme]

Great job with decals, Stix!

 

One thing, though: it looks as though the scheme you have on the background shows two oversized roundels underneath the wings, while you applied a regular one starboard and the big fat one on port wing. I guess I'm missing something, just wondering what

 

Ciao

[Valkyrie]

What a paint job, weathering decal it’s perfect

[Badder]

On 9/3/2018 at 12:52 PM, PlaStix said:

If I am going to get this finished in time I am going to have to do some work on it in the evenings.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

My suggestion.... Use one of those 'heated-wire-in-a-vacuum-within-a-glass-bulb' things to help you see better.

 

Hi Stix! Awesome brushwork made even more awesome by the fact it's a wingy thing and they tend to be neat and tidy and dirt free.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[PlaStix]

21 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Very nice.

And your struggle with the decals for the bombs was  well worth it.

I love the oversize national markings used on these T-bolts, makes them that bit different from ones in standard markings.

Hi Craig. Thank you.. Yes the huge markings - even if they a bit one sided on this aircraft - do enhance the appearance!

 

19 hours ago, giemme said:

Great job with decals, Stix!

One thing, though: it looks as though the scheme you have on the background shows two oversized roundels underneath the wings, while you applied a regular one starboard and the big fat one on port wing. I guess I'm missing something, just wondering what

Ciao

Hi Giorgio and thank you too. You are only missing what I hadn't thought of when I took the photo. There are two sets of markings in this boxing and I took the photo of the one I am building with the instructions for the undersides of the other aircraft in view. The photo below shows the two schemes in the instructions - mine is on the right and you can see Mahurin's aircraft had the mismatched roundel size:

 

19 hours ago, Valkyrie said:

What a paint job, weathering decal it’s perfect

Thank you very much Valkyrie.

 

17 hours ago, Badder said:

My suggestion.... Use one of those 'heated-wire-in-a-vacuum-within-a-glass-bulb' things to help you see better.

Hi Stix! Awesome brushwork made even more awesome by the fact it's a wingy thing and they tend to be neat and tidy and dirt free.

Rearguards,

Badder

Yeah - now there's a thought!! Electrical magic! Where I build my kits nowadays is right next to a south facing window and I prefer working in natural light when I can. I find it more difficult working under electric light and have even tried daylight bulbs. I can do simple stuff okay but anything involving small or intricate modelling - or painting - I find trickier.

 

Only one photo update - speaking of trickier - decals applied to the port side and given a coat of Pledge:

 

More over the weekend I hope.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

Edited September 14, 2018 by PlaStix

[giemme]

Thanks Stix, I told you I was missing something 😏

Any clue about why this scheme had mismatched roundels?

 

Ciao

[PlaStix]

45 minutes ago, giemme said:

Any clue about why this scheme had mismatched roundels?

Not really, no. The only mention of them I can find with my limited web search skills is on a RC site which has this decal diagram which mentions Thunderbolts in the ETO had them:

and one of the contributors suggests it's something to do with identification purposes. Perhaps one of the Thunderbolt experts on here knows why they had different sizes.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

Edited September 14, 2018 by PlaStix

[PlaStix]

Today I managed to get all the decals applied and then sealed on with a couple of coats of Pledge. I should have pointed out that, as usual, I cut away all the carrier film where I could around the decals to minimise the risk of silvering. It takes a bit of time but I think it's worthwhile. Luckily it was bright and dry in the back garden this afternoon and with very little wind so, once the Pledge was dry, I gave everything a couple of coats of Humbrol's spray can matt varnish. here are some photos to show the result - the front cowl is not yet glued in place:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The decals went on reasonably well but, as usual with Tamiya decals, they are alittle on the thick side:

 

 

 

 

Next I need to decide what weathering I am going to do plus I still need to paint the rest of the canopy. Hopefully it won't be too long before I can get onto the final assembly.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

23 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Perhaps one of the Thunderbolt experts on here knows why they had different sizes.

