Brazilian P-47D-25 - Italy October 1944 - completed

[trickyrich]

Well it's a new year and time to get cracking on a new project. This time I'm running another STGB on another site for P-47 Thunderbolts.

I had it all planned before I went on holidays to Europe, and I had hoped to buy the stuff I needed over there but couldn’t find what I wanted so ended up just ordering it online......not a good idea at the time!

My cunning plan fell to pieces once I got home and started looking at the references I had, I wanted to build a Latin American P-47D. The decals I got were for D-30s and higher, where as the model I was building was a D-25. I then though about modifying the model I had to suit (not a really hard mod to do) until I found the perfect decal set!

So now I’m building Brazilian P-47D-25 of 1°GAvCA used in Italy from October 1944. The decals are from a super rare AeroMaster Thunderbolts Galore set. Plus I will be throwing in a bit of AM stuff as well.

I only have the model at the moment, the AM stuff is stock photos.



Aires Wheel Wells…I know the Tamiya ones are nice but these are resin……..



Eduard detail set (plus canopy masking set too)



Master gun barrel set.



AeroMaster decal…rare as hens teeth…..hope I don’t stuff them up!



And this is what I’ll be building….have already found an issue with the decals, the a/c serial number is wrong for the aircraft ID number! Will sort that out when I get to it.



I won’t get a chance to start this now until next week, go back to work on Wednesday, plus the AM bits haven’t arrived yet. In the mean time I’m working on “Gold Member”.

[FAAMAN]

You could get your decals copied by a decal maker near your part of the world, have the serial number altered to suit and not touch your ultra rare decal sheet at all as you can use the 'new' decals for your model, the bonus being you'll know the decals will work first time. :)

[Brian da Basher]

I'm really looking forward to seeing this one!

Not enough Brazilian markings out there! I finally got my hands on six W.W.II style roundels! Those things are hard to find...

This should be one crackerjack P-47!

Brian da Basher

[trickyrich]

You could get your decals copied by a decal maker near your part of the world, have the serial number altered to suit and not touch your ultra rare decal sheet at all as you can use the 'new' decals for your model, the bonus being you'll know the decals will work first time. :)

it is a thought, especially seeing as they are so rare!

I'm really looking forward to seeing this one!

Not enough Brazilian markings out there! I finally got my hands on six W.W.II style roundels! Those things are hard to find...

This should be one crackerjack P-47!

Brian da Basher

I agree, it's a really interesting history with these aircraft and they certainly deserve a new decal release!

Ok time for a big update after what seems like ages again I'm back to this build.

Well I have plenty of amazing builds to inspire me so I best get to it…

Well the last of the goodies arrived today…



..and the decals that I really have no use for…



plus these amazingly rare things that were printed in 1993 and look in perfect condition…no pressure here.



Well first up I need to do the mods, these being for the Aires wheel wheels. First off let me say now that I’ve done the modifications to get them to fit….they’re not really worth the effort!!

If you’re trying to produce a show stopper/award winner then maybe, but other than that I don’t think they’re really worth all the effort. And yes there is quite a lot of work to get them to fit, Aires resin extras normally take a wee bit of work to sort out, but this wheel wells required a lot of work!

 I’ll go through the modification process just in case someone else plans to use them. If the sight of distressed plastic or resin scares you then please look away now.

Ok after the resin blocks have been removed I worked on the fit to the lower wings sections, I only worked on one side till everything was correct then I repeated it of the other side. The three marked sections needed to be removes and smoothed out. The actual resin wheel wells do not quite fit in the space the Tamiya ones do, you need to leave room for the spars as well! Oh and the wheel wells will not be fitted until I have finished painting them as well, so everything you see has not been glued together!




Ok it’s in the right position now in the lower wing and fits nicely.



Next up is the cut out in the fuselage, due to the size of the resin wheel wells quite a bit of plastic needed to be removed.



Of concern was how these wheel wells would fit into the Tamiya wing spars…in short not without some work! The wheel well detail on the rear spar needed to be removed.



