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1:48 Tamiya P-47M with some additions


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Hello ARC!

 

I need to catch y’all up with some of my builds (Jug and Spitfire XVI). If you are part of the ARC or Eduard Facebook groups, you may have already seen some of these pictures, but I know not everyone is on Facebook.    

 

BUT IF YOU ARE...you know that ARC is doing a P-47 Group Build ending on March 31st, and this is my entry which I started in December...

 

The start...

VWIAO8t.jpg

I added a few things that aren’t pictured, including Brengun flaps and the HGW wet transfer rivet set (which hasn’t arrived from the Czech Republic yet)

 

Taking a page from Doog’s Models YouTube channel, I decided to add some detail to the kit cockpit with various lead wire and scrap sprue

 

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Close ups 

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And the built up assembly with the Eduard Löök panel.  

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I should have painted the interior Dark Dull Green, but since I didn’t have any on hand, I settled for Tamiya XF-26 which is supposedly a close match.   It’s....not 😂, but what’s done is done...

 

Here is the base paint job with highlights and shadows 

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Next, it’s time to paint the details with Vallejo acrylics!

 

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After this, I laid down a gloss varnish to protect the base paint and in prep for placard decals (from AirScale), washes, and weathering.  I also used individual lettering from an old 1/72 Microscale ID numbers and letters sheet to piece together the “MAPS” logo on the map case.  I saw a reference photo for this, and just duplicated it.  I used Tamiya Dark Brown Panel Line wash, followed by a flat varnish, and then oils and pigments for the accumulation of grime.  Some paint chipping was done with Mr Color 8 Silver and a fine brush.   
 

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And the entire cockpit laid out before committing to the final glue application...

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Seatbelts came from the Eduard Löök set.  They were bent with tweezers to get the used look, applied, and given a dark brown wash.

 

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The completed cockpit...

 

lVlc9eW.mp4

 

More to follow immediately below!

 

Steve

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Part II

 

With the cockpit out of the way, I added the Quickboost intercooler and oil cooler(?) exhaust interiors to prevent the “see-through” effect you would have there on the model otherwise.


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I used also MRP Zinc Yellow for the interior part of the gear bay on the wing root, wing spar, and tail wheel interior, as well as the cowling interior and lower firewall.

 

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Next, attention turned to the engine.  I cannot leave well enough alone, and decided to use the Aires R-2800 Late instead of the suitable, but basic,

kit engine.

 

H3RgMNb.jpg
 

 The main advantages of the resin engine include the wiring harness and separate pushrods for each cylinder.  The big disadvantage is that the full Aires engine doesn’t fit unless you cut the crankcase aft of the rear cylinder bank...and that’s just what I did!

 

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Also, in order to take advantage of the engine attachment point on the Tamiya firewall, I hollowed out the center of the Aires engine to match the kit engine.  

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Voíla

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From here, it was just a matter of cutting the cylinder heads off the casting blocks, adding them to the cylindrical base.   
 

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Next, I added pushrods from Albion Alloys brass tubes cut to the appropriate length...

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Aires provided a nice PE harness.  Although 2D, it’s easy to install, and so I used it 😂

 

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A quick test fit shows everything fits!  Hurray 😅

 

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I primed the engine with Mr Surfacer 1500 Black...

 

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And then painted the entire engine with Mr Color 8 Silver...

 

YywBKz2.mp4

 

After that, I brush painted the reduction gear housing with Vallejo Medium Gray and added some highlights.  Various other engine details were picked out with acrylics including the ignition harness. Each bolt got a light gray highlight.  Finally, I used a black wash to bring out the fine detail in the cylinder cooling fins and engine face.   
 

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The visible part in the cowl...

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After I took these photos, I painted a crude P&W logo (after destroying the kit decal) and placed a serial placard decal.  
 

And mounted on the front of the fuselage!

 

HKGi4Yk.jpg

 

Part III coming immediately below!


