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Trumpeter's Big Thunderbolt


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G'day All

 

Not wasting any time after returning from my recent trip to NZ  attending Classic Fighters, I put the finishing touches to my Trumpeter 1/32 razorback Thunderbolt.

Enhancements to the kit were a set of HGW seatbelts, Brassin wheels and master models gun barrels.

Model was painted with Gunze RAF dark green and sky.

Markings - with the exception of the cowl checks -  were all sprayed on using a set of custom masks from  Ad Astra Masks (sadly now defunct) to depict "Miss Behave" from the 78th FG.

The cowl checks came from an old Superscale sheet.

The aircraft looked fairly clean with little or no chipping or fading evident, the only staining seemed to be that huge oil streak back from the oil cooler doors.

The pilot does not look a happy chappie, nor do his ground crew!

Whilst I enjoyed the build, I would love Tamiya to release the thunderbolt in 32 scale

Thanks for looking, all comments welcome

Bruce

mx-w1

mx-w2

40773772933_e5563b033f_b.jpg 46823735795_e94d640fba_b.jpg 46823735965_f58f954f2b_b.jpg 40773773303_1e9cbcf763_b.jpg

 

Edited by pacificmustang
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Fantastic build! The cowl markings look amazing.

42 minutes ago, pacificmustang said:

The pilot does not look a happy chappie

mx-w2

I've seen that face before. His mum must have taken away his Xbox privileges 😂

 

Great build mate,

Alan

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That is a bit special that Bruce,..... amazing job,.... and those pics of the real thing look to have been taken at Duxford, on the far side of the airfield looking back towards the hangars/main site where the IWM now is. 

Been looking forward to this one and you didn`t let us down,........ did you include all the ducting and gibbins inside the fuselage?

 

Cheers

          Tony

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A great build and paint job, my friend. A real tribute to your skills. 

 

Thanks for sharing with us.

 

Chris. 

 

PS: The photo of the pilot in his cockpit.... is it just me, or does he look like he's recently eaten something that really doesn't agree with him? I do hope he's pulling that face for the camera...

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2 hours ago, tonyot said:

That is a bit special that Bruce,..... amazing job,.... and those pics of the real thing look to have been taken at Duxford, on the far side of the airfield looking back towards the hangars/main site where the IWM now is. 

Been looking forward to this one and you didn`t let us down,........ did you include all the ducting and gibbins inside the fuselage?

 

Cheers

          Tony

Thanks Tony for placing the photo, and thankyou for the compliment.  I did end up using the ducting in the fuselage although it is not necessary as the cockpit tub will locate without it. I would use the forward bulkheads though to add a bit of internal strength to the model. As with all trumpeter kits the engine and cowl join is very weak.  I need to do a SEAC one now.  I still have an old copy of Model Aircraft Monthly with your thunderbolt builds that I will use a reference

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2 hours ago, spruecutter96 said:

A great build and paint job, my friend. A real tribute to your skills. 

 

Thanks for sharing with us.

 

Chris. 

 

PS: The photo of the pilot in his cockpit.... is it just me, or does he look like he's recently eaten something that really doesn't agree with him? I do hope he's pulling that face for the camera...

@Alan P I'd love to know the story behind this.  Maybe he's just been told his leave has been cancelled, or he got a "Dear John" letter

Thanks everybody for the compliments, too kind. Its a great community here

 

Bruce

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Just now, Fulcrum Guy said:

Excellent work sir! Much better than I can hope to achieve. Is that fresh oil on the left side? The crew chief should be ashamed

Im assuming it is Fulcrum Guy.  I looked a t a heap of other Thunderbolt pics and could one find a couple with similar stains.  As these radials leaked like a sieve, Im guessing a lot of it ran out the oil cooler doors, maybe most aircraft had it cleaned off, really not sure

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Looks great, Bruce!  I really like the tonal variations you achieved on the topside color, and the subtle weathering really makes the build stand out.  There's nothing better for realism than painting whatever markings one can instead of using decals.  Unfortunately, I'm not too good at it so rarely do.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

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