Plus because a lot of material around these spars was removed from the fuselage, so I needed to add small blocks to ensure the spar sits in the correct position.



With everything now fitting pretty well with the new wheel wells it was time to remove the Tamiya ones from the top wing…..no going back now!!

A lot of extra plastic needed to be removed to get the new ones to fit, the plastic here is quite thin!



But not as thin as I had to go with the resin wheel wells…..”wafer thin” to the extreme! It needed to be for the wings to close up without any bulging of the wing chord.



I then repeated the entire process on the other wing.

All up it look quite good, but again was it worth the effort…about 3 to 4 hours work there….well no!  Anyway too late now.




Next up was all the other bits and pieces of PE to be fitted…


http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q722/trickyrich62/P-47%20Thunderbolt%20STGB/DSCF1416_zps2xnd62ys.jpg

….plus a bit of wiring to the instrument panel….



…..flaps done…..only because I was in a gluing mood!



Ok that should be all the modification work and pre-painting work done. Next up will be painting!

The plan is that everything will be painted polished aluminium on the inside, well the aircraft was made of it, the interior will then be painted Zinc Chromate and Interior Green/Bronze Green (or something in between…..need to look at references a bit more closely).

I may do a bit of detail work in the rear wheel area as it is very vacant at the moment…will think about that.

Am happy with all the work do today and hopefully everything now should go together quite smoothly.

[Old Wombat]

The Jug always reminds me of a pregnant cow to look at but, by all reports, was a great aircraft.

Can't wait to see how yours turns out, mate!


PS: Where (roughly) in Aus do you live?

FAAMAN is an ex-RAN FAA buddy (he was a Skyhawk banger & I was a Tracker whacker) who lives in Sydney. I live in the Adelaide Hills.

[trickyrich]

The Jug always reminds me of a pregnant cow to look at but, by all reports, was a great aircraft.

Can't wait to see how yours turns out, mate!


PS: Where (roughly) in Aus do you live?

FAAMAN is an ex-RAN FAA buddy (he was a Skyhawk banger & I was a Tracker whacker) who lives in Sydney. I live in the Adelaide Hills.

thanks for that.

Me, I'm in Petersham, inner south west of Sydney, next to Newtown very inner city.

[FAAMAN]

Ah Haaa!! Another Sydneyite!! Hi there form Penriff!!

[trickyrich]

Ah Haaa!! Another Sydneyite!! Hi there form Penriff!!

 

Well I forgot to update this yesterday, but after a bit of a slow start which involved racing off to my nearest hobby shop for some paint, I was all was set for painting.  As a side note I was sadden to see this hobby shop was discontinuing support plastic modelling, now it’s just an RC shop…….guess I’ll have to do all my shopping online now!

That said I did managed to get some of that new Vallejo’s new Metal Colour Semi Matt Alum, dying to try this out!

Anyway back to the build.

Ok painting time first up, everything was given a coat of Model Master Metalizer Buffing Aluminium (will be switching over to Non-Buffing as I’m running out!!), this will be the base coat for everything on the model. 

Sorry no photo’s of some of these stages as I got so into the groove I forgot!   

Next up I started on painting up the main wheel wells, these where painted Zinc Chromate Yellow and then weathered and detailed. They ended up looking really nice a grubby. Once finished these were glued in place.



After this the engine was next, I wasn’t going to get too worried about detailing it, as when it’s in place not a lot will be seen. I initially made a couple of mistakes when building it, but these are hidden, plus they add to the “in-service” look of the engine.



Depending on the reference material you read the insides of the cowling were either Zinc Chromate Yellow (ZCW) upper section / dark aluminium intake area, or completely dark aluminium in colour. I went with the ZCY/Dk. Aluminium, I will grubby up this area as well. Plus while I was at it I painted some of the other bits as well.




All up it doesn’t look too bad at all.



I did some work to the weapons I’ll be fitting as well. I had just been reading about a technique to make the bombs look a little more realistic. This involves using some thinned down filler and a cotton bud, which is used to apply a soft textured finish to the bomb surface. Once dry a quick coat of OD. It doesn’t look too bad at all, it has a nice rough cast finish. I just need to do some strips and weathering and they’ll be done.