Thanks for taking a look 👍🏻

 

Steve

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Part III

 

Gun Bays!  What the unique thing about a P-47?  How about eight - EIGHT - 50 caliber machine guns.  I decided to add right Gun bay since the left would cause me to cut the Star and Bar decal.  I also wanted to try something a bit different- namely, adding resin 50 cal ammo belts into the bays instead of the flat PE belts Eduard provides in their gun bay set.   
 

The first step is to cut the gun bay panel.  I used my JLC Razor Saw and cleaned up the edges with Tamiya metal files...

 

hvBPWTJ.jpg
 

The Eduard set builds up nicely and the fit is perfect.  I cut a little bit too much of the trailing edge and used a piece of strip plastic and CA to fix it.   
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Shim added...

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The PE gun door parts are sandwiched around some thin plasticard stock for scale thickness..

 

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And finally the moment of truth...will the Eduard 12.7mm (50 cal) Brassin belts fit in the ammo feed trays?!

 

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YES!  😎

 

Ok, I have three sets of Eduard resin belts and subsequently purchased three sets from GasPatch.  I haven’t settled on which one I’m using yet, but the GasPatch set is made out of a more flexible resin, so that might be the answer in order to get the drape needed between the feed trays.   Otherwise, I can shape the Eduard belts with some heat.   


Part IV Below- Landing gear and wheels 👋🏻
 

Steve

 

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Part IV

 

I turned my attention to the landing gear.  One of the weaknesses of the Tamiya kit is the many ejector pin marks inside the landing gear doors.  Putty time.  

 

ikkRLvr.jpg
 

I added the brake lines with some copper wire, again, leaning heavily on Doog’s Models P-47M build as a resource.    
 

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And all together (doh!  Didn’t quite get rid of the ejector pin marks but the wheels should hide them 😬)

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For the wheels, I turned to Eduard and utilized their excellent P-47 Brassin Wheels set.  
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Check out the detail compared to the kit wheels!

 

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The wheels were removed from the casting blocks and the wheel face inserts were cleaned up (resin flash exists over the areas between all the spokes).  Its delicate work so be mindful if you go this route - the wheel face is extremely thin and fragile.
 

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The fit is good.  I used PVA glue to aid the placement.   Some will hate the thin line between the wheel and the tire...I don’t mind it.   It will hold the wash, lol 😆 

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Here’s everything painted up with Mr Color 8 Silver and Tamiya Rubber black.  I had a few touch up spots with Tamiya Rubber enamel and those will be hidden a bit better with the weathering.   
 

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I used AK Landing Gear Dust wash on the treads, Tamiya Enamel washes on the wheels, and a bit of European Earth pigment to complete the weathering process in the wheels and tires.   
 

NtpXj3O.jpg
 

Part V below!

 

Steve

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Part V Fun with chipping fluid!  
 

So- I’ve never used Ammo Chipping Fluid before and thought I would give it a try on the prop.  P-47 props do not appear to be heavily chipped in most reference photos...I tried to strike a balance between reality and artistic preference 😄

 

Step 1.  Assemble the prop and paint the tips yellow (ok, that was a mistake, read below 😂)

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Step 2.  Paint the prop an aluminum or silver color (once again, Mr Color 8 Silver for me) and varnish the metallic color.   

 

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Step 3.  Airbrush a light coat of chipping fluid over the prop- note- I should have painted the yellow tips AFTER the chipping fluid 🤦🏼‍♂️).  Nothing brush chipping can’t fix, buuuuuut, that defeats the point of chipping fluid!

 

5Ks7q30.jpg


Step 4.  Paint the prop black

 

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Now the fun part, with a damp brush, lightly stipple the leading edge of the prop and watch the black “chip” away.  The effect was surprisingly easy to control!   I tried to keep the chipping random and even between the blades.    I even redid it once by spraying another black layer after “over-chipping” the first time 😂🤦🏼‍♂️  I masked off the rubber cuffs and flat coated them before moving on.  The result...
 

oJK8dVo.mp4
 

Part VI below!

 

Steve

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Part VI  

You might recall I reached out for some reference help in the Prop forum for a photo of the P-47 flat belly tank - specifically, how the fuel and vent lines attached to the fuselage.  Here’s what came out of that discussion...

