August's Duxford Thunderbolt, FINISHED.

[K5083]

The model is currently veiled in a burka of blue 3M tape, the white parts of the stripes having been painted so now nothing but the black stripes exposed. Black will go on tomorrow, then the big reveal, where I hope that not too much of the paint job decides that it prefers the tape.

August

[K5083]

The unmasking process.

Before:



After!



Are they too neat to be realistic? Begone with you, sloppy-invasion-stripe police! I'm sure that if we could shrink ourselves to 1 inch high, we'd see unevenness in even the neatest paint job. Whereas many photos of invasion striped airplanes enlarged only to the size of a 1/72 model look neat as a pin. Yes the stripes were sloppy, but any attempt to replicate this that is perceptible at 1/72 is almost sure to be very exaggerated. IMO.

Still a lot to do on this bird. Most of the little bits are still on the sprues unpainted.

August

[DazDaMan]

Looking good!

[Martin R]

Now that's just lovely!

[giulio_gobbi]

The stripes are alright and I'm agree with you about the "realism".

[lancfan]

The finish is superb August, can't wait to see it finished. I have just collared two Academy P-47s and have ordered another pair to stash for next year, it may not be swimming in tiny details but it is IMO obviously very accurate.


David.

[K5083]

Coming along, slowly but adequately. Besides what you see here, the ordnance is built and painted and the homebrew decals are printed. At the suggestion of a forum member familiar with the kit, I removed a 2.5mm section from each landing gear leg, which really improves the ground sit. Best place to remove the section is just above the upper gear door locating pin socket. This should get finished this weekend.



August

[giulio_gobbi]

Did you apply an oil wash for the panels?

[K5083]

No, I don't do exterior washes or any panel line enhancement. In this case I used some different silver paints and a silver Sharpie to differentiate some panels, probably too much, but the upcoming applications of Pledge and dullcote will even it out a bit.

August

[iggie]

Cracking progress, and the chequer finish looks fantastic!

[DazDaMan]

Looking really good. I can't wait to see the end result!

[Old_Tonto]

Looking very sharp. Impressive work.

[K5083]

Down to the wire, but done on the last day. Here are the roll-out photos.







The loadout is my best guess at what the group might have packed on at least one of the several missions it flew June 6. In the afternoon, by when it had become clear that the Luftwaffe wasn't going to interfere, much, the P-47s set off to bomb supply trains and other targets of opportunity. So bombs obviously, and I figure it was poor form to go anywhere in a P-47 without a little extra fuel.





The P-47D created a little extra work on the P-47B I finished earlier this year. I knew the landing gear struts on the B were a little long, and had about talked myself into living with it, but it was just too apparent next to the D whose shelf it will share. So I had to break the struts off, shorten and reattach on the B model as well.





August

[DazDaMan]

Now that is nice!

I'm a bit of a Thunderbolt convert now - will have to build at least one in the proposed GB!

[lancfan]

That looks just brilliant August.


David.