Sgt.Squarehead's struggles with a Jug!

[Sgt.Squarehead]

The build is now taking great leaps & bounds backwards.....The more I polished, the more problems areas I found. 

 

See if you can spot them:

 

 

I'd also completely forgotten to fill the horrendous seam in the two part (Why FFS?) rudder, so that's back off the model too. 

 

[stevehnz]

This kit is the complete horror story , I'm glad its you telling it & not me.  Apparently the Sword kit doesn't go together all that much better either. What is it with P-47Ns?

Steve.

Edited July 31, 2018 by stevehnz

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Amen to that brother.....Amen to that! 

 

I mostly fixed the rudder, but I have a bit of an issue near the wing roots, the two black lines visible running parallel to them are the remnants of my efforts at bending the wing to shape and filling it with plastic strip (it was a choice between that and having a section of the fuselage being 2-3mm flatter & wider than the rest and no dihedral).....On a matt camoed subject I'd wilfully ignore it, but on this thing? 

 

This is clearly the karmic price I get to pay for telling @Procopius to clean up his mould seams! 

 

[Hewy]

Im sure you'll conquer it sarge, even with all its pitfalls

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Cheers Fella.....Having just seen @zegeye's build of the Sword kit I'm thoroughly depressed. 

 

EDIT - Actually, that just makes life easier.....Since '2 Big & Too Heavy' has just been done, and way better than I could ever hope of achieving, I'm making things easy on myself and doing this one instead:

 

 

WTF was I thinking building wingy-things? 

 

[zegeye]

Oh, no!  I did not have such intentions to depressed you.  Although Lt Perdomo mount is really good scheme...please do not give up with to ''big and to heavy''.  

And it seems that .... yes we have same taste for models. I'm a fan of Pacific war airplanes, especially japanese ones, but the allies also. And I always try to choose attractive camouflage.

Sorry for my galery, but I didn't make the galery before and thought that this second edition of P-47 GB will be good opportunity for doing this....

 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

No worries my friend.....Don't ever be sorry for building such a magnificent representation of '2 Big & Too Heavy', she deserves it! 

 

I'm more than happy to switch subject, it makes life a lot easier for me and TBH I just want this model off my desk now.....As soon as possible. 

 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

I am so bored with sanding this ****ing model:

 

 

And it appears I'm still not done yet. 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Filled a few more holes, including the pit in the port flap and a mystery crater in the spine.  I'm not sure I got that one completely, it's in a really awkward place, but I'm not priming again just to check it.....There's plenty more stuff to do first. 

 

The time honoured tradition of adding stuff Italeri ignored continues with the centreline mount:

 

 

Next I'll add the circular pads to the tank and build the sway brace mounts onto the square pads on the fuselage, hopefully lining them up so I can just add the braces and plumbing themselves at the end.....Much fettling will be needed, but then I've had to fettle everything else, so that's no great surprise.  

 

Sgt.Squarehead does not surrender to Italians. 

 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

So, if Bubba is now Oscar:

 

 

I got the moustache right! 

 

 

http://www.au.af.mil/au/afri/aspj/apjinternational/apj-s/2005/4tri05/howardeng.html

 

Annoyingly I think I can just about make out the extra antennas on the Meat Chopper.....Starboard antenna visible behind the spine on the extreme right:

 

 

What do you think? 

 

My big fear is that Meat Chopper was fitted with the zero length rocket rails.....If it was this plan is a bust. 

 

Couple of Meat Chopper specific questions, if this is the route I'm to follow:

 

What colour would the area covered by the canopy be for an aircraft without an aft anti-glare panel?  From the picture above it appears that the canopy frames and 'slidey thing' may be olive drab?  Would it be correct to assume the panel has been stripped away, with the canopy closed, leaving a canopy shaped OD patch, or might the panel never have been painted at all?

 

If anyone can definitively answer the rocket rail question it would be a big help.

 

 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Small progress:

 

 

Decided to sort the leading edges of the wing-roots once and for all.....Mr. Surfacer 500 well & properly took care of them. 

 

Rudder fell off again. 

 

I think I now have a plan of how to proceed, it's not quite what I'd have liked, but I think it's a compromise I can live with.....Don't want to say more just yet, the kit's in another room, but it might be listening! 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Ive had a look through all my sources. No luck i cant find a photo showing the lower wings. So its a guessing game unless someone else find the magic photo? 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

No worries Dennis.....I have a plan! 

 

I'm trying to sneak it into effect before the kit realises what I'm up to and figures out a way to foil me.....While its been in the other room I've quietly cleaned up the other 150gal drop-tank and made four sets of sway-braces. 

[Tbolt]

3 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

So, if Bubba is now Oscar:

 

 

I got the moustache right! 

 

 

http://www.au.af.mil/au/afri/aspj/apjinternational/apj-s/2005/4tri05/howardeng.html

 

Annoyingly

I think I can just about make out the extra antennas on the Meat Chopper.....Port antenna visible behind the spine on the extreme right:

 

 

What do you think? 

 

My big fear is that Meat Chopper was fitted with the zero length rocket rails.....If it was this plan is a bust. 