 

First the tank in question...

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The line attachment schematic...

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Translating that to the Tamiya kit...

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And adding the requisite holes on the kit tank, as well as adding a scale fuel filler cap punched from plasticard...

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I will plumb the tank with lead wire before attaching it during final assembly.   
 

As for the tank itself, I bought a batch of Tamiya LP paints from an eBay seller in Taiwan and decided to give LP-11 a shot for the fuel tank.  It sprays beautifully and is a very nice aluminum!

 

😍

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Based on these results, I will be painting the natural metal areas of my P-47M with LP-11 (I’m doing a solid dark blue-black over natural metal scheme).  
 

Turning back to the airframe, it was time to work on cleaning up joins and rescribing panel lines.  
 

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For this purpose, I like to use Dyno tape as a guide and the MRP scriber (which I just got based on a tip from a friend - it’s excellent!)

Before...

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After!
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The main seam on the belly as well as the belly pylons received a fair amount of putting and TLC to get everything smooth

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Primer check (spray and polish)...almost there- still a ghost seam!

 

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And finally - victory over the centerline seam!

 

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The sway brace inserts are what they are...we don’t talk about those 😂🤫 There should be a panel there, between the brace and the fuselage but...I dunno, this area gave me a fits and it looks sloppy.   I should’ve shimmed them from underneath and would recommend that to anyone building a Tamiya P-47.  
 

The wings fit well over the spar... standard Tamiya.  I ran some thinned Mr Surfacer along the join just to be sure.  
 

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Master barrels were installed in the wings.   Not necessary by any means, but more resilient than plastic to breakage! 


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And here’s where things stand at the end of Part VI

 

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I have to go grab some dinner, so I will take a short break and finish updating this thread later tonight - if you’ve hung with me this far, time to take a break too!   😂

 

Steve

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Part VII 
 

Flaps!  One of the few shortcomings of the Tamiya kit is that it does not have the structural detail on the side of each flap that is visible when the flaps are extended.  Brengun makes a nice resin set that adds the missing details.   
 

78SiaUI.jpg


The casting quality is just ok- beware of some air bubbles in the resin and the attachment point detail is a bit iffy (there is a lot of excess resin that needs to be cleaned up in the attachment slots for the kit actuators to fit properly), but the important visible detail on the sides is perfect.   
 

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The flaps are a drop fit once removed from their casting blocks and could be posed up...

 
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Or down...

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And the view from the underside...

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I secured the kit actuators with CA after ensuring the alignment was correct, and sprayed the completed flaps in gloss black in preparation for their aluminum finish on the underside.    
 

Dgv2y8m.jpg
 

More to follow!

 

Steve

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Part VIII

 

Priming!  With construction now complete, the entire model received a coat of Mr Surfacer 1500 black primer thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner. 
 

4eWSEcr.jpg

Gun bay details

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Underside 

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Since I am using HGW wet transfer rivets on the entire model, and spraying natural metal on the underside, I gave the P-47 a thin gloss coat of Tamiya X-1, and buffed it to a high shine using Tamiya polishing compounds and cloths.   
 

Before...(note, I fixed the rough spot behind the gun bay on the right wing)

pj9Dlr3.jpg
 

After...

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More gratuitous black P-47 photos...

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I also ordered a few additional colors from MRP to try as candidates for the dark blue-black top color.  I want the dark blue-black to be more on the black side than the blue side, so it’s likely these get mixed to some degree or used as filters over each other.


LkcB8pL.jpg
 

I know 61st FS P-47M colors are a bit controversial, so I am taking that as an artistic license...to do what I want 😂.  I plan on modeling “Lorene”, one of the kit options, but using the thinner Aeromaster decals.   
qBCb4RX.jpg

 

This colorized photo shows an almost 

midnight blue and it’s beautiful!

 

Anyways, that brings you up to speed with the P-47M.  I am just waiting for the HGW transfers to arrive.   There is another model happening...but that’s a story for a future day 😉

 

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Goodnight and thanks for the taking a look!  Build, build, build!

