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1/48 P-47D razorback, Which


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OK here is another one. There are three real choices as far as I can see. Tamiya, Hasgawa, or the old Otaki/ARII with true details cockpit. Which do you like and why. Which is the most accurate in shape and dimensions? Now, I have never seen the Tamiya or Hasegawa but I have the old Otaki and it is a beautiful kit but the lack of a real cockpit.

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Agree, Tamiya is tops by a wide margin. I put Monogram next, followed by the Otaki/Arii kit, with Hasegawa last due to the shallow fuselage. The exception is if one is building a P-47C prior to the centerline rack mod; I'd use Hasegawa there with a replacement cowl and build up the belly just behind the cowl to fill out the contour between the cowl line and belly. I have not tried this yet, but it sounds doable.

Thing with Monogram and Otaki is that they only provide the 12' 2" toothpick blade prop, so if a different one is needed it has to come from another source. Otaki is goog for an early P-47D since it has separate pylons.

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Out of the 4 kits mentioned, I would select the Tamiya. A truly beautiful kit, which needs little after market. The only thing I use on mine, are the iron ring sights, that live right next to the regular reflector sight. Add a set of seat belts (I make my own), plug wires for the engine, and I also add brake linesf. I usually flatten the kit tires. As said above, the hasegawa is too shallow through the fuselage. The Otaki needs an interior, the cowling opening enlarged, and has incorrect panel lines. The Monogram (Revell) has raised surface detail, a one piece bucket type interior, and guns wrongly placed. Spend the bucks, buy the Tamiya, and build a model you can be proud of. Hal (The P-47fan) Marshman, Sr.

Edited by Hal Marshman Sr
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True, but if one doesn't wish, or is unable to spend $40 on a kit, the Monogram is a viable option for a nice-looking shelf model. A replacement prop is not terribly expensive, and with a closed canopy the interior provided is adequate. It's a whole lot more economical if one wants to have a lot of Tbolts on the shelf in different markings as well.

If one intends to compete and wishes to maximize their chances, or if money is no object, then by all means start with Tamiya.

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Let me know if I am off base here, but I thought the Monogram kit had the wing in the wrong place? Too far forward/aft? I could swear I have seen that complaint bandied about as the one "fatal flaw" with the kit, but granted I have not measured it myself, haven't even owned a Monogram 1/48 P-47 in about 25 years, and the last time I built one I was far more concerned about the fact that the plastic was too soft and so the main gear started bowing before I even got to decaling...

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Reviewing the Monogram kit in my mind, because it has been quite a while, The prop is wrongly shaped, there's a seam in the gear wells where the wing portion meets the fuselage portion. These areas being corrugated, that seam is terrible to deal with, the machine guns are parallel with the center line of the leading edge of the wing, rather than being parallel with the ground. The cowling has a step down between the cowling proper, and the forward cowling ring. I have read that the canopy is wrong, but don't actually remember. the interior is a one pice bucket to include the seat. Raised panel detail.

If I were to build just one razorback Jug, It would be the Tamiya. If I were to build a collection of Razorbacks, they'd all be Tamiya.

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This is all very good info. I have a couple of the Otaki/ARII kits and have always liked them. They seam to be fixable very simply to make them look good. An interior kit is about $10 from True Details.

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Let me know if I am off base here, but I thought the Monogram kit had the wing in the wrong place? Too far forward/aft? I could swear I have seen that complaint bandied about as the one "fatal flaw" with the kit, but granted I have not measured it myself, haven't even owned a Monogram 1/48 P-47 in about 25 years, and the last time I built one I was far more concerned about the fact that the plastic was too soft and so the main gear started bowing before I even got to decaling...

I could be remembering wrong, but I thought one of the Monogram kits was correct, and the other was incorrect in the wing placement. I thought the Bubble top was the incorrect one....others should know more!

Charlie

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I could be remembering wrong, but I thought one of the Monogram kits was correct, and the other was incorrect in the wing placement. I thought the Bubble top was the incorrect one....others should know more!

Charlie

I'd heard that about the bubbletop as well, but never measured it or compared it to the razorback. I am also unaware of any issue with the Monogram props; the razorback has the 12'2" toothpick blade prop, but I didn't notice any glaring shape problems with it. The bubbletop has a nice Hamilton-Standard prop included.

I've also never heard of a step in the cowl on the P-47D kits; I thought that was attributed to the ProModeler P-47N (which does have a bit of a step down from the cowl to the ring).

Anyway, for my shelf I can live with the Monogram flaws to get an economical kit to use for a markings palette. Here's one I did mostly OOB (replaced the prop with a "paddle blade" one and used sway braces from Hasegawa vice the kit bombs) last year:

For comparison purposes, here's an OOB Tamiya one I did recently as well:

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I've known and respected your name and posts for many years joe, but was unaware that mahurin's bird fit into that period where the 63rd FS wore Blue cowl rings.....Just did a little research, and found out the Mahurin was shot down Marcg 28, 1944. squadron nose colors were initiated early Feb, 44 and changed to all red middle of march. Obviously, his bird fit into that window. When I did mine, I did an earlier period, when the nose band was white, and the tail feathers featured white bands. Mine is a Tamiya kit. It doesn't show in the pic, but I changed the kit cooling gills to represent those found on a D-1 through D-15, in other words, same size throughout, not cut away on the bottom 2. I believe his jug was updated with the later style on some point, so you're good to go with yours as you show them Model has a photo etch iron ring sight mounted on the cockpit coaming adjacedent to the reflector sight, with a post front sight mounted forward of the windscreen. Seat belts and buckles are scratch, as are brake lines. Engine has plug wires added. Decals are kit provided. White tail stripes are paint, not decals. The photo I used as reference showed a 108 gal metal drop tank, so I modified a kit paper mache tank to make that. Macine guns are vinyl covered paper clips, adapted to make the muzzles appear hollow. Yeah, I'm award that the antenna cable may not be correct.

