1/72 XP-47J Superbolt Kit Bash

[TheRealMrEd]

Hello again.

 

For several years, I have been looking at the 1/72 XP-47J Sharkit Kit.  Earlier this year, I decided to buy one, but could never get the site to let me order, and e-mails to the site were returned as undeliverable.  Finally, a couple of weeks back, I found a link to Renaud, and inquired about buying one.  He informed me that they were sold out, and he, at least, would not be casting any more, as he was retiring.  I wish him well, but my heart was broken. Was I never to have an XP-47J for the collection of the P-47 family?  After all, I had just done the XP-72, had done an XP-47H conversion years ago, and more recently, the XP-47B prototype,  With how to make a B and C version figured out, and the "Double Twister" seemingly figured out, an "N" model built, and an "M" in the stash, nothing left but the two-seater and the "J" to go.

 

Anyway, after studying some pictures, and my kit stash, I decided that maybe I get get to a "J" model with some good old-fashioned kit-bashing, plus a little scratch-building  --  so, here goes, another model I THINK I can build. As always, we'll see.

 

The critter looks like this:

 

 

I found this picture, as well as a .gif set of drawings:

 

 

Which for me, printed at 48% of actual size worked out exactly to 1/72 scale size.  Actual length of the real aircraft (excluding the spinner!) was 33' 3", and the wingspan was right at 40 feet.

 

As with my XP-47B Prototype build, I'll be using the Academy P-47D razorback kit (because it's cheaper than Tamiya's), and the True Detail P-47 cockpit set:

 

 

I figured the toughest part of the build will be the modified cowl area, so I'll start there.  First off, some tape was used to mark off the cutting lines on both sides of the P-47D cowl.  Since I had some old Hasegawa P-47D kit parts left over from the XP-72 build -- the the Hasegawa kit contributed it's wings, landing gear and gear doors --  I have the fuselage parts to play with.  Luckily they are exactly the same size as the Academy parts, so I'll use the Hasegawa cowl to experiment with, saving the Academy one against future need.  First off, some tape was used to mark off the cutting lines on both sides of the P-47D cowl :

 

 

Above right, you can see the P-47D cowl cut in half, leaving a top and bottom half.  You can also see from the "X", where I screwed up even this simple task, cutting one side on the wrong line.  The first picture actually was the saved Academy cowl, while I chopped up the Hasegawa cowl.  No matter, I'll shim it up later.  On the right end of the picture is the section of an old Airfix P-61 cowling that I used the remainder of years ago, on my build of the P2V-3 Neptune.  As I told you guys before, and you can now see why --  I NEVER throw anything modeling-related away.  No parts, decals, or even sprue.  (Occasionally, I will toss out an old model box, which some might try to sell on E-Bay...).

 

Next I cut a few strips of old plastic sheet (I'd guess around 30 thou), into some strips 2 - 3 times wider than the P-47D cowl plastic is thick:

 

 

Above right, the strips are then glued with liquid cement to the cowling top.  Note that one side has an extra strip, to shim up my earlier cutting mistake, and even up the cowl top.  When dry, these are sanded down to whatever thickness needed to assure that when the P-61 section of cowl is glued on, the front end of the cowling opening will be as circular as possible:

 

 

Above right, the sawn edges of the lower P-47D cowling part are sanded at an angle, to assure that the front "scoop" on the lower part of the P-47D cowl will be raked at the correct angle when glued to the top section, as per the drawings.  Not shown, the rear part of the lower P-47D cowling, being glued on further back, is cut flush with the top part on the rear end after they are glued together, to make the whole new cowling the same overall length as the original cowling:

 

 

Above right, the front opening edges are shaved and sanded to needed shapes and thicknesses.

 

Next, the XP-47J had a huge cooling fan installed right at the front of the cowl opening, and right behind the rather large prop spinner.  I scrounged around in the stash and found that the fan blades from an Esci AV-8A would work just fine, once trimmed to size.  Those from an A-10 would work as well.   I decided to cast a resin copy as I optimistically hope to build the AV-8A one day.  So, I dug out a years-old supply of 5-minute silicone molding putty that I got from Micro Mark.  I mixed up a lump of Part "A" and an equal lump of Part "B", and mixed them together into a ball, which I then flattened onto a desk top.  Then, I pushed the fan side of the Harrier part into the putty and left dry:

 

 