Ok the major part of the thread…the cockpit. After all the concerns of what is the correct colour for the cockpits of P-47D’s I went with a Bronze Green colour (Hu 88 to be exact). After reading all I could find and pouring all the photo’s I could find (especially some colour photo’s of unrestored or recovered wrecks) I settled on this colour for my build. Is it correct….who knows for sure!

So all the cockpit area was sprayed with Hu-88 over the aluminium then given a clear coat. Once this was dried, washes, shading and detailing was done.



Once I was happy with the look the PE bits were added. I didn’t too much extra other than added IP wiring and fiddling with the gun site.



It looks pretty good when fitted together, I need to finish up a few details then I can glue the whole lot together.



That’s about where I’m up to, have made great progress. I should have the fuselage together tomorrow plus the wings together as well. I wait to spend as much time as I can getting the wing/fuselage fit perfect as I want to see if I can build this beasty without any filler at all, and that include using sprue.

By the time I go back to work on Wednesday I hope to be ready for the painting, which I’ll be next break.

[Volkodav]

Wow! 1/48, I had to check again because it looks more 1/32 or 1/24

[FAAMAN]

I'm not a fan of big 1/48 scale, preferring 'God's Scale' (1/72 that is) and smaller, but you work on this Jug's bits so far is faultless!!! Bravo sir!!! 
I'm really looking forward to the finished result 

[trickyrich]

Wow! 1/48, I had to check again because it looks more 1/32 or 1/24

I wish it was 1/32nd or even 1/24th, it would make the work so much easier!

and thanks for the nice comments.

well I didn’t quite get to where I had hoped to be today, but I have made good progress.

Distractions today, shopping with SHMBO, got some new stuff from Apple, plus was buying on evilBay! Bough/won a Super High detailing set for a Fw-190 by FM Resin, so expect to see this for either the Fw-190 STGB or the Eastern Front GB!!

Anyway back to the build…lots of photos today.

As promised here are some better photos of the cockpit now glued together, with the gun sight just sitting in place for the moment (Blutac).







Finished gluing the wings together, one is now complete. The other needs finishing off.



That said I test fitted the gun barrels….



Very nice!

The bombs are nearly there, better photo today.



Started work on the rocket pods…



….now painted just need to final detail them…..



…..wheels are getting there…..



….started painting the rudder, will be the first part completed!



If you know the model then this is a bit strange, the engine is meant to go in before the cowling flaps! I have fitted the cowling flaps first, I plan to finish the final scheme on the cowling before I fit the engine and fit it to the fuselage. Not the usual way of doing it…but it suits my build plans.



..and the first look of it sort of together!! Am quite happy where I’m at, at this stage!






Tomorrow hopefully will be a big day, hope to have the basic painting completed on the rudder and cowling sections….and maybe the flaps, plus hope to have the fuselage together as well.

[trickyrich]

well a bit of an up and down couple of days on this project....

Well I hadn’t planned to do any more for the moment after yesterdays one forward two backwards sort of day but I had to wait for things to dry on my distraction so I did a wee bit as I waited.

The rudder, which for some reason the LifeColor Int. Green went all watery when applied, was stripped back with over cleaner. This time an undercoat of white was applied, then masked and Tamiya Yellow applied…no issues at all. Next the LifeColor, (even after I’d even started to thicken it up, it had gone super runny) went on thin lumpy and washed out looking! I may end up using enamel for this, the colour I need to match the decals is Interior Green.

That aside I worked on the wheels, I finally noticed that I was using the wrong ones, I should have been using the covered ones for this aircraft… so a quick trip to the spray booth and a wash…much better!



The cowling was the next bit (while all this was going on I was still playing with the F1), this was to be the main trial piece for the paint job. First off a coat of Model master Metalizer Non Buffing Aluminium (that’s a mouthful and a half! ..to be called now MM Aluminium). Then some masking, before LifeColor Neutral Grey (no problems with this one), and then Mr Hobby Olive Drab.

