**** DONE: 1/48 Republic P-47D - Mediterranean Theater of Operations

Very nice looking kit John. I'll go through my books and see what I can find out about the raised panels, the Academy kit had some very large raised panels. Interested to see how those Rising decal work as I have several "Captured" sheets. It looks like the I.P. decals can be carefully cut out and placed, eliminating a lot of clear decal.

Geo

Very nice looking kit, the moulds look very clean and crisp.

Hey, John,
You are gonna love the kit. Just lovely. Check out my thread on this kit. 2nd or 3rd page I added some lines as the harness on the motor. I think it added a nice touch.
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/start-to-finish-builds/1-48-47-razorback-tamiya-kit-39968-2.html

The Tamiya Jug is one of the nicest kits I've ever built. I'd suggest that the ejector pin marks on the gear covers be addressed as they won't be completely hidden by the wheels.

JOhn very very good model is very detailed and really is great, congratulations

Thanks guys! Looking forward to a proper start in a couple of days.

fubar57 said:

Very nice looking kit John. I'll go through my books and see what I can find out about the raised panels, the Academy kit had some very large raised panels. Interested to see how those Rising decal work as I have several "Captured" sheets. It looks like the I.P. decals can be carefully cut out and placed, eliminating a lot of clear decal.

Click to expand...

I will most likely utilize the Eduard instrument panel but will probably refinish it if it has that typical "shiny/pebbly" finish that Eduard pre-painted parts tend to have. I'll report back on the decals but that won't be for awhile!

dneid said:

Hey, John,
You are gonna love the kit. Just lovely. Check out my thread on this kit. 2nd or 3rd page I added some lines as the harness on the motor. I think it added a nice touch.
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/start-to-finish-builds/1-48-47-razorback-tamiya-kit-39968-2.html

Click to expand...

Thanks for that reference build, Dale! Your Razorback came out beautifully! The Eduard PE set includes a wiring harness...



but I'm not sure I'll use it because (a) it looks really delicate and difficult to manipulate and (b) the wiring is flat not round. The wiring that you did on your Jug would be my alternative method.

Crimea_River said:

The Tamiya Jug is one of the nicest kits I've ever built. I'd suggest that the ejector pin marks on the gear covers be addressed as they won't be completely hidden by the wheels.

Click to expand...

Thanks Andy... I will definitely clean up those up!

N4521U said:

That last photo would make a bitchin dio mate!!!!!!!!
Another build to watch.

Click to expand...

Agree!

Looking forward to this one mate!

I have not been able to do much modeling since receiving the kit. I've started some prelim work on the cockpit and should have some pictures to post very soon. Even though I haven't had a chance to really sit down and get on with this job, I HAVE been contemplating the build, checking out various resources and figuring out how to address certain features. Like the exhaust port... does it need to be modified? What would be the extent of the exhaust stains since some/all of the exhaust gets re-routed to the turbocharger? Stuff like that.

I've also noticed differences in some of the photographs of #68. For example the picture posted by ozhawk40 seems to indicate a repaired/replaced panel along the rear starboard wing root. And "The Wog" inscription is missing.

ozhawk40 said:

An Uncle Bud! Great choice John. These additional photos are in the Bob Hanning section of the 57th Web site. Fixing to do this one myself sometime...

Click to expand...

Compare that to this view...

Interestingly, there appears to be some paint chipping around the edges of aforementioned panel. I imagine that WWII fighter planes rarely stayed intact so this kind of change is probably common. Still, it is interesting to note, especially trying to guess the chronological order of the two photos. In one scenario, the paint chipping perhaps indicated a faulty panel which was replaced and not repainted. But if that's the case, that would indicate that "The Wog" inscription was removed. I am also now noticing some sort of sway brace hanging from the rear of the starboard wing rack... interesting.

Tamiya Jug is an awesome kit!

Finally got some time on the workbench this week. As normal, I've started on the cockpit. The first thing I did was give the outer Eduard instrument panel a shot of flat to reduce the trademark Eduard graininess of their pre-painted PE parts. I also sprayed some gloss on the instrument dials to give it contrast from the panel.



