Wingnut International 1/72 Republic XP-72

[TheRealMrEd]

With the recent demise of Wingnut Wings, I thought it appropriate to build a Wingnut kit, for old times sake.  This is the only one I had in the stash. and I'm not sure whether Wingnut Wings and Wingnut International were related or not.  In any event, it's a sad thing to lose a model maker of any sort.  Also, I was looking to build something fairly simple, for a change.  Since this is in fact a very simple kit, the build thread will be suitably shortened!

 

First, the kit, as well as the True Details 1/72 P-47D-M cockpit set, as the Wingnut kit is very rudimentary in that area:

 

 

Next, the cockpit was gussied up in the usual fashion, and installed before the fuselage halves were joined.  I might add that a ton of resin needed to be removed before the airplane and the cockpit set would fit together.  Thank you Dremel!

 

 

It was at this point that I deviated a bit from the kit, and elected to use the wings and tail planes from the very old Minicraft/Hasegawa P-47D kit, #1162.  I had a couple on hand, and while they were the cat's pajamas in their day, they are a bit long in the tooth now.  Also, I did it because it has easier to use the plastic gear doors, landing gear and etc., plus the machine guns were molded into the plastic kits wings along the center of the wings leading edge, vs the parallel-to-the-ground system of real P-47's, or so it seems to me in the few photos I could find of the XP-72. 

 

The main modification needed on the plastic wings was to trim off the outermost wing gun on either side, and to trim the inner-most guns to their new correct length for the XP-72:

 

 

As seen above right, the Hasegawa parts fit quite nicely to the Wingnut resin fuselage.  Also needed on the underside of the wings are some small mods to the cartridge ejection chutes:

 

 

"A", above, shows where the outermost cartridge ejection chutes were filled in;  "B" shows where the chutes for the innermost guns were filled, and "C" shows where the new chutes for the innermost guns need to be moved.  "X" shows the part of the plastic wings that I should have chopped off before mating to the fuselage, but didn't, and I had to chisel them off later.  Also, I found out after this photo was shot that the insides of all the gear doors (and presumably the wheel wells) were left aluminum.

 

After the mods, the old Black enamel undercoat layer was sprayed on, follow by a coat or Alclad II Polished Aluminum #105.  This will be toned down later on.

 

 

Well, that's all for now.  More soon...

 

Ed

 

 

[TheRealMrEd]

A couple of updates to this quick build.  First, more paint and some decals:

 

 

 

Next the gear doors and pitot tube:

 

 

and the double props used on the second prototype.  A few more decals and small editions and she'll be done, hopefully in the next day or two...

 

Later...

 

Ed

[71chally]

This is the shortest build thread I've seen from you Ed, still as fascinating and as perfect as the others though.

 

Wasn't the XP-72 the fastest aircraft at one stage?

[Mattlow]

Nice work..

 

The fit of the Hasegawa parts is so good I imagine that must have been the basis for the resin kit...

 

It'll look mean with that contraprop on the front...

 

Matt

[TheRealMrEd]

Hi James,

 

The first XP-72 Super Thunderbolt only hit 490 mph in trials, while the second prototype -- the one with contra props) was thought to be eventually capable of 540 mph at sea level.  Unfortunately, it crashed too early in the program to find out...

Also, you are correct it's a VERY short build thread!

 

Matt, I don't think the Hasegawa parts were used as a basis, as the detail on the resin kit wasn't quite as good as the Hasegawa -- one of the reasons I used them instead, ie. no guns, shell ejector chutes, and the aileron linkage bumps on the bottom of the wing just looked too small.

 

Anyway, she's done, and I'm just going to post a couple of finished pics here, instead of RFI.

 

 

 

 

And finally,just for kicks, a comparison with a standard P-47D bubble-top:

 

 

And there you have it, not too hard at all.  While the Wingnuts kit shown here has been long gone, you can still occasionally see the Alliance kit go by on E-Bay,and also, someone there has recently offered an aftermarket belly pan and nose for converting a P-47D kit.  It's worth the effort, as she's a sexy looking bird!

 

Ed

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2020 by TheRealMrEd

[stevehnz]

That is a beauty Ed, I 've long lusted after one of these since seeing this in my copy of WarPlanes of the World Fighters Vol 4 by William Green. Not sure I like the look or price of the one on eBay, so I'll content myself with enjoying yours.

Steve.

[mike romeo]

Hi Ed,

 

I do like watching your prototypes coming together.  You are a skilled and determined modeller.

 

Just one nerdy point: are the u/c doors mounted on the gear legs backward?

 

Rgds

 

Martin

[billn53]

That’s a sexy Thunderbolt, hardly deserves the nickname “Jug” anymore. I have a picture in my mind of one done up for Reno racing!

[TheRealMrEd]

Hi Martin,

 

They appear okay to me:

 

 

Steve,

 

The belly pan and nose conversion parts for the XP-72 on E-Bay were only about $10.00 US  --of course, that doesn't include the horrendous cost of postage from here to New Zealand!

 

Ed

[stevehnz]

Hi Ed, the ones I'm seeing now are about $US18.00 plus near the same for post, x1.5 for $NZ plus Paypal's cut plus NZGST @ 15% & whittling something out of balsa with some dope & talc filler starts to look quite attractive.

Steve.

[TheRealMrEd]

Steve,

 

I'm thinking you should grab an old Westland Wyvern kit and a large gas or wingtip tank and start chopping.  With little scribing and some putty, you're almost there...

 

Ed

[busnproplinerfan]

Interesting to see this conversion. I got parts off a guy on evilbay which are quite nice.

[TheRealMrEd]

Okay busnproplinerfan,

 

Tee up a build for us, and lets see how the parts fit!

 

Ed

 

[busnproplinerfan]

I will, won’t be right away. Be neat to see how they compare.