From this test a couple of things, I’ll need to use a sealing coat to help the acrylic paint to go on smoothly, plus it will help keep the paint from chipping off when I remove the blutack! The finish I’m after is a very worn and faded look, patchy but without a lot of ”chipping” from the photos I’ve seen.



I may play a bit more with this, if it turns out ok I’ll keep it, if not I’ll strip it back and start again!

The rudder section, wings and elevators, in that order were fitted next.

I haven’t mentioned it yet, bit this has to be one of the best models I have built in a very long time where everything just fit perfectly!!! Tamiya just did a perfect job in making sure everything just fitted, this would have to be one of their best models!

That said it then takes an oaf like me to try and ruin all their effort but trying to fit some AM resin bits that weren’t actually needed in the first place! Yes the wing joins that were originally perfect did need a bit of persuasion and some clever trickery to fit nicely…..no telling what was require…..

Am more than happy with the result, not the slightest bit of filler needed, am very happy with that!





And here is where we stand before I head off again. She does look really cool…if I can just get the finish I’m after right! Oh and the prop was finished….until the paint lifted off, so had to start again.






Well I now have a week to plan my next steps, I know in my head what I need to do, I just think I need to practise the painting bits!

[DFZ]

That's excellent work!

[Brian da Basher]

That's some top-notch detail work! Simply astounding!

Details are like gardening to me: I have little patience for either, but I sure can appreciate magnificent work when I see it!

Just outta-sight!

Brian da Basher

[trickyrich]

thanks for the nice comments.

well I’m a little bit late with this update…have done some work on this build but for the last couple of days I’ve been TRYING to rebuild computer workstation! Did a total upgrade but of cause nothing seemed to go right…especially with the software…

Anyway I’ve done some more so here’s where I’m up to;

 I finished tiding up the airframe and it was time to give it its first coat. I have done some experiments for Cookie plus I have been trialling some stuff with the cowling. I want a base coat of Aluminium or similar to replicate the actual metal. I had found the Non-Buffing Aluminium, but the next coat never really holds well, it’s ok though if I want a chipped finish, but not in this case. I found Non-Buffing Titanium or Steel work the best for what I want (all my metal paints are Model Master Metalizer) but they’ll have a coat of sealer as well.

It doesn’t look too bad at all even with the paint not going one smoothly! A couple of joins on the underside may need touching up, but the Neutral Grey will hide them.



Plus all the other bits were painted Steel as well. I tried a light coat of LifeColor OD on one of the flaps. It didn’t go on too bad bit I still well seal the finish first.



I also played around a bit more with the cowling, it now has a coat of LifeColor OD on top of the Gunze Mr Hobby OD. I like the look…I may leave it as is of strip it back and start again. I like the colour of the LifeColor OD so will be using it.



I still wasn’t happy with the rudder so I stripped it back again (third time), then painted it white, then yellow, masked and Interior Green. Looks a lot better this time…so may leave it. So will clear coat, think it will look much better with the panel lines done and some fading/weathering.



She’s now looking pretty good, since these photos where taken she had a coat of sealer, so she’s ready for the main coats.




 The workstation work is pretty well done so I can get back to modelling finally!

[FAAMAN]

Coming along nicely :)

[CiTrus90]

Awsome work!!

[trickyrich]

thanks for that, I am enjoying this build immensely and really the only "issues" are ones I create for myself! 

well back to the update, well I've made some good progress today and the end is in sight!!!

The main undercarriage is nearly finished, added some brake lines and finished painting up the wheel wells.



I’ve just about finished up the bombs, just need to add the fuses, the racks are pretty well done, plus I need to start detailing the rocket pods.

http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q722/trickyrich62/P-47%20Thunderbolt%20STGB/DSCF3015_zpso42xrkzn.jpg

Prop finished……finally! Just need to add the decals and give it a clear coat.