 

Steve

 

PS- I will return to the ZM F-4E as soon as these are done for the group builds ending this month.  April = back to the F-4! 🤞🏻 

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10 hours ago, cruiz said:

Great work you are doing Steve; judging by the paint job you did on the Corsair, I'm sure this one will be wonderful too.

 

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Cruiz- I’m looking forward to painting something!  I have three models ready for paint on the bench and it’s time to get to it!  I’m also looking forward to your next update on the Corsair.  
 

Cheers!

 

Steve

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Steve,

 

Your build on the M is amazing. Not to mention educational with respect to the color.

 

 

Best of luck on you build and were looking forward to the finished product.

 

Great work,

 

Mr. Happy 

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Mr.Happy said:

Steve,

 

Your build on the M is amazing. Not to mention educational with respect to the color.

 

 

Best of luck on you build and were looking forward to the finished product.

 

Great work,

 

Mr. Happy 

 

 

Thanks Mr. Happy, I'm definitely learning a lot about P-47s as well.  I appreciate your kind words and hope to have this finished up before too long!

 

Steve

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1 hour ago, dekon70 said:

Fantastic looking build!

Thanks Dekon!  I’m on a roll right now with builds and while the P-47 has stalled until I get the HGW rivets, I am about to wrap an Eduard Spitfire Mk XVI...

wQ7vP11.jpg

 

I will do an in-progress build report on this one too (soon)

 

Steve

 

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What a nice black finish you did on this plane Steve, I really like it.

 

I don't know about this scheme but the roundels had a rare hue, it is the intended color, or is camera thing?

 

Anyway, very nice paintwork.

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12 hours ago, cruiz said:

What a nice black finish you did on this plane Steve, I really like it.

 

I don't know about this scheme but the roundels had a rare hue, it is the intended color, or is camera thing?

 

Anyway, very nice paintwork.

Thanks for stopping by Carlos!
 

There seems to be a bit of controversy about the roundels on TE199.  Some sources speculate they may have been the subdued pale blue and red.  I’m pretty sure they weren’t, but I went with the suggestion in the Lifelike decals instruction sheet and masked and sprayed them with MRP Pale Roundel Red and Blue.    Here’s the actual plane....

 

PdIb8rL.jpg
 

Purly artistic preference, that’s all.    I will do a separate thread on this one when I get a chance!

 

Steve

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On 3/14/2021 at 4:46 PM, Berkut said:

Great job so far, especially the engine looks excellent! I am building one myself so this is a nice inspiration. 🙂

Thanks Berkut- I’m happy to offer some inspiration!  This is a great kit for sure- it just falls together.  Enjoy your build!

 

Steve

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Incredible work on both of your builds Steve.:jaw-dropping:

This a huge understatement but we all cringe and hate dealing with those $#!^ ghost seams. So glad you were able to fight threw it.

 

Hears to your continuing success,

 

Mr. Happy

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On 3/17/2021 at 10:05 PM, Mr.Happy said:

Incredible work on both of your builds Steve.:jaw-dropping:

This a huge understatement but we all cringe and hate dealing with those $#!^ ghost seams. So glad you were able to fight threw it.

 

Hears to your continuing success,

 

Mr. Happy

Thanks Mr Happy.  Yea, definitely a process to get rid of the ghost seams, but a NMF is pretty unforgiving 😬

 

On 3/18/2021 at 8:42 PM, 11bee said:

Great work Steve.  I’m going to be starting the Hasegawa 32nd P-47D shortly, so this has been quite informative.  

Thanks 11Bee.  I’m looking forward to watching your build- especially after your tour de force with the Mosquito(!)  I’ve heard great things about the 1/32 Hasegawa P-47s, so hopefully the build goes smoothly 👍🏻
 

Steve

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Guess what?  The HGW Rivet set arrived from the Czech Republic this week!