Hello @giemme I believe the oversized Star & Bars used on the lower P-47 wing had to do with Itchy trigger fingers of people manning Anti-Aircraft and Infantry weapons. The P-47 has a very similar appearance to a Focke-wulf 190 when screaming along at 350 mph on ground strike sorties the bigger size was assumed to be bigger = being seen from further away ? It was also used for similar reasons while escorting Heavies of the 8th Af. Gunners only see a plane screaming by and the more it looks like the Fw-190 the more you want it to say American in a big way.

 

Dennis

[Tbolt]

On 9/14/2018 at 7:07 PM, PlaStix said:

Not really, no. The only mention of them I can find with my limited web search skills is on a RC site which has this decal diagram which mentions Thunderbolts in the ETO had them:

and one of the contributors suggests it's something to do with identification purposes. Perhaps one of the Thunderbolt experts on here knows why they had different sizes.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

Exactly that  - for ID. They found the the P-47 was getting shot at, often from allied AA gunners, because they some times though it was a Fw190. So to make the P-47 ID better they added a oversized insignia, a 55 or 60 inch one under the left wing. Some times the one under the right wing was over painted with a 55 or 60 inch insignia also. So it's a case of having good pictures to get your model right.

Edited September 15, 2018 by Tbolt

[Tbolt]

Looking really nice. The decals do look good.

[Biggles87]

Perhaps the extra oversized marking was added after " friendly fire " incidents from below.

Looking splendid.

 

John

 

EDIT:. Stupid boy! I didn't read Tbolt's post below the diagram.

 

 

Edited September 16, 2018 by Biggles87

[giemme]

Impeccable job, Stix - decals look lainted on!

 

Thanks Dennis, Tbolt and John about the oversized roundels, makes perfectly sense

 

Ciao

[PlaStix]

On 15/09/2018 at 18:24, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Hello @giemme I believe the oversized Star & Bars used on the lower P-47 wing had to do with Itchy trigger fingers of people manning Anti-Aircraft and Infantry weapons. The P-47 has a very similar appearance to a Focke-wulf 190 when screaming along at 350 mph on ground strike sorties the bigger size was assumed to be bigger = being seen from further away ? It was also used for similar reasons while escorting Heavies of the 8th Af. Gunners only see a plane screaming by and the more it looks like the Fw-190 the more you want it to say American in a big way.

Dennis

Thank you for the information Dennis.

 

22 hours ago, Tbolt said:

Exactly that  - for ID. They found the the P-47 was getting shot at, often from allied AA gunners, because they some times though it was a Fw190. So to make the P-47 ID better they added a oversized insignia, a 55 or 60 inch one under the left wing. Some times the one under the right wing was over painted with a 55 or 60 inch insignia also. So it's a case of having good pictures to get your model right.

Thank you Tbolt.

 

22 hours ago, Tbolt said:

Looking really nice. The decals do look good.

Thank you again Tbolt.

 

10 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Perhaps the extra oversized marking was added after " friendly fire " incidents from below.

Looking splendid.

John

EDIT:. Stupid boy! I didn't read Tbolt's post below the diagram.

Thank you for your comments John.

 

9 hours ago, giemme said:

Impeccable job, Stix - decals look lainted on!

Thanks Dennis, Tbolt and John about the oversized roundels, makes perfectly sense

Ciao

Hi Giorgio and thank you - you are too kind.

 

Well I had thought that I'd get this finished by today but there's still a bit to do. The problem is that there are a lot of bits and pieces that need painting, detailing, weathering and assembling.

I have got some stuff done including - a lot of the weathering on the undersides:

 

I made a start on the upper surfaces too but it's hardly noticeable in this photo!:

 

I got the windscreen and canopy painted - here they are just resting in place:

 

 

 

 

Finally I took a photo to show all the pieces that I have worked on that still need to be fitted to the aircraft. Most of them a ready to go on - I just need to finish weathering the Thunderbolt itself before they can go on:

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

Edited September 16, 2018 by PlaStix

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Beautiful work Stix  Weathering on olive is hard, i use pastel powders and i still have troubles getting it to show completely. 

[Badder]

Sublime work Stix.

You never fail to impress me. Those decals look perfect. Everything looks perfect. I know everyone, including myself, goes on about your 'airbrush-like finish' with hairy sticks, but I'd swear your P-47 was airbrushed. It looks so sweet I want to lick it.