After cleaning up the gunsight (removing the seam line, sanding, polishing, etc.) I drilled out the holes on the mounting bracket all the way through with my pinvise. I should've paid closer attention to the three gunsight choices offered in the kit. After looking at photos of the 57th FG Thunderbolts, the gunsight with the rounded optical glass was the appropriate one not the square one that I had painted initially. So I cleaned up and painted the correct one.



The interior was painted dark green. I used some but not all of the Eduard PE parts for the cockpit including the seatbelts.






Since the back of the instrument panel is visible from the outside, Tamiya molded the instrument housings on the back of the panel. I decided to add some wiring using thin lead wire. First time using lead wire... MUCH MUCH easier to manipulate than household electrical wire!



Once the components are painted and weathered, they are assembled in a box assembly.





Voila! The cockpit is done! Onto the engine!

Great start

Nice job!

Some real good stuff going on here John.

Nice start, that pit looks great!

Thanks guys! I consider cockpit work a weakness of mine... I aim for a clean job and try to get out of there quickly!

Lovely work so far!

Here is another shot of the pit in better light. I hate working in the winter as the photography is always under the crappy indoor lighting.


I added the mid-fuselage intercooler ducts provided in the Eduard PE set. The Tamiya kit gives you the option of showing the intercooler flaps open or closed but they open into the empty fuselage space. The ducts block off the openings and provide some detail. They were folded carefully using tweezers and a knife edge (need to buy one of those PE folding tools eventually) and fused into shape using CA glue. They were painted chromate green and installed using more CA glue. As you can see the effect is nice but not very noticeable.






I decided to add some detail to the cowl flaps, which I'm going to show in the open position. First I sanded down the inside edge of the flaps to get them thinner.


Using the 1/32 scale MasterCasters resin flaps (shown below) as a guide, I cut out small triangular pieces of acetate plastic to be glued on the inside of the flaps.


The thinning procedure allowed me to see through the flaps when put up to a light source and I was able to trace the flap lines from the inside.


I glued the small triangular pieces of acetate plastic along the guide lines.


A quick check to verify clearances...


Painted in chromate...


A dark weathering wash and the mod's complete! The Eduard PE set comes with actuating rods for the flaps so that will add a bit more detail here by the time I am finished.


On to the engine... the PE set comes with tiny wiring loops for each cylinder. I went through the trouble of bending each tiny foot perpendicular to the loop so that it would be oriented away from the cylinder face. Why? I dunno... just thought it would look better.


Hmmm... not bad. I don't think I am going to bother with the rear cylinders because there is no way you're going to see those through the cowl.


Primed both banks in gloss black and sprayed them in Alclad Aluminum. I will paint the pushrods black and give it a dark wash.


I am going to attempt to use the PE wiring harness. Frankly, this delicate metal jellyfish intimidates me and I am going to take it slow. I'm going to handpaint the wires with a couple of coats to build up some roundness and then attach it after. Hopefully most of the paint will stay on during that process. I am holding off on the crankcase just in case I botch this.

Jellyfish ain't so tough! I tackled the Eduard PE wire harness. After painting and weathering the two banks of radial cylinders, I glued them together.


The wire harness was painted with a couple coats of flat brown to beef up the flat PE and then glued with CA glue on the front of the engine.


Using a toothpick, I carefully bent each wire toward the attachment points on the cylinders. The fit is very precise so it is easy to determine, by length, which wires go to each bank. Each cylinder head has two wires that attach to the front and rear of each cylinder. I started with the shortest leads that were attached to the front of the front cylinders. And then the leads that went to the back of the front cylinders and so on until the last of the longest leads were attached to the backs of the rear cylinders.



Glancing at the instructions to scout out my next steps, I was horrified to find out that I had forgot to place the insert between the two engine pieces before I glued them together... gack! Something to do with the attachment of the prop. Furious, I was thinking about prying apart the two pieces but I calmed down and decided that the wire work was worth preserving. The Tamiya prop attachment system uses a polycap in the crankcase so I'm pretty sure I can find another way to anchor the polycap into the crankcase. If all else fails, I can simply glue the polycap into place and still have a movable (and removable) propeller.

Onto the crankcase!