Advice on 1/72 P-47 kits required please

[Black Knight]

I've taken a notion to build a couple of P-47s, both bubble-top and razor-back versions

My question:

In 1/72 scale only

Which kits are the most accurate, not necessarily almost 100% but pretty reasonable

and we'll keep the price under the £10 mark

 

I once built a Hobbyboss bubble-top and noticed they'd left out the intake (?) lip in the front of the engine cowling. other kits seem to leave off the exhausts on the sides of the fuselage and so on.

[Chuck1945]

The best are the Tamiya razorback and bubbletop kits but the price probably exceeds your £10. Next best I think are the Academy versions, then Hasegawa; no clue regarding availability of those. Revell does an M that can be built as a late D although it is a little fat in the belly.

[Work In Progress]

If you want to buy new, then the best raxorback / bubbletop pair of Thunderbolts in 1/72 for under a tenner is the Academy one. Wonderland and Hannants have them on at £8.99, for example. 

Older boxings of the Hasegawa kits are often available second-hand for around a fiver at shows, but of course there are no shows this year.

[Kio]

I agree ... Tamiya is actualy the best choice on the market ... the other kits are cheaper, but with bugs or limitations. Specially decals from Academy are ugly. 

If You want to build M version you can use Special Hobby kit ... it is Academy plastic parts with conversion frame from Special Hobby (and some PUR parts I think) and nice decals. 

(I don't know the UK price)

[theplasticsurgeon]

Just so you know what they look like - here are the Academy P-47s:

 

Hasegawa

 

And Revell

[72modeler]

As Chuck1945  has stated, the Tamiya razorback and bubble canopy P-47D's are the best in scale; they go for 8.6 BP each from Hobbylink Japan. A P-47D-30 can be built from the bubbletop kit with the addition of a resin dorsal fin strake from Quickboost. You could also do a P-47M from the Tamiya kit, but will need the dorsal fin strake and a C-series R-2800 engine from the Revell M kit or aftermarket. Revell do a P-47D-30 and a P-47M, but as already mentioned, the lower fuselages are too rotund, but can be fixed; take note that the D-30 and the M have  a smooth cockpit floor, whereas the other variants have a corrugated floor.  Special Hobby does a pretty nice M, using the Academy D kit, I think, and it does have the correct engine, cockpit, prop, and dorsal fin strake parts. Sword  does an N which is pretty good overall. The Academy kits are pretty good, but have simplified wheel bays with a seam to be dealt with, as do the Revell kits. The Hasegawa kits are the oldest, and have wheel bays that need to be boxed in, horizontal stabilizers that are slightly undersized, simplified and not very accurate cockpits, a simplified engine, and some very long sink marks on the upper and lower wing halves due to the one piece flaps. In addition, the Hasegawa kits have the gun barrels parallel with the wing leading edge dihedral, instead of being parallel with the ground. IIRC, the landing gear struts are a little too long, but I might be thinking of the Revell kits. You can check the 'net for kit reviews and builds of all of these kits for more information. We do have a P-47 authority here on BM, but for the life of me, I can't seem to recall his name- hopefully he will see this thread and help you even more than I.

Mike

Edited October 13, 2020 by 72modeler
corrected text

[Jackson Duvalier]

Another vote for Tamiya, period.  The price differential is literally less than a couple of pints.

 

The Hasegawa and Academy kits are decent enough kits, if you don't mind making corrections and can live with crap cockpit and wheel detail.  They can't hold a candle to Tamiya in terms of buildability, accuracy, or detail.  You won't really need aftermarket anything with Tamiya, and you'll save irreplaceable hours of your life.  The finished thing will also look better.

 

The Revell kits are quite good, except that they look pregnant and the cowl flaps could eat a carrot through a barbed wire fence.  Neither sin is irredeemable in terms of a realistic completed model, but again the fixing represents time and effort that can never be spent on anything else, ever.  Build a Tamiya Jug first, then try a Revell.

 

[Seahawk]

4 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

Another vote for Tamiya, period.  The price differential is literally less than a couple of pints.

 

The Hasegawa and Academy kits are decent enough kits, if you don't mind making corrections and can live with crap cockpit and wheel detail.  They can't hold a candle to Tamiya in terms of buildability, accuracy, or detail.  You won't really need aftermarket anything with Tamiya, and you'll save irreplaceable hours of your life.  The finished thing will also look better.

 

The Revell kits are quite good, except that they look pregnant and the cowl flaps could eat a carrot through a barbed wire fence.  Neither sin is irredeemable in terms of a realistic completed model, but again the fixing represents time and effort that can never be spent on anything else, ever.  Build a Tamiya Jug first, then try a Revell.

 

Beautifully put, sir!  My thoughts exactly.