The putty was supposed to dry in 5 minutes, but as I said, it's old (like me), and not as fast as it usta was...   I let it set for half an hour, then gave it a little touch up with a blow dryer on medium heat for around 30 seconds, being careful not to melt anything, then popped the part out of the putty.  As you might be able to see, there are a couple of bubbles in the mold, which really doesn't matter, as all but the very edges of the fan will be covered by the propeller spinner.  If the part had needed to be dead accurate, I  would have used the pressure casting method, as usual (No more vacuum casting...yay!).  It should be mentioned here, that in all my casting materials -- the silicone jars/jugs, the resin jars/jugs as well as this putty, I help preserve with a squirt or two of Nitrogen, like the same canned stuff used to preserve opened bottles of wine, etc.  I use the cheapest I can find. This time, it happened to be Bloxygen, which as you might infer, blocks any oxygen from touching the top of the preserved material (when stored upright!).  By the way, this gas is lighter than air, so you won't be able to shake the can to see how much is left.  You just gotta use it 'til it runs out, and trust that you were given full measure!

 

Anyway, I now have to go out into a cold, un-heated garage and cast a resin copy.  Due to the cold and thinness of the cast, I'll give it a couple of days in the pressure caster, rather than the usual (for the resin I use) 16 hours.

 

While all that's going on, it's a great time to take a break here.  I'll be back when there's more to report.  As usual, all comments, questions, or general kibitzing are welcome.

 

Ed

 

 

 

 

[HOUSTON]

Ed, 

 

Excellent  photos with comprehensive  notes to your build.

You have made a brilliant  start and looking 

Pretty Impressive to ME.

.Keep it coming. 

 

[Thom216]

Superb beginning!

[Jackson Duvalier]

Your willingness to get hands-on with the surgery are inspirational, Ed.  😎

[billn53]

Excellent hands-on modeling going on here, and your description & accompanying photos are very clear. I will be keeping tabs on your progress and taking notes for future reference. 

[TheRealMrEd]

Sorry folks, got a little busy with other things in the last few days, so only a small amount of progress to report today.

 

After the cooling fan casting was done, I sanded it down to the needed circumference, and glued it into the cowl:

 

 

Sorry for the rotten pictures, but time was short.  Next, I cut out a couple of plastic pieces about 10mm long, and 3-1/2mm tall at one end and around 2mm tall at the other:

 

 

Above right, these are sanded to rough shape, until they will fit into the intake and get glued into place.  They will be filled in with CA.  Note that the primered cowl assembly still needs additional  sanding and filling.

 

While all that's going on, work begins on the body, with areas filled and sanded as shown:

 

 

The "X" shows where the center-line bomb-mount add-on has been sanded down, about 1.2 mm or so.  Next, because the rear cockpit glass area is different from the regular P-47, the upper rear turtle-deck is sawn off, from the top of a panel line to the rear of the cockpit:

 

 

The two sawn-off halves are saved and glued together, as they will form the master for either a vacuformed or cast part for the rear glass.  We shall see, when I figure it out!

 

That's all for now.  Hopefully, I'll have more to show soon...

 

Ed

[Planebuilder62]

Great modelling skills Ed, I really like how you make something out of not much. Well done.

 

regards Toby

[TheRealMrEd]

Thanks folks, still chugging away!

 

I went ahead and painted up the True Details P-47D-M cockpit set, as with the XP-72.  You can't see a lot of it anyway, and really, the kit cockpit would probably do just fine.  However, for those of you with a more aggressive modeling nature, this photo from what I still call the Air Force museum collection shows what purports to be the P-47J instrument panel:

 

 

Above right, my sawing job didn't go as well as on the XP-47B job, so I had to add some thin plastic card shim here and there when joining the fuselage halves and nose together.  The cockpit is already installed, but the lighting in this photo doesn't show it, as I adjusted the contrast to try and show the theme of the picture a little better --  something I often do, and the main reason I have never submitted to a magazine  -- I'd rather massage the photos to pop the detail that I want to draw attention toward.

 

Below, a piece of thin plastic card is glued to the turtle-deck opening behind the cockpit area, from the rear of the actual cockpit to the top of the cut-off part:

 

 

Above right, the newly added rear "bulkhead" is trimmed to fir.  Note the arrow points to the sanded card shims where the nose join comes together with the cowling.  In this photo, the center-line doesn't seem just right, and if need be, I will saw the left side back apart and shim some more later.

