Username: Totalize
First name: David
Category: Intermediate
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Hasegawa
Model Type: P-47D-25
Aftermarket Add-ons: Some quickboost and eduard resin, associated decals.
I will be doing Lt. Col Robert Coffey's P-47D-25 which he named Coffey's Pot. Coffey flew this P-47D with the USAAF 365th Fighter Group, 9th air force. Coffey achieved 6 kills during his tour in the ETO and was shot down by Flak over France while flying this aircraft. He managed to belly land the aircraft and escape back to England but not before setting the aircraft on fire to completely destroy it.
The pictures of Coffey's P47 were taken from my book Aces of the 9th and 15th Air forces with the exception of the destroyed shot which I pulled from the Internet. If anyone has any other pictures of this aircraft they would like to share by all mean please do.
Just working on bringing in some upgrades for this puppy.
Ordered the Ultracast wheels and Seat for the build. The seat in the Hasegawa P-47D is not really accurate as it has the rounded seat back. Later P-47's had the more straight seat back including the bubbletop versions. Ultracast represents this well. These guys are not too far down the road from where I live so I should get them quickly.
As usual I started with the cockpit. The interior of P47's built by the Farmingdale and Evansville plants used a colour called (popularly) Dark Dull green. Actually based on some of my recent research the cockpits were actually painted Chromate yellow but the DD green was painted over the Yellow chromate as a completion step. The colour can be a minefield of opinion with some referring to it as Bronze green. At any rate I attempted to match the colour references I have of Dark Dull green by using 3 separate Vallejo colours which I thinned with AK interactive thinner and some water. I used Gun Metal Blue, Olive green and German Tanker Field Grau. I am not exactly sure of the ratios but to give the colour a bit more of a metallic blue green shade I used more Gun Metal in my mix. As such I am fairly happy with the colour. It's a bit lighter than the DDG in my reference photos(taken from an actual non-restored P47) but given the lighting and scale effect I think its looks okay.
I also used the AK interactive chipping product here as well. I did this by first spraying Alclad Duraluminum then the AK product, let it dry for a bit then I sprayed the DDG, let that dry and then dampened an old paint brush and scrubbed away the DDG. As such I am happy with the results.
the Shoulder straps in P47's were an off white while the lap belts were a Khaki. I attempted to re-create this look with the Ultracast seat which is very nice I must say. I still have to give it a wash with some oil paints but that will be next.
Here are the obligatory pics.
Well that's it for now. I don't think I will get another update in before I leave on Vacation. I am taking the family to Florida for spring break and will be going to Disney world, Universal Studios and hopefully the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral and/or Bush Gardens. I am really looking forward to gettin the hell out of dodge and enjoying some scenery where I don't have to look at snow.