Construction
Here is a Republic P-47D-28-RA Thunderbolt, "Fat Cat", flown by
Capt. Hank Bakken with the
509thFS/405th FG.
I think enough has been said about the quality Tamiya has molded
into the P-47D
series so I won't elaborate on that area.
The build was straightforward starting with the cockpit with no fit
problems at all. I used no filler other than a little thick Model
Master primer at the rear wingroot. Harnesses and lap belts were
added using lead foil.
Painting
After assembly I cleaned the seams and then sprayed primer over
those areas to check for imperfections. Any deviations were fixed
and I wet sanded the entire airframe with several different fine
polishing cloths. The model was then given a couple of light coats
of gloss white then a good wet coat that produced a good slick
finish. When the white had cured I masked off the entire tail
assembly using panel lines to guide the mask demarcation so
overlaying coats of silver wouldn't show up with raised edges
underneath. The cowl was masked as were the wings next to the tips
and the alternating cowl flaps. The exposed areas were given a
series of gloss red coats. The white allows the red to be mixed thin
enough so the edges next to masks
won't build up and still show up as bright red.
Once the red had dried I masked off where the theater stripes would
be and reverse masked the cowling, cowl flaps and wingtips then gave
the whole airframe several good coats of Floquil's Bright Silver.
The flaps were also painted in this manner. Allowing the silver to
cure I proceeded to work on other details like underwing stores and
the landing gear. The 500lb bombs were given photo-etched arming
props from a Monogram P-47 kit. Tamiya's rocket tubes and the
enginneering of the bombs to pylons is just fantastic. Saves a lot
of mess trying to line up without smearing glue where it's not
needed. Once the silver cured selected panels were given some
Metalizer tones and the antiglare panels were masked and sprayed ANA
613 Olive Drab.
Markings
The decals are SuperScale's Set No. 48-792 and went on with no
problems other than my own thumb strikes. There should be the
pilot's name and where he was from in red just under the windsreen
behind "FAT CAT". We won't go there!
There is one more "decal oops" on the aircraft that can be detected.
You look at the pics and the first one that spots it and
emails the correct answer to me
gets a SuperScale sheet for North American B-25H Mitchells. Set
48-783 for 82 BS/12 BG "Eatin Kitty" B-25H-10 and "Dog Daize"
B-25H-1, both gun nosed Mitchells.
Don't forget to send snail mail address.
Photos were taken using Kodak's Easy Share digital camera.