 

VdHXRkA.jpg
 

Check out the awesome details on the elevator transfers

XRSsWtK.jpg

 

 

Since the transfers take a recommended 6-8 hrs to dry, I immediatly dove in to the process.  I had to make a slight modification to the turtle deck piece to account for the fin leading up to the vertical stabilizer since the HGW set is for the P-47D and not the M.  I cut the two center most rivet lines out of transfer piece, up to the first rivet line going across the top of the fuselage in front of the fin.

YPx6JYg.jpg

 

Otherwise, most of the rivet patterns are the same except for a few areas on the underside of the wings where the "M" parts insert.  I didn't bother fixing this area and just used the transfers over that area as well.  It looks the part!

 

Each transfer is cut from the continous backing sheet and than positioned over the kit part.  Alignment is a bit tricky on a black-based surface because the panel lines and hatches disappear somewhat under the transfer film, especially with some Mr Mark Softer under there.  It's a bit of a Catch-22 because if you press the film down to see the panel lines clearly, the film becomes very difficult to move and reposition.  You can press down and then pull the transfer up to reposition it without fear of losing rivets for a while though.  As long as the transfer is wet, the rivets arent coming off the backing.  I found that the advertised drying time of 6-8 hours is key.  I pulled up a transfer a bit early that appeared dry and noted the rivets weren't adhereing, so I reapplied it and let it sit overnight before removing it again - PRESTO, the rivets stuck!

PV1teS7.jpg

 

Something else to note- when removing the backing, there is a residue and some surface staining left on the primer.

YWWHzOA.jpg

 

 

The residue didn't come off right away with water, enamel thinner, X-20, etc.  After getting a tip on Facebook, I tried Formula 409 with a Qtip and that got the residue to come off, although the surface stains are still there.  As you can see from the photo above, the results look nice, but alighnment is NOT 100% spot on.  There is not much you can do to fix it, unfortunately. 

 

I continued the process on the fuselage and wings until the model was complete.  Something that I did on the top, but not the bottom, was put the transfers on the ailerons.  It is extremely difficult to line up the rivet patterns exactly with the recessed rivets on the kit ailerons- again, I was close, but not spot on... so I decided that it would be a fool's errand to try it on the bottom of the ailerons.  I also left the flaps alone since they have nice recessed rivet details.

eFI3UBD.jpg

 

In the pics above and below, the forward section of the fuselage still has the transfer backing on.  I cut the transfer around the gun door and will add the raised rivets to the photoetch piece.

 

7eiW0jc.jpg

 

Check out this lovely detail- and not the surface staining after taking off the backing paper.

LTQMjLW.jpg

 

PI7fZPn.jpg

 

And finally the bottom (note, I haven't cleaned up the gunk from the transfer film yet in this picture)

 

YItmejy.jpg

 

 

Thanks for looking!  More updates next week as I start the painting process!

 

Steve

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How about a shiny, purplish preshaded P-47 for April 1st 😂

 

InUZ91I.jpg
 

I am trying some different shades of Gunze while adding a bit of variation under the final topcoat.   Hopefully I can achieve similar tonal variety on the dark scheme like I did on my black Spitfire Mk XVI as seen here:  

 

The P-47 colors I pre-shaded with are Mr Color Midnight Blue, JASDF Dark Blue, and Russian Eggplant.   I will add some lighter tones as well.   I tried the polishing trick to reveal the rivets- that works as advertised.  Topcoat will probably be MRP Blue-Black...probably.  


ZvwrDlV.jpg

 

I also started shading the metal surfaces using a trinity splatter stencil with LP-38 (dull aluminum)...

jZWFOdn.jpg


9pZILCW.jpg

 

....and then going over the panel lines with Gunze SM203 Super Iron 2.  
92dUiWG.jpg


xZ4bccA.jpg


k9WVukn.jpg

 

The final bottom finish will be Tamiya LP-11.  Maybe some individual panels masked and painted with Gunze aluminum tones.  We will see.   I’ve got the creative juices flowing again 😂👍🏻

 

Bye for now!

wdexyiQ.jpg

 

 

Steve

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