Academy P-47D Razorback Thunderbolt - 1/72

[Andy70]

Here is my latest. I did some post-shading for the first time with my new Iwata airbrush, shortened the landing gear, added bomb attachment points, etc. All mods were done to oob parts. No aftermarket. Let me know what you think!

Thanks for looking!

Andy

 

[bob3170]

Looks darn good to me, nice job. How was the kit as a whole? Fit? Detail?

 

[Wildcat]

Very nice!

 

[magnu]

Nice one

 

[ozhawk40]

Excellent build there Andy, well done.

 

[Wurger]

Not bad at all.

 

[Wayne Little]

Nice build Andy!

 

[Andy70]

Thanks, guys.

Bob - it was a pretty good kit. I have not built any Tamiya or Hasegawa kits in 1/72 scale to know how it compares to them, but I was pleased with the fit and detail. It's pretty well documented that the landing gear is too long, though. I was able to just chop it off at the top, and it sits better and looks ok.

 

[Airframes]

Think it might have been better to shorten the gear legs at the oleos, as they were moulded fully extended by the look of it. Looks good otherwise though, nice job.

 

[Gnomey]

Nicely done!

 

[A4K]

Nice work Andy!

Evan

 

[T Bolt]

Excellent work Andy! Did you have any trouble with the decals? I made that kit a wile back and had an awful time getting them to conform to any curves and bumps. Wouldn't react to any decal solution.

 

[Andy70]

Airframes: Yes, you're probably right, but I took the easy route on it this time.
TBolt: The decals were quite stubborn. All of the Academy decals I've dealt with so far have been the same.

 

[Florence]

Cool plane that. Nice work.

 

[otftch]

Great build.
Ed

 

[bob3170]

Andy, I would assume that you also had to shorten the tops of the gear doors.

Now that I actually have the kit in my hands, it looks as if the oleos are almost completely compressed, and the gears are in fact, too long at the top. On top of that, (no pun intended) the gear leg is, for all practical purposes, identical to the Hasegawa P-47's, even down to the alignment key, (and matches up really well with the gear from the High Planes P-47N) now consider the fact that the Has. gear socket is molded directly to the top wing half, whereas the Aca. mounting socket is molded into the wheel well in the bottom half, right there is a good mm or so.

Anyway, you did a nice job, no matter how you cut it (pun intended).

BTW, yes, Academy decals are pretty bad, they make a decent kit at a decent price, and then you have to go spend more than the kit on aftermarket decals.

 

[Andy70]

Yes, I shortened the tops of the doors as well. I thought about getting the aftermarket decals, but I liked the yellow checkertail, and I couldn't find any that had that. I suppose I could have taken the time to paint that on, but I'm not confident enough to tackle something like that yet. I will say that I had to touch up a few places on the tail where the decals cracked and pulled apart when I applied them. I put a coat of Future on the model, then used a puddle of future to position the decal. I dabbed with a damp paper towel, then hit it with Solvaset, let it sit a while then (despite the instructions on the solvaset) dabbed with a damp paper towel again. This is the only way I could get the decals to even think about conforming to the detail. Lot of trouble, huh?

 

[Crimea_River]

Nice job!

 

[LA2019]

Looking good. I like the weathering...nice subtle.

 

[copcheck]

Very nice!

I love the detail and weathered look!

As I posted in another forum, I'm loving these 1/72 scale birds.