 

Couple of Meat Chopper specific questions, if this is the route I'm to follow:

 

What colour would the area covered by the canopy be for an aircraft without an aft anti-glare panel?  From the picture above it appears that the canopy frames and 'slidey thing' may be olive drab?  Would it be correct to assume the panel has been stripped away, with the canopy closed, leaving a canopy shaped OD patch, or might the panel never have been painted at all?

 

If anyone can definitively answer the rocket rail question it would be a big help.

 

 

I believe Meat Chopper is a N-1 and they didn't have the ability to fit HVAR's, however some aircraft did have them retro fitted, sometimes called N-2's. Without any evidence I wouldn't fit them.

 

It does look like a mast in that photo.

 

The anit-glare panel would have been painted on as standard at the factory so it could have been stripped, but whether it was done with the canopy on or off would be pure guess work. The question is though has the anti-glare panel been stripped? To me in that photo it looks darker than the NMF where the rear anti-glare should be just like this photo of another aircraft below - it's looks lighter but it's probably just the light.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2018 by Tbolt

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

At a boy sarge ... When in doubt go full ninja ! 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Cheers guys.....At the risk of premature discovery (I think it's sleeping, KOed by the Mr. Surfacer fumes!  ), here's my current thinking:

 

 

Shhhh.....Don't let on FFS! 

 

Going back to an early '2 Big & Too Heavy' solves several issues.....It has simple paintwork, olive drab & yellow in convenient and easy to decipher places, it (kind of) matches what I've built and it's different from @zegeye's masterpiece. 

 

PS - The Squarehead's have lost a much loved cousin.    She was only a couple of years older than me, kind of puts things in perspective really. 

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

My condolences 😢Sgt.

[Hewy]

Yes, condolences from me sarge I'm with you there,  the build, as they said in that great tv program from our era, soap, "confused you will be", i am,   all the best

Glynn 

[Tbolt]

8 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Cheers guys.....At the risk of premature discovery (I think it's sleeping, KOed by the Mr. Surfacer fumes!  ), here's my current thinking:

 

 

Shhhh.....Don't let on FFS! 

 

Going back to an early '2 Big & Too Heavy' solves several issues.....It has simple paintwork, olive drab & yellow in convenient and easy to decipher places, it (kind of) matches what I've built and it's different from @zegeye's masterpiece. 

 

PS - The Squarehead's have lost a much loved cousin.    She was only a couple of years older than me, kind of puts things in perspective really. 

 

Sorry to hear that, perspective indeed.

 

I wonder if the dorsal fillet in that picture is yellow or is it just a darker shade of aluminum?

[Sgt.Squarehead]

8 hours ago, Tbolt said:

I wonder if the dorsal fillet in that picture is yellow or is it just a darker shade of aluminum?

Good question, same goes for the cowling gills too.....Looks like I've got some room for interpretation. 

 

I think I've finally won the battle with the wing-roots.....If that is indeed the case I'll be buffing one final time then priming with the Vallejo stuff ready for some shiny metalwork.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

While I still haven't quite achieved victory, I've certainly had more than enough of sanding it:

 

 

I'll attempt to use contrasting metallic panels and oil's to disguise the worst of it.....It is what it is. 

 

Couple more small things to do, then it's Vallejo Metal Colour time.....I must be mad trying that, with this.  

 

[Tbolt]

4 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Good question, same goes for the cowling gills too.....Looks like I've got some room for interpretation. 

 

I think I've finally won the battle with the wing-roots.....If that is indeed the case I'll be buffing one final time then priming with the Vallejo stuff ready for some shiny metalwork.

Yes good point, I actually thought the cowl flaps were yellow from that picture, it's only when you mentioned it I looked at other pictures and models and they don't show yellow cowl flaps around that time.

 

Here's another picture, they are darker but it's still not clear if it's yellow or not.

 

 

This picture here shows the bit below the anit glare panel on the cowl also darker, so it could just be the colour of the aluminum. ( I can't believe they've censor a painted boob! )

 

 

Edited August 2, 2018 by Tbolt

[Sgt.Squarehead]

I think yellow would look good, so yellow it will probably be.....Nothing's completely certain with this build, except that I want a finish and as soon as possible. 

[Tbolt]

1 minute ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

I think yellow would look good, so yellow it will probably be.....Nothing's completely certain with this build, except that I want a finish and as soon as possible. 

With the way markings changed on aircraft, it's not like anyone can prove you wrong anyway

[Sgt.Squarehead]

 

Pretty sure that rules out yellow TBH, unless they painted a sliver either side of the anti-glare panel yellow too.....But the whole aircraft was marked differently by this point, so I might just do it anyway. 

 

PS - Just noticed the curved panels blending wing to fuselage (I forget the technical term for it), naturally the Italeri kit has exactly none of that.  Probably a sensible move on their part as you would utterly lay waste to it in the process of fitting the wings.....This may be the most disappointing kit I've ever built, at a casual inspection it looks lovely, but the second you start to build it, regardless of where you start, all of that goes straight out of the window and its true, monstrous, nature is revealed! 

 

Nasty, nasty, nasty kit!