1/48 P-47 Razorback - Tamiya Kit

[dneid]

Ok, this one is DONE!. The damned drop tanks were aggravating as hell. But, what is life without a challenge or two? Overall, I am happy with this one. And, thanks go out to each and everyone of you for all the help and insight and feedback. Terry, yeah, I was just not sure how to go on the cockpit interior and decided to go with interior green over ZCG or DDG. Besides, I am not sure what MM Enamel corresponds to DDG. I will keep that in mind for the next build. I have a couple of pics somewhere of the 6 spoke wheels from the 56th. I just need to track em down.

I will go back and add the deflectors once I have a resin mold that works for me. I am also going to make a resin mold for the steel 108 gal tanks as well. And, if I can get a good paper tank together, I will make a mold of that as well. I really want to avoid another round of frustration with tanks going forward.

A bunch of pics for you all:

 

[vikingBerserker]

Nicely done!

 

[Crimea_River]

Looks great Dale. The punches I bought are Tandy Leather punches available at Michaels. I see you have those stores in Austin. Waldron punches are now quite rare and will cost you your left nut. They always were very expensive in my opinion.

Tandy Leather Factory - Mini Leather Punch Set

 

[dneid]

Hey, Andy,
Thanks for checking on the Michaels thing. I have one just around the corner from me. I may pop in this weekend to see if I can find the Tandy punch.

 

[Airframes]

It's looking the biz Dale. I wouldn't worry about the wheel covers. Although they were a standard fitting, and virtually every 56th FG 'razorback' had them, they were removable, held in place by three studs, so that they could be taken off for access to the wheel itself and removal of same. I've been trying to find a suitable subject without the covers for one of my builds, and have finally done so for a bubbletop, but not a razorback, although I have seen pics with the six spoke wheels, mainly in the PTO.
Thanks for info on the Tandy punch set Andy, I'll look out for one. I've found a similar set from Germany, in a nice wooden case, but only down to 5mm.

 

[Donivanp]

Nice work Dale, I really like the weathering it looks just right.

 

[dneid]

Nice work Dale, I really like the weathering it looks just right.

Holy crap!!! You live! Thanks for the feedback, Don.

All you other guys, meet Don. He is a damned close friend who I have known for years! Don, introduce yourself when you have a moment.

 

[Gnomey]

Looks good so far!

 

[Wayne Little]

Dale that's a fine effort mate, hope my Gabby T-Bolt measures up when i finally get to it!

 

[Wurger]

 

[dneid]

Hey, Wojtek,
Can you unsticky this thread now that I am done? Thanks!

 

[dneid]

Dale that's a fine effort mate, hope my Gabby T-Bolt measures up when i finally get to it!

Hey, Wayne,
Let me know if and where you find any UNsegmented ID letter decals. I tried like hell to find some and all I could find were segmented letters in 1/48. And, you knock your Gabby bird out of the park, my talented friend.

 

[Airframes]

Dale, both plain and 'stencil break' USAAF letters and numbers are available from both Aero Master decals, and Fantasy Print Shop, in all the main colours and sizes.
Microscale/Superscale used to do them too, and many of their lines are marketed by Hannant's under the Xtradecal name, although not sure of the letters/numbers have been re-stocked yet.
There are a few others I've seen also.

 

[dneid]

Hey, Terry,
I actually have several sets of those. While I have a set of unsegmented ID letters, they are just far enough off in dimension and have more rounded corners than I deemed appropriate. I have found these to be hit or miss at times. But, I continue to buy them as I run across them. But, thank you for the input. This is one of the things I love about this forum, everyone is so helpful here.

 

[Airframes]

Here's an example of the Aero Master set in yellow - correct dimensions, and 45 degree corners. If you have some that are more 'rounded', then they're probably not USAAF, and could be another air force, or possibly USAF. All decals I've seen or used for WW2 aircraft in American service have been of the correct dimensions and shape, although there has been some very slight variation dimension between manufacturers - not enough to cause problems though.

 

[Wayne Little]

Hey, Wayne,
Let me know if and where you find any UNsegmented ID letter decals. I tried like hell to find some and all I could find were segmented letters in 1/48. And, you knock your Gabby bird out of the park, my talented friend.

Cheers mate, Got a white solid set similar to Terry's from Aeromaster.