The cowling is finally done as well, I stripped it back to bare plastic yesterday. While it was at this stage I fixed up some internal joins that were annoying me! The hardest part was painting it to match the rest of the aircraft!



Altogether she looks pretty good!



The rudder!!!!  I have stripped this back 4 times…the last time was my fault!! This time she looks right and now not quite as bright and new so as to match the rest of the aircraft!



Well I’m really happy at where I’m at with this build! I’ve got the finish I’m after and most of the hard work is completed.

So with the help of some “blutack” and a peg this is how she looks!




It looks a bit pale from this angle but it’s just the light…looking down at her it’s much better.




About all the time I have left this break is to give her a clear coat and let everything cure for a week!

The next big task will be to weather her, I have some great photos to work from. I thought I may have gone a bit far with the fading, but from the photo’s I could have gone even further. The big thing I need to watch out for is “chipping”. The paint jobs weren’t really chipped other than on the wing form pilots/crew boots. They were instead very faded, patchy (quite a few new panels) and with a very matt finish! So lots of fun to be had!
 

[finsrin]

Oh My !
I turned green as stripe on tail.  Dogon, can't knit either.

[FAAMAN]

Great work  :) :)

[Old Wombat]

Great work there, mate! :)




When I've finished my HMBLT (soon, I hope) we'll see how poorly I stack up as an aircraft modeller, as my next build is going to be an F4D-1 Skyray, which I'll probably try to do in ARDU colours.

[DFZ]

 

[Frank3k]

Everything about this build is impressive. The panel shading is just great!

[trickyrich]

thanks for the nice comments guys.

Well after a week away from home it's time to do something on this build.....Decaling Time!!!

Well I could wish I could say it was a breeze and everything went perfectly but it didn’t and it was stressful! I was really worried if I stuff them up I couldn’t replace them.

They are really quite to very thin and are damaged easily but for some reason they don’t really hug the surface so required some decal softener to help. But if even just looked at them wrong they’d crinkle up or fold over!

After what seemed forever I got them on and in place. For some reason the area around the upper wing decal was affected by the softening solution and has some white stains. No issue as on the markings on the real aircraft, the white appears to “run”! Now if I can just re-duplicate this effect on the side decals!




I do need a coat of clear over the decals to protect them before moving on.

The train spotter will notice I’m missing a number off the serial number. I needed a 2 to correct the serial number for this aircraft. The supplied one was 226756 (which was for C4, I think) and I needed 226762. I couldn’t fine a matching 2 in all my decal sets so pinched the one off the front. I will probably have to hand paint the replacement, but for the moment I’ll leave it as it is.

So once the clear coat is on and cured it’ll be time to dirty this baby up!

Oh and if this wasn't enough the production studio has started another project!!!!

[FAAMAN]

Beautiful work, superb!! :) :)

[trickyrich]

sorry I have been a bit slack in updating this thread, but am pleased to say she's completed.

Usually it's all the final bits and pieces that seem to take the longest, but this time it was trying to get the "weathering" to look just right. These air craft were pretty weather worn and faded and I wanted to achieve this look.



As it turned out the sealer I put on the metal undercoat REALLY worked for a change. To get the look I wanted I needed to sand back the top coats just enough for the metal to start to show underneath, 2000 to 8000 micro mesh was needed for this. Unfortunately I lost fading I'd done to the top surfaces and had to redo, did quite get the nice results as last time. Then finally the panel lines were redone and a coat of matt clear to protect the lot.

And that's it....I'm really happy with the overall look of the model, it's very close to what I wanted her to look like. The model to build is an absolute dream to build and would recommend it to everyone! Plus along the way with this build I learnt lots of new things and tricks.

Anyway here she is, thank for all the great comments along the way, they are appreciated and I hope you enjoyed following the build.










and I forgot the front Aux sight when I took the main lots of photos.....

[elmayerle]

Damn, that final product is gorgeous!

[Old Wombat]

That be very, very good! :)

[GTX_Admin]

 :)

[FAAMAN]

You've turned out an excellent diorama, well done!! :)

[DFZ]

  Excellent is all i can say...