P-47M Thunderbolt

[Shelliecool]

My next build is Revell's 1 :72 P-47M Thunderbolt. I plan to build the kit as it comes from the box using Vallejo acrylics in place of the recommended Revell acrylics. The colour schemes require a lot of mixing of colours (which Revell seem to love), so I will be finding the equivalent colour matches and mixing as closely as I can. Lets have a look at what's in the box. 

The box is relatively small with a picture of the colour scheme I plan to build. 

Inside there is a small decal sheet and a detailed instruction manual. 

There are 4 grey sprues and a small clear sprue. They all have a fair amount of flash, but the panel line detail is good. I am going to finish the build in the colours of 'Devastatin Deb' of 63rd Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group, US 8th Army Air Force based in Boxted, England 1945. Here's hoping I can do it justice. I have given the sprues a wash, dry and prime so they are ready for action. 

[neil5208]

Good choice I have done this one but the kits options never had the hvar's fitted, fuel tanks only.

[Hamden]

 

I'll take a seat if you don't mind?

 

   Roger

[Shelliecool]

1 hour ago, Hamden said:

 

I'll take a seat if you don't mind?

 

   Roger

Always happy to have you on board. 

 

Michelle 

[Mark4700]

I’m building this one soon. I think I’ll pull up a seat. 

[VT Red Sox Fan]

Following with interest

[stevehnz]

Hi Shellie, I'm keen to look on in this build too, I've a couple in stock. Something that mine have which I see yours has too is a large piece of extraneous plastic on the intake splitter that goes under the engine, more than just flash & it looks as though its maybe 'sposed to be there, not so. I'm sure you'll see what I mean when you come to it.

Steve.

[Beard]

I've got the D boxing in the stash so will follow to see how it goes together.

 

One thing I don't get is why Revell included bombs and rockets, as far as I'm aware, the M didn't have provision for underwing stores because it was a pure fighter.

[Shelliecool]

Once the primer was dry I set to work, airbrushing the interior of the fuselage halves cockpit green, along with the seat, control column, flooring and wheel wells. I also airbrushed the instrument panel black. Once these were dry I added some detailing, paintung the instruments, and equipment on the fuselage halves. 

I found some great reference photos online, and added a harnedd to the pilots seat before attaching it to the flooring. 

Once fully dry, I secured the instrument panel into half of the fuselage and inserted the cockpit fir a dry fit. Allseemed well, a good fit really, so I went ahead and glued the cockpit into the same half. 

All good so far. 

[2996 Victor]

Great progress! Looking forward to the next instalment.

 

How good is the Revell kit for overall accuracy? I've not built one of their offerings for longer than I care to remember!

 

Kind regards,

 

Mark

[Shelliecool]

I have been busy with the build, joining the fuselage halves together. These fitted nicely and I held them in place with some tape whilst the glue dries. I then built the wings and turned my attention to the radial engine. I airbrushed these black and then added detailing with the brush, adding aluminium and steel highlights. 

Once the paint was dry I glued all 3 parts together. 

Coming along nicely. 

[Shelliecool]

Once the fuselage halves were glued and secure, I carefully attended the wings and tailplane. 

The time came to give the build a coat of Vallejo primer. This settled well and once dry I began preshading the panel lines. Yesterday, back after a weeks break, I masked up the build and began airbrushing the Aluminium underside and leading edges of the wings. 

The paint settled well, but is rather thick meaning my airbrush needed extra cleaning. Today, I have added some darker patches by mixing in a little steel. She is now drying before I seal it in with some Quick shine varnish. 

 

[Shelliecool]

With the underside sealed in I began masking up for the camo pattern on top. Revell would have you mix 20% blue with 80% white for the lighter areas. Following the instructions I did so and gave the build a blast. It was simply too light. 

Basically it looked off white, so I began adding more blue until I had the right kind of contrast, and sprayed again. 

This time it loomed much better so I stuck with this shade. Once dry I used the original mix to airbrush some highlights and then unmasked the build. 

Later I sealed it in with Quick shine varnish, next onto the blue. 

[Shelliecool]

Over the last week I have airbrushed several light coats of Vallejo Prussian blue. This isn't from the model air range so needs extra thinners as it is rather gloopy. It settled well and evenly. 

I then moved onto airbrushing the red section on the cowling. It took quite a few coats as you would expect with red but looked pretty good once the masking was off. 

Then having sealed the paintwork in with Quick shine I began work on the decals. There are not many decals to apply really, and were pretty good quality. I used micro sol as usual which helps the decals soften into place. 

