**** DONE: 1/48 P-47M - Aircraft Nose Art GB.

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Andy,
I have an old book about Zemke's guys around here somewhere. Had it since I was a kid (did a 6th grade report on the 56th). I will try to find it and see if there are any reference photos concerning the under wing insignias. I will post if I find anything, but I do think you are correct in using both insignias. That Jug is sure looking amazing. Lovely work there, mate.
Dale
 
Look at the colour pic Vic posted in Woody's build thread - Post#150, Page 10. It clearly shows the star and bar under the port wing of this 56th FG aircraft.
EDIT:- Apologies !! I've only just realised - this is the 'M' variant !
It appears that, from this version on, the star and bar was NOT on the underside of the port wing!
I'm presuming this was due to the period, late in the war, when the P-47 was more familiar, and with allied air superiority, the FW-190 seen less, and maybe also the change in wing plan form.
I'm extremely sorry I hadn't realised the variant Andy, this darned head cold is really affecting me, and I'm confusing your model with Woody's. I really hope you can rectify this without problem.
 
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Thanks guys. Well the jury is out I guess. Looking into this deeper, there are plenty of inconclusive pics out there but some that definitely show some M's that do NOT have the port wing insignia, Russ Kyler's "Lorene" being a good example. In the blow pic there is a suggestion of something under the port wing but it is certainly not convincing (see arrow):

 
It's one of those tricky ones Andy. There is one photo only, in Roger Freeman's '56th Fighter Group', where there might be a star and bar under the port wing, but it's very difficult to tell. However, all the profiles of the 'M' variant shown in the book, do not have the insignia under the port wing.
Also, following the on-going engine problems after the first deliveries of the 'M' in January 1945, it was also found that the wing pylons were causing drag, affecting speed, even more so when drop-tanks were fitted. The solution was to install a new design of belly tank, and the pylons were removed in February.
 
Final elements of the finish are now completed. To get the upper wing insignia on, I had to peel back the mask on the leading edge nmf and then replace it with a cut mask so that the matte coat could be applied to the insignia without dulling he shine on the Alclad. The below pic shows the model ready for matte coating.



The following pics were taken after the matte coat was applied and all of the masking removed. I'm pretty happy how it turned out.






So now it's down to finishing off the details. Here are the finished prop and belly drop tank.



I'll be spending time now on the landing gear which will be modified a bit as I don't like the molded brake line. Here's how it looks cut from the sprue and note also the ejector pin holes that need filling:



That's it for now. Back to Nanton tomorrow to work on the Mossie and then hopefully close to finish on Sunday. The extension has taken the pressure off this one. Thanks again everyone.
 
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Af what is the correct cockpit colour for p-40b AVG ,I am using Hu paints. Sorry CR,not trying to hijack this thread,but thought that seeing everyone is watching this,where better to place a commercial.One day I will build them like this.
 
Andy, that is a brilliant job you have done there. Besides very careful prep of the surfaces, just how difficult is the Alclad to put down? I am so very wanting to try an Alclad plane, but I have ZERO experience with this stuff. Has anyone done an Alclad How-To? I found a few Youtube vids that are just ok.
Dale
 
That's really looking tops Andy, great job so far.
Regarding the 'moulded brake line' - do you mean that rod-like part, with the flange top and bottom, as shown on the gear leg on the left in the photo?
If so, that's not a brake line, it's the retraction arm for the telescoping oleo leg, which shortened the gear leg on retraction, to allow it to fit into the bay.
 
Thanks guys.

Dale, the Alclad does indeed need meticulous attention to the surface prep. Sanding scratches, file marks, seam lines, and flattened surfaces will be much more noticeable with the Alclad. Having said that, a clean, unprepared surface needs no more attention than ensuring there's no dust. The drop tank above was painted with Aluminum 101 straight onto the surface with no other prep. Here's a good artificial that I used for reference: The Secret Life of Alclad II

Terry, yes, that's what I meant. Looking closer at my detail shots now I see that the brake line goes up the leg on the other side. Thanks for pointing that out. The rod has now been removed and will be replaced with wire. Here are the reference shots I'm using:



 
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Cheers Hugh.

From the bare kit supplied struts in the last post to the finished gear shown below. I was on a roll and didn't take any pictures at various stages so I'll need to explain here. The first step was to fill the very noticeable ejector pin marks and smooth these areas. I filled these using stretched sprue cut into flakes of the right diameter and glued into the holes with Tamiya Extra Thin cement. Similarly, I filled the holes for the torque links as I discarded the kit supplied ones for Eduard PE ones which looked kinda nice. The struts were then painted and the torque links CA glued in place. The Tamiya placard decals were then placed, then the rods spoken of above were cut from copper wire and glued in place. Finally, the brake lines were added using two diameters of lead wire and straps for the lines were added using aluminum foil tape.

The below pics show a bit of touch up required along the edges of the doors and I'll get at that tomorrow when I do the finishing touches.





 
Weighing the evidence, I decided to remove the second insignia decal from the wing underside. This turned out to be straightforward with the decal releasing after a bit of wet sanding and peeling it away using a scalpel blade. The photos below show the surface after the decal was removed and then after repainting the area with two shades of aluminum.




The next step was to install the landing gear, flaps, canopy and antenna post:




I then commenced adding a bit of oil staining and paint chips around the engine area, keeping it a bit restrained. More will be added to the underside where there will be exhaust stains to be done as well.



One of the last things to do was to paint the machine gun barrels and these received a coat of Alclad Duralumin. Many modelers tend to replace these with metal rod but I found the quality of these plastic ones supplied with the kit to be superb. A tiny bit of sanding around the ends of the barrels may be called for, though these close-ups tend to be a bit brutal with tiny imperfections.

I'll easily get this build done in the next couple of days barring a catastrophe. Thanks for your continued interest.

 
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