1/72 Academy P-47D Razorback

[Romanator21]

Hello modelers,

This will be my first GB build entry and my first WIP I'm just going to build this kit out of the box, with only minor modifications as I go. Some details will be beyond my abilities to fix, but I'm happy if it just looks something like a "Jug". This is also my first 1/72 scale model in six or seven years! I will also be brushing this by hand with cheap $2 primary color acrylics. Wish me luck :lol:

I haven't decided which decal set to use, but I'll probably stick with the box-art example for its relative simplicity, but I plan to do another.

After washing the parts, I began by applying something reminiscent of chromate yellow.

The cockpit interior has nice detail, but it's right against the inner wall, rather than on flat inserts. The interior green I mixed is probably way off. I chose to make it lighter so that some details would be visible inside once everything is closed up. For me, close enough is good enough, a philosophy that will keep me from being as good as you guys! :P

[Isaac]

Both colors look good to me! Keep it up.

[dragonfly]

I really like the Checker tail! Good choice.

Jerry

[Tbolt]

Looking good. The yellow zinc chromate looks good but the cockpit should be dark dull green, not interior green. Make sure that you shorten the main gear legs by cutting of the tops - I can't remember the exact figure but it's about quite a bit, to get the centerline drop tank close to the ground otherwise it looks a bit a strange.

[Romanator21]

I read about the issue with the landing gear. I'll see what I can do about it. Sadly, I closed the fuselage after posting the pics, so the interior remains as it is. I plan to do another though, and I'll get that one right

I also read that there are fit issues with the wings, but they go together and attach to the fuselage without problems. The only issue is with the landing gear bays which have a large step, and lack detail across the inner side. Another issue is that apparently the tail surfaces are too short, but from just a glance it's not readily noticeable. I don't think I would be able to fix this anyway.

The 1/72 build goes really quickly. I would spend longer if I knew where to get that nice white plastic card I see being used, or if I had the glue to attach cardboard to plastic. The final issue I noticed is the rather sad looking front intake splitter. This to me is absolutely necessary to get right since a large amount of the Jug's 'personality' is right there. There is no agreement over which color it and the interior of the cowling should be, and I have seen yellow, green, grey, or a combination thereof.

[Romanator21]

Continuing onward:

The little bits are painted. I settled on a grey color for the interior of the cowling. It may not be totally accurate, but it seems that these were painted a variety of colors. I also plead "artistic license" since it allows most of the cowling to remain dark to bring out the engine.

I cut off the tops of the struts and weighted the tires as much as I felt comfortable with. Unfortunately, it's still not enough to get the proper sit.

the solution for fixing the intake splitter was very Spartan. I don't have any plastic material to scratch another one, so I simply reshaped it slightly with sandpaper, and glued it at a backwards slant. This leaves some slight gaps at the sides, but again, the dark grey makes it less noticeable. At least from the front it looks much better in my opinion.

On her own legs. Again, this is still too high of a sit. We'll just pretend that she's all empty.

I might also mention that the guns are too thick, and are not aligned properly (should be parallel to ground, not to wing spar). I don't have the resources to make new ones though.

[Tbolt]

Nice work, the sit looks alot better than the it would otherwise.

The engine splitter looks good. You said you can't get any plasticard - you don't need to get the purpose made sheets, in the past I've used pastic from food containers, soft cheese or margarine containers work well, there's all sort you can use while being green and recycling.

[Romanator21]

Aw shucks, I thought my Testor's glue would only bind to styrene Next time...

Edited January 21, 2010 by Romanator21

[Romanator21]

Hi again,

My progress so far:

My first attempt at neutral grey was way off. I was able to get another coat over it, and it's not as bad, but still far from the intended color. Again, I am mixing acrylics in primary colors...next time I will buy the pre-mixed enamels. I already bought some jars for my next project. The paint settled somewhat evenly, but it's not as nice as I hoped.

On to the top. Here is one of my paint jars I used, for scale reference. The engine and wheels are not glued.

The paint went over ok with a hand-brush. However, the color is probably very wrong. The cover art depicts a brownish look, and I've seen brown P-47s. However, this particular aircraft should be olive drab color instead I believe. I have little choice anyway: My option is to continue, or to wait until summer to get a hold of nail polish remover at home, and re-cover with enamels. :lol: Despite the inaccuracy, I like the way the color looks, but at the same time I am worried I won't for long.

Again, you can see the problem with the sit. I might try to flatten the wheels further to improve this.

Just for kicks, this is the P-39 I started before the P-47. Even though the P-47 is a tiny model for me (I'm used to 1/48) it dwarfs the Airacobra. Sadly, the Cobra requires 7 grams of nose weight which I haven't got a clue how to install in the ridiculously small space given. I should have read the reports before buying. Off to buy some lead!

More and more this is starting to look like a crummy build. It's putting me off a bit that I rushed it and went the cheap way with paints this time. I maybe saved 6$ but wasted 12$, which is a lot in my book. I'll put this build off for the rest of the Semester until I can get home to strip the paint and redo it. That will probably put me out of the group build (my first ) but I need to keep my sanity.

[Rocat]

good work so far. the last pic really shows how huge the Jug was!