 

At the end of the day, this photo of the real thing shows what we are trying to achieve at the rear of the canopy:

 

 

Above right, the little  exit bump is sawn from the fuselage underside.  It will be moved back to just ahead of the tail wheel opening, marked "X", as shown in the next picture:

 

 

Above right, the hole left by removing the exit bump is filled with a piece of kit sprue, glued in at a slight angle with liquid cement.  When everything is filled and sanded, I'll only have to add the larger gas exhaust outlet ahead of these two on the lower fuselage, probably to be made from a spare rocket or gas tank half from the spares box.  We'll see.

 

Anyway, it now looks like this, from the side:

 

 

If you look at the side view drawing posted earlier, you'll see what I'm trying to say...

 

Below, the wing guns need to have the outer gun removed, as there were only 3 per wing on the "J"  (Same as the XP-72), so two of the cartridge ejection chutes must be filled, along with the holes for the bomb pylons.  Note that the wing tips have been cut out, awaiting the wingtip clear lights to be added later.  Also, the arrow shows the approximate point where a new cartridge ejection chute will have to be added on both wings:

 

 

Like the XP-72, these guns are on the wing center-line, not parallel to the ground, as on the P-47D, etc. (Well actually, they are a hair BELOW the center-line, as I will show later on.  However, I will just leave them as Academy molded them, so as not to "split hairs".)

 

More later,

 

Ed 

 

 

[TheRealMrEd]

Hello, back again.

 

After doing the needed work to the wings, they now look like so:

 

 

Since last we met, I have discovered that the last under-fuselage vent I added was incorrect  --  it should have been a squarish sort of adjustable exit, much like on P-38's.  No bother, I just sanded over the rounded exit, which then became plastic filler, over which to add the new vent!

 

Next, I took a spare piece of old sprue of the needed diameter, and filed it down to the the sides were rectangular, as seen from the rear end, and the top and bottom were tapered:

 

 

Next, above right, the edge that goes toward the fuselage was filed into an open, rectangular shape.  This part was then separated from the rest of the sprue, and glued to the lower fuselage in the same position as the old, rounded one that I sanded down, and with the open end facing rearward:

 

 

 Above right, the arrow shows where the newly added rectangular exit needs to be sanded down at the front, flush with the fuselage.  Also shown is the forward exhaust exit, is made up from a sanded and shaped old Monogram F-105G side radar housing.  I couldn't find any clearer photos or drawings of this guy so this is my S.W.A.G.!

 

Anyway, after filling sanding and more massaging the lower fuselage has the correct profile, and now (more or less) matches something somewhere between the drawing and other photos...:

 

 

Next up, the rear turtle-deck canopy part, which is the little part cut off the turtle-deck in the 2nd posting I made to this build thread, last Friday, I believe:

 

 

Above left, the photo shows "A" as the part that was cut off the Academy P-47D turtle-deck (actually 2 halves glued together), and "B" denotes the only part we are trying to reproduce in some form of clear medium.  I chose to try vacuforming, as more modelers would have access to this technology vs clear resin pressure casting, which would have probably looked better in the end.  Another option would be sawing, carving, sanding and then polishing some sort of clear plastic bits, something like what I ended up having to do on my XP-4B Prototype build.  Anyway, parts "C" and "D" are just various scraps of plastic glued under the real part, to hold the part a bit proud of the vacuforming table to allow for a better forming process.  (Otherwise, you get a radius-ed edge, which is not good!)

 

Above right, the newly added rear cockpit/turtle-deck bulkhead is painted aluminum "arrow", because that's what an enlarged portion of the only color photo I could find, seems to show:

 

 

Above right, the subject part shown (not yet separated from the plastic sheet) after processing on my 47 year-old Mattel Vac-U-Former, still plugging along, albeit with a little help from a heat gun now and then.  Like me, it ain't as fast as it usta was...

 

After careful trimming and some slight sanding it was glued in the correct position on the turtle-deck , using G-S watch cement:

 

 

Above right, the profile of the model is coming along.  Also, the fact that the added "glass" area will allow me to get to the inside with a tiny q-tip and some 91% alcohol, should a bit of cleanup be needed, is helpful!

 

Just in case it's needed for proper fit later, I acquired a Rob Taurus P-47D razorback vacu-formed canopy... again, just in case the kit canopy (which I would rather use!) is too thick.  In a step I forgot to take a picture of, after dipping the entire Rob Taurus canopy into Future/Pledge/whatever and left to dry, I then filled the vacu canopy with a batch of Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty, to form a new mold in case of disaster.