 

Rearguards,

Badder

[giemme]

I concur with the others, very convincing weathering

 

Ciao 

[MarkSH]

Really loving the paintwork, weathering and tonal variations you've achieved, top work.

[Biggles87]

As above, especially the undersides.

 

John

Edited September 17, 2018 by Biggles87

[daront]

outstanding again stix. gorgeous model. 💪👍

[wimbledon99]

I knew that this was gonna be a great build but 'great' isn't a good enough word!! She looks superb, Stix. The exhaust stains are brilliant (never thought I'd say that about some soot!!)

[Hewy]

Thumbs up from me, smashing job stix

[PlaStix]

On 16/09/2018 at 19:24, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Beautiful work Stix  Weathering on olive is hard, i use pastel powders and i still have troubles getting it to show completely. 

Hi Corsairfoxfouruncle. Thank you very much for your comments. I only tend to use acrylic paints for my weathering as I'm reluctant to use anything that actually needs sealing into place. Luckily Captain Mahurin's P-47 looked to have been in fairly good shape in the photos I have seen, from the war period, so I decided not to do too much weathering as it wouldn't be like the original.

Thank you for the advice though.

 

On 16/09/2018 at 19:32, Badder said:

Sublime work Stix.

You never fail to impress me. Those decals look perfect. Everything looks perfect. I know everyone, including myself, goes on about your 'airbrush-like finish' with hairy sticks, but I'd swear your P-47 was airbrushed. It looks so sweet I want to lick it.

Rearguards,

Badder

 Please don't! Thank you for your comments though!

 

On 16/09/2018 at 21:11, giemme said:

I concur with the others, very convincing weathering

Ciao 

Thank you very much Giorgio.

 

On 16/09/2018 at 21:18, MarkSH said:

Really loving the paintwork, weathering and tonal variations you've achieved, top work.

Thank you very much Mark - most kind..

 

On 17/09/2018 at 08:13, daront said:

outstanding again stix. gorgeous model. 💪👍

Thank you very much Daron for your very kind comments.

 

On 17/09/2018 at 07:17, Biggles87 said:

As above, especially the undersides.

John

Cheers John - most kind.

 

On 17/09/2018 at 20:51, wimbledon99 said:

I knew that this was gonna be a great build but 'great' isn't a good enough word!! She looks superb, Stix. The exhaust stains are brilliant (never thought I'd say that about some soot!!)

Your are way too kind Nigel, but thank you.

 

On 18/09/2018 at 06:31, Hewy said:

Thumbs up from me, smashing job stix

Thank you Glynn for your kind comments too.

 

Well on Saturday I decided to have a good push at getting this across the finish line and I actually managed to get it completed. All the parts (in the bags in the above photo) are in place and I have completed what I wanted to do with the weathering. I have seen lots a fabulously weathered versions of this aircraft but, from the photos I have seen of Captain Mahurin's actual aircraft, it looked to be generally in a pretty good state so I chose to do it with a lot less weathering than I thought I would do.

 

Today I have taken loads of photos as usual and when I have sorted them out I will get them posted in the Gallery and in the RFI section, hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[stevej60]

Look's superb Stix,anotherclassic in the making!

[PlaStix]

On 23/09/2018 at 23:13, stevej60 said:

Look's superb Stix,anotherclassic in the making!

Thank you very much Steve - most kind.

 

As I said above, my P-47D is now finished. I have thoroughly enjoyed building this Tamiya kit - it is a beautifully detailed and wonderfully engineered kit - just like their 'Bubbletop' version.

 

Thank you must go to everyone who contributed to my thread with advice or support. Thank you also to the host of this great STGB - TEMPESTMK5.

 

A few photos here:

 

 

 

 

The Gallery photos can be found: here

 

Lots more photos can be found in the RFI section: here

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

Edited September 24, 2018 by PlaStix

[Badder]

Well, if that doesn't bag you yet another 1st place, I'll eat my belly-button fluff.

 

Perfection.

 

Rearguards,

Badder