Today, I have built the landing gear. The doors on the front need to be cut down to look accurate, but the instructions are really clear and it is easy to achieve with your craft knife. The locating pins on all of the landing gear fit nicely and it all feels pretty secure once in place. 

All that is left to do now is give the build a coat of Vallejo satin varnish and attach the antenna and canopy. 

[stevehnz]

Looking very good there Shellie, I can see a real stunna coming along here.

Steve.

[Hamden]

2 hours ago, stevehnz said:

Looking very good there Shellie, I can see a real stunna coming along here.

Steve.

 

What he said!

 

 Roger

[Shelliecool]

Yesterday, I gave the build a coat of Vallejo satin varnish and once dry attached my antenna wire (ultra fine fishing line). With all that done the build was complete. I have really enjoyed building this kit, it went together well and caused little heartache. Mixing the colours as Revell suggests is always a challenge but I'm happy with the results. 

I will post more photos in the ready for inspection forum, thanks for joining me on the journey. 

[Martian]

Looks good to this alien!

 

Martian 👽

[stevehnz]

That has come up wonderfully well. I'm liking for sure.

Steve.

[72modeler]

On 7/26/2020 at 3:08 AM, 2996 Victor said:

How good is the Revell kit for overall accuracy?

It is very good in almost all aspects except for the lower fuselage, from the firewall to the trailing edge of the wing, which is too deep and rounded- looks like a pregnant guppy! If you have a Hasegawa, Academy, or Tamiya kit to compare it to, you will see what I mean. I vaguely recall seeing a build article that showed how to correct this, but I'm going to use the prop and very nice C-series R-2800 engine as well as the dorsal fin fillet on one of my Tamiya kits to make an M. Most of the time, the M's did not have the wing pylons fitted, as they really didn't need the range at that point of the war, and were not being used for ground support, but could be seen with just a belly tank. Two  nice features of the Revell kit are the separate fin fillet, which allows you to build an early M or  one that was retrofitted with the fillet as a factory supplied field kit, and the guns, which are mounted horizontally and do not follow the wing dihedral- only the Revell and Tamiya kits got this correct!

 

Comparing a Revell fuselage half to the Tamiya kit's, opposite, which is regarded as the most accurate in 1/72 scale, it's less than  2 mm too deep, but it is VERY noticeable, especially when parked next to any of the other three kits. I think there's enough plastic so the excess can be sanded off, with maybe a small piece of plasticard to fill any resulting gap. Hope this info will be useful!

Mike

[72modeler]

Shellie,

 

Your M turned out very nicely! Well done! 

Mike

[2996 Victor]

1 hour ago, 72modeler said:

It is very good in almost all aspects except for the lower fuselage, from the firewall to the trailing edge of the wing, which is too deep and rounded- looks like a pregnant guppy! If you have a Hasegawa, Academy, or Tamiya kit to compare it to, you will see what I mean. I vaguely recall seeing a build article that showed how to correct this, but I'm going to use the prop and very nice C-series R-2800 engine as well as the dorsal fin fillet on one of my Tamiya kits to make an M. Most of the time, the M's did not have the wing pylons fitted, as they really didn't need the range at that point of the war, and were not being used for ground support, but could be seen with just a belly tank. Two  nice features of the Revell kit are the separate fin fillet, which allows you to build an early M or  one that was retrofitted with the fillet as a factory supplied field kit, and the guns, which are mounted horizontally and do not follow the wing dihedral- only the Revell and Tamiya kits got this correct!

 

Comparing a Revell fuselage half to the Tamiya kit's, opposite, which is regarded as the most accurate in 1/72 scale, it's less than  2 mm too deep, but it is VERY noticeable, especially when parked next to any of the other three kits. I think there's enough plastic so the excess can be sanded off, with maybe a small piece of plasticard to fill any resulting gap. Hope this info will be useful!

Mike

Hi Mike,

Many thanks for the extremely helpful extra info - that's exactly what I was looking for, and there may well be one of these heading my way very soon!

With kind regards,

Mark

[2996 Victor]

Hi Shellie,

Excellent result, I'd say!

I just hope I'll be able to manage a finish as half as good when I get mine!

Kind regards,

Mark

[Hamden]

 

Stunning result as usual from you Shellie. Nice work

Looking forward to the next one now!

 

           Roger

[AdrianMF]

Very smart! The blue camo is a nice change from olive drab. And it is a confirmed colour scheme, unlike all those profiles of “Lou IV” in Mickey Mouse ear blue camouflage Based off a dodgy print!
 

What’s next?

 

Regards,

Adrian