atlcity1_zpszx3lcg7l.jpg

Edited by Hal Marshman Sr
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I've known and respected your name and posts for many years joe, but was unaware that mahurin's bird fit into that period where the 63rd FS wore Blue cowl rings.....Just did a little research, and found out the Mahurin was shot down Marcg 28, 1944. squadron nose colors were initiated early Feb, 44 and changed to all red middle of march. Obviously, his bird fit into that window. When I did mine, I did an earlier period, when the nose band was white, and the tail feathers featured white bands. Mine is a Tamiya kit. It doesn't show in the pic, but I changed the kit cooling gills to represent those found on a D-1 through D-15, in other words, same size throughout, not cut away on the bottom 2. I believe his jug was updated with the later style on some point, so you're good to go with yours as you show them Model has a photo etch iron ring sight mounted on the cockpit coaming adjacedent to the reflector sight, with a post front sight mounted forward of the windscreen. Seat belts and buckles are scratch, as are brake lines. Engine has plug wires added. Decals are kit provided. White tail stripes are paint, not decals. The photo I used as reference showed a 108 gal metal drop tank, so I modified a kit paper mache tank to make that. Macine guns are vinyl covered paper clips, adapted to make the muzzles appear hollow. Yeah, I'm award that the antenna cable may not be correct.

Nice job, Hal. I'm tempted to do a couple more versions of Mahurin's airplane; he had it long enough to go through pretty much all the markings variations from the red-border insignia up to the red cowl front. I can't prove that his had the red cowl, but it is possible given the time frames the changes were made. I've also seen a photo of his airplane after the blue band was replaced by Sky; it had the cowl flap change by then and also had wing pylons added. The blue was only used for about 2 weeks, then for some reason they switched to Sky before the red. It's possible to do a whole collection of this one airplane showing the markings progression.

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Anyway, for my shelf I can live with the Monogram flaws to get an economical kit to use for a markings palette. Here's one I did mostly OOB (replaced the prop with a "paddle blade" one and used sway braces from Hasegawa vice the kit bombs) last year:

For comparison purposes, here's an OOB Tamiya one I did recently as well:

Same here. I have a few tamiya Thunderbolts ,and they are gorgeous kits, but the Monogram is a nice economical alternative for me for the plethora of decals sheets, and koster conversions in the stash.. Seam in the gear well is a non issue for me for my display shelf.....I just leave it. I've got a soft spot for the kit as well, as it was one of the first 1:48 kits I built in my youth. Nice builds by the way.

Charlie

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I credit the Monogram razorback with initiating my interest in the 56FG, way back in the mid-70s when it came out in the white box, so I have a fondness for the kit as well. But I also have several Tamiya kits in the stash (and one on the shelf, so far).

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Here's Belle of Belmont that I did more recently. You can even see the photo etch iron ring sight on the cockpit coaming. model has all the extras mentioned on my mahurin bird. 108 Gal metal drop tank on port wing, Starboard wing carries a flay 300 Gal tank. Finish is RAF dark Green over NMF. This was a late razorback, and arrived in theatre that way. Was repainted for the Normandy Invasion, as were all fighters in the 8th AF.OD being in short supply in the UK at that time dictated using RAF colors. Note, when the upper invasion stripes were painted over some months later, OD was available, and used. Note that in this case, working from photos of the real bird, I deleted any visible antenna work. Again, it's the Tamiya kit. Again, working from photos, I determined that the cowliung might well have been from another bird. The bottom is pale gray, not NMF like the rest of the undersides. Also, the cowling top retains the original OD anti glare panel, while the rest of the nose area did not..  P1010060.jpg

Edited by Hal Marshman Sr
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Can't help you there, haven't built an Otaki in 20 years, and none of the picxs are in my computer. Sorry Otto. Back in the ancient days when the Tamiya wasn't heard of yet, I built quite a few of the Otakis, never did like the Monogram that well. Among the mods I did on the otaki, was a complete scratch built interior, I also trimmed roughly 1/32nd inch from the cowling opening all around, and wired the engine. Vinyl covered paper clips for the guns, and brake lines were necessary for me. The otaki kit has a hole in the windscreen, where the center frame joins the upper horizontal frames. I guess for the rear view mirror, but it's in the wrong place. Usually filled that with Window maker. The Otaki kit does feature engraved surface detail. Wheels are a little clumsy, so I always used True detail wheels. The prop hub is a bit hokey, also. I seem to remember installing corrugated sheet styrene in the wheel well roofs, but it's foggy in my memory. I do know the corrugated sheet was what I used for the cockpit floor. Best I can do Buddy,l perhaps someone else can be of more help.

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Those look great, Hal. Both of those schemes are on my "to-do" list, but I don't know what scale I'm going to do "Belle" in. "Highhatter" will be 1/72, from a Tamiya kit.

Otto, i pretty much concur with Hal re. the Otaki kit, but I didn't like it as much as the Monogram. Personal preference, is all. Otaki did have separate pylons, and for quite a few years was easier to find in shops than Monogram, so I did build several over the years but don't have them any more nor do I have any photos. I do recall that the sway braces for the pylons look kinda hokey if one does not use the bombs.

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