 

This putty comes in a can, in powdered form, and is mixed with water to the desired consistency; in my case about like epoxy or resin,  I fill the canopy, swizzle it around with a spare piece of wooden stick (to make certain that there are no air bubbles close to the canopy surface that I'm trying to replicate) and then let dry for a few days. Either because the putty doesn't like plastic very well, or perhaps because of the coat of Future, the Durham's then pops right out of the canopy, leaving me with a back-up canopy mold.  This method should also work to make new canopies where the old one has yellowed, perhaps using clay, if needed, that you can "dam up" the canopy so that the Durham's doesn't leak or run out until dry.

 

Shown below, the canopy has been trimmed from the plastic sheet, and just laid back atop the mold, for your reference:

 

 

Above, all the cross-hatching, etc. is from the original Rob Taurus canopy.  Sadly, if that area had been left smooth, I may have been able to just trim it up and us it, rather than going through all the preliminary work above!!

 

Well, back later with more fun.   Still plugging away,

 

Ed

[TheRealMrEd]

Another brief update.

 

Next up, the propeller.  I scrounged an old spinner from the spares box.  Probably a re-shaped P-40 spinner would do as well.  The one I chose was set up for 3 blades vs. 4 blades, so I had to fill two of the holes.  Then I drilled, glued and added a small length of wire to the back of the spinner.  I then placed the spinner on my prop jig to mark off the four positions for the new blade holes:

 

 

Above right, "A" marked an old, filled, prop hole, while "B" shows a faint pencil mark where a new hole needs to be filled; "C" shows a newly-drilled hole, and "D" shows the wire added to the back of the prop spinner.

 

Next, I cut all the blades off of the Academy kits' Hamilton prop, drilled and glued in small wires (both for mounting anD for handling), and painted everything with one coat of Alclad II grey primer.  When that had dried, the needed areas were painted Insignia Yellow:

 

 

Above right.  When dry, the yellow tips were masked off, and the prop blades then sprayed flat black.  Then, the prop blade wires were glued into the spinner hub.

 

I ended up using the kit canopy, rather than the vac u-formed one.  Everything was masked with a used set of masks, plus a few new bits, and everything is ready for paint:

 

 

Above right, after an overall coat of grey primer and a coat of Alclad II #101 Aluminum, she looks like this.  Needs a little more body work, and then she'll be ready for final paint.

 

Back soon,

 

Ed

Edited December 21, 2020 by TheRealMrEd
hit wrong button, posted too soon.

[TheRealMrEd]

Rounding the final turn...

 

Got the paint sorted and pulled off the canopy masking.  Then I started adding decals, stars and bars and flap warning red marks from the Academy kit, and spares box for other numbers, except for the "XP47J" on the vertical stabilizer:

 

 

One item of note is that the XP-47J had it's serial number displayed on the underside of the port wing, something  I had not seen before.  Perhaps a precursor to the late-war "buzz numbers"?  Anyway the next photo is the only color photo of the aircraft that I could find:

 

 

This photo shows both the numbers under the wing and the "superman" (Not actually the "real" Superman of comic fame) on the cowling.  Since Disney gave aircrew permission to use their images for airplane art during the war,  I wonder if Marvel did not.  Or,  perhaps the artist here was not very good...

 

In any event, a closer crop of the artwork looks like so:

 

 

The two pictures above, center and right show my rendition of this artwork, after some manipulation in Photo Shop.  First, the original image had to be rotated a bit, right-to-left, as well as up-to-down a bit, to help correct the perspective.  Then I could begin cleaning up and coloring the image for my own use.  You will notice that the original work on the actual aircraft, did not depict the hands, nor did the face have any coloration, just the black outline.  In addition, the white on the "S", the cape, and his belt was totally incorrect.  Having been a Superman Comics fan from about 1952, this really grated on my nerves!!  So, using artistic license, I added a few details and some coloration changes, mostly having to do with the fact that I could not print white on my Epson ink jet printer, and  my choices were either transparent or white decal paper. 

