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Academy 1/72 P-47D Thunderbolt


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This has gone together great so far. I haven't bothered with adding seatbelts or any other details to what is a very minimal cockpit. This build is purely a test bed for a natural metal finish, if this goes to plan I have something else lined up. 😉

A little bit more filling and sanding and it will be ready for a coat of something.

 

 20200114-212257.jpg

 

20200114-212321.jpg

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9 hours ago, stevehnz said:

My initial thoughts are it looks a bit to steelish for a NM ali skin aircraft but I'm guessing there is more to come.

Steve.

You're absolutely right Steve. However this is my first try at this so it might not get much better. 😂

Roger. 

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Another light coat or two of the Super Stainless. This might not be the right choice of colour but as it's an experiment /learning project I'm not overly concerned. I'd welcome any suggestions of which of the Mr Color Super Metallic paints would be more appropriate, if any, as it's spraying beautifully and I would like to use it for my next Bubbletop.

 

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I'll give it 24 hours before masking and painting the olive drab and red on the cowling.

Roger. 

 

I had a bit of a panic then, the orange peel effect on the port upper wing you can see in the photo isn't actually on the real thing, it must be the way the light fell on it or some other trickery.... thank God, phew!

Edited by Roger Newsome
Paint panic.
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On 13/01/2020 at 18:28, Roger Newsome said:

The recent talk of a nmf group build and shiny Mustangs

This sounds like a good show. 

I'll have a look around for this. 

Your photos are much better now. Looking good. I've got a bottle of humbrol Decalfix that I use often, and when I've doubts about the adhesion. 

But straight on to glossy paint shouldn't be a problem I reckon. 

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8 hours ago, stevehnz said:

Looking good Roger, photo sizes are just fine too.

Steve.

Thanks very much Steve. 👍🏼

 

6 hours ago, rob Lyttle said:

This sounds like a good show. 

I'll have a look around for this. 

Your photos are much better now. Looking good. I've got a bottle of humbrol Decalfix that I use often, and when I've doubts about the adhesion. 

But straight on to glossy paint shouldn't be a problem I reckon. 

Thanks Rob.

Did you find the thread I referred to? If not it's here...

I managed to get one decal on last night without too much fuss, it was one of the vertical stabilizer ones and required some careful trimming to get it to fit. 

I'll take some photos when I do the other side today.

Roger. 

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You can see how much excess carrier film is on the decals (and a couple of seams I haven't filled 🤫). It would probably have ben easier trimming them a bit before application, I'll know for next time.

Also in the shot is my secret decaling weapon, a spray bottle I use for wetting the area where the decal is going to go. My wife bought them from a Pound shop. Four or five bottles designed for putting liquids in for aircraft hand luggage. I laid claim to the spray bottle. 😁

Roger. 

 

20200118-130545.jpg

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Academy decals are not the most easy decals to work with. My experience with them is to use lot of hot water. Built the Academy P-47D with the big "Indian head". If I had painted that decal partly an made som cuts I think the resultat would been 100% perfect. I used hot water, Micro Sol and Micro Set and still I had problems.

 

https://www.ipmsstockholm.se/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=10767

 

Think you P-47D looking good so far!

 

Cheers / André

Edited by Andre B
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1 hour ago, Andre B said:

If I had painted that decal partly an made som cuts I think the resultat would been 100% perfect. I used hot water, Micro Sol and Micro Set and still I had problems.

That's a nice little collection of Thunderbolts Andre. 👍🏼

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I'm enjoying your build, Roger.  Best of luck with those decals; hot water and hot solvent should help.

 

IMHO, the biggest construction issue with the Academy Thunderbolt (and its Hasegawa parent kit) how to shorten the overly long landing gear legs in such a manner that the proper forward sweep is maintained and sufficient strength is restored.  I don't think I got it quite right.  If anyone has any ideas as to how to do this in a clean, accurate, and durable manner, please share!

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17 minutes ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

I'm enjoying your build, Roger.  Best of luck with those decals; hot water and hot solvent should help.

 

IMHO, the biggest construction issue with the Academy Thunderbolt (and its Hasegawa parent kit) how to shorten the overly long landing gear legs in such a manner that the proper forward sweep is maintained and sufficient strength is restored.  I don't think I got it quite right.  If anyone has any ideas as to how to do this in a clean, accurate, and durable manner, please share!

Thanks very much.

That's interesting about the landing gear legs. I assume they are correct on the Tamiya version?

Roger. 

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3 hours ago, Roger Newsome said:

That's a nice little collection of Thunderbolts Andre. 👍🏼

Thanks Roger,

 

A better picture of my "Indian Chief" that I almost gave up my hopes for. I havn't dared to paint it with matt clear finish yet.

Hope you continues witt your decals with out further problems...

 

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Cheers / André

 

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On 1/19/2020 at 6:15 AM, Jackson Duvalier said:

I'm enjoying your build, Roger.  Best of luck with those decals; hot water and hot solvent should help.

 

IMHO, the biggest construction issue with the Academy Thunderbolt (and its Hasegawa parent kit) how to shorten the overly long landing gear legs in such a manner that the proper forward sweep is maintained and sufficient strength is restored.  I don't think I got it quite right.  If anyone has any ideas as to how to do this in a clean, accurate, and durable manner, please share!

I know when I built mine, having read of the issue, I pretty much lopped about 2 1/2 mm off the tops of the legs & pushed what remained into the socket. I don't recall any real hassles with lining them up other than what is normal with an U/C, align check eyeball some more, & keep doing that till it sets firm enough to leave. I think I had to trim the tops of the gear doors by a similar amount too.

 

DSCF2532

Steve.

Edited by stevehnz
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