 

If you have ever tried cutting out the exact outline of a tiny figure on decal paper to avoid a white background, you'll know what I mean.  In addition, cutting an ink jet-printed decal too close to the design lets the water under the top clear film, resulting in color bleed around the edges.  Hence, my need to print the decal on clear film, so that I wouldn't have to trim it too closely, but alas, no white color allowed!  Hence the substitution of yellow for the white, which is correct for the belt, and partly correct for the "S", but just an artistic style for the cape.  In the spirit of accuracy, I did leave the totally inaccurate "S" as depicted, even though it STILL bothers me.  Fortunately, in 1/72, it's a very small image, so it really doesn't matter a lot, except to me.  And of course, I printed mine on clear decal paper.  The third image, above, is in .bmp format, so that you can us and resize it if you wish, while the middle picture is just a plain old jpeg.

 

Because of the translucency of most ink jet-printed decals, you sometimes have to lay one atop the other to bring out the color depth, so it is my custom to print several of each image, and choose either the best example (or the best two, as it were) for use.  Below are given actual size 1/72 scale artwork, for what I needed, and for you use, if you wish:

 

 

These actually print out a bit larger than shown here, but your mileage may vary.  At least, these printed at the correct size for me...

 

After over-coating the  model and decals with Alclad II Klear Koat Semi-Matt, I began adding all the fiddly bits, such as gear doors antenna, etc. Finally, she is completed and looks as shown in the below teaser pics:

 

 

As is the usual custom, I will add some RFI pics HERE.

 

Let me say here that this whole process was simply to show others that with a little bit of thought, you can make darn near any model you want --  you just gotta figure out how!  In my case, I certainly would have bought one if I could have, but I couldn't.

 

While I used the Academy kit vs the Tamiya because it's cheaper, you can use either to build one of these.  The hardest thing is that you will need to source a prop spinner,  something to round out the bottom of the engine cowl (I used part of a P-61 cowling),  some odd pieces for the under-fuselage gas exits, and of course the needed decal bits that are unique to this model.  I ended up using the Academy canopy and windscreen rather than the vac u-formed Rob Taurus one that I had, and actually, the Academy cockpit could easily be used rather than the resin one I had laying about.  The new rear canopy clear part was the trickiest bit.  While I vac u-formed one here just to show it can be done by most people, for only myself, I believe it would have been better to pressure cast a clear resin piece, probably just because the plastic I used to vac u-form is not the clearest.

 

While I believe that the quarter-scale builders still have a conversion kit or two for this aircraft still floating around out there, unless someone buys the Sharkit molds, this might be the only game in town for us 1/72 (God's One True Scale!) modelers.

 

Hope you all enjoyed this build, and better yet, I hope some of you will give this a try and post up your efforts here.  Given all the great detailers here on this forum, someone should be able to build a real doozy, rather than this cobbled up effort of mine!

 

Well, I hope you all have a merry whatever-it-is-that-you-celebrate, while I intend to have myself a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy Gnu's Rear!

 

Ed

 

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by TheRealMrEd
added link

[billn53]

“Since Disney gave aircrew permission to use their images for airplane art during the war,  I wonder if Marvel did not.”

 

Shame on you, Ed. Having been a fan as long as you have, you should know that Superman is from DC comics, not Marvel!
 

🤪

 

But seriously, another excellent build under your belt. I thoroughly enjoyed watching how you did the conversation 

[TheRealMrEd]

billn53 -- you are right!   I can only claim advancing years.  Would you believe that o n this model, I had everything done, went to take the finished photos and then, only then, did I discover that I hadn't painted the anti-glare panel on the front!  Some fancy masking there, I can tell you!

 

Ed

[busnproplinerfan]

I'm kind of in the same boat. I procrastinated buying this a couple years ago and also after shipping, exchange etc it almost doubled in price. I'll have to do something similar when I start building this one. Great job on this.

[TheRealMrEd]

Well busnproplinerfan,  if you have a reasonable little spares box, etc., the Academy kit is going for around $17.00 US here and there, I'd say get started, and post it here at BritModeler for all of us to see!

 

Ed

[opus999]

I just now found this thread.  Outstanding modelling skills!  My scratchbuilding skills are rudimentary at best -- I wouldn't have been brave enough to even try this.  But you pulled it off and it looks fantastic!  I bet you're feeling good.  

[TheRealMrEd]

Hi opus999,

 

Sorry, just got back to checking this thread and noticed your post.  Be assured that when I started, I didn't know for sure how I was going to do this either.  I only thought I did!

 

Everyone has to start sometime and somewhere.  Failed attempts are not that at all, they are merely stepping stones to success!  As my dear old granny used to tell me all the time -- "Can't never could do nothing"!

 

Ed