**** DONE: GB-56 1/48 P-47D - Thunderbolts and Lightnings

[Vic Balshaw]

I'm not sure if I'd cry or laugh my socks of after that drenching. It's only early over your way old mate, so you could still pop over to the pub, just try and stay away from puddles. Happy New Year Terry, whether you choose to stay dry and sober or get jugged have a good evening and i wish you good fortune and improved health in this coming year.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Vic.
It was a bit borderline anyway, to go to the pub or not, as I'm still a bit stiff and uncomfortable, but I thought I'd make an effort.
But the effort of getting cleaned up, and the awkwardness and discomfort of getting dressed again, only to get p*ss wet through again, to sit, soggy in the pub, dry out in front of the fire, and then get wet again on the way home made it an easy decision to stay at home.
Maybe I can make up for it tomorrow night.
Didn't get any modelling done, just watched a movie and listened to the roar of the rain outside.
Happy New year to all here, and I hope it's not as wet where you all are !!
F****ng Macclesfield !!!!

 

[Snautzer01]

Macclesfield, such a lovely place.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Macclesfield, such a lovely place.

View attachment 700665

This is a classic.

 

[Crimea_River]

Happy New Year Terry. And may 2023 be dry - weather-wise that is.

 

[Airframes]

A belated thanks and Happy New Year to all.

Been plodding on doing small bits and pieces, and I'm now making progress, and may get this finished by, or over, the coming weekend.
The gun sight provided in the kit is a reasonable representation of the Mk.VIII reflector sight, as fitted to the subject aircraft, although it is rather basic, and the reflector screen provided is a solid plastic disk !
After some clean-up of moulding seams, some screen supports were added, made from very thin plastic sheet, and the sight fixed in place using CA.
This may not look much, but all the fiddling about, and umpteen attempts to actually fit the sight, took about 2 hours !
Support bars have yet to be fitted, running from each side of the cockpit walls to the sight bracket ring, and these will be made from stretched sprue. Once all parts have set, the sight will be painted, and a circular reflector screen added, made from a punched-out piece of clear sheet, and then the really tricky bit, fitting the Eduard PE back-up ring sight, which I hope doesn't "ping" into the land of spiders !
I'm currently working on the armoured glass screen provided in the kit, as this needs to be re-shaped, and the locating point may have to be adjusted, but I'll know more when I get to that stage, hopefully sometime much later today.
Pics below show the kit parts for the sight, and the sight in place with the mods visible, and I'll be back with another up-date soon(ish).

 

[Vic Balshaw]

You have done well considering how small and fiddly these sights are. Strange to see one in grey plastic and not clear, I must be building too many Tamiya kits.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Vic.
The Academy kit has plastic sights, with clear parts for the reflectors, although I normally replace these with clear sheet.

 

[fubar57]

Nice work Terry

 

[Wurger]

 

[Jock Tamson]

Nice work, well done

 

[Airframes]

Thanks very much chaps. I hope to have a further up-date later today.

 

[Airframes]

Sorry for the delay in up-dating. I'm still plodding on, but it's slow work, as my hands are still rather stiff and awkward, but I should have something to show soon.
Part of the delay was due to being side-tracked, checking out an error in the Arii kit, to see if it could be corrected at this late stage.
There should be a small fairing and louvered vent on the underside of the fuselage, similar to, but much smaller than the supercharger outlet, and located between this and the trailing edge of the wing. It's moulded into the fuselage halves on all other P-47 kits, but totally missing from the Arii kit, and I should have noticed this, as I'd seen it mentioned in a couple of reviews. ( see drawing below).
Unfortunately, this can't be corrected now without some serious re-painting, so I'll just have to live with it, although it's not too noticeable unless the model is viewed from beneath. I will, however, remember to attend to this on the next Arii kit build.

 

[Airframes]

I've had a closer look at my other Arii kit, and the louvres and vent fairing are there, although the latter is not very well defined, hence my difficulty spotting it under the black paint of the AEAF stripes on this model. So no problem when it comes to building the second Arii kit, as the fairing can be improved as needed.

Anyway, the gunsight arrangement is almost complete, and just needs a little detail painting, once the PVA has fully cleared.
Bracing bars and a mount for the back-up ring sight have been added, made from stretched sprue, and the ring sight added, from the Eduard PE gun sights set. This was all painted, then the projector lens simulated by painting with a chrome paint pen, topping this with a "dome" of PVA, and then fitting the circular reflector screen, punched out from clear sheet. So far. I've only dislodged the PE ring sight once, and hope it stays put now that it's been re-attached !
The reflector sight seems to be sitting a little high to me, probably due to the use of the Hasegawa instrument panel, which is higher than the kit part, but it'll pass.
The armoured glass screen provided in the Arii kit has been re-shaped, as it was totally wrong, having straight sides and a curved top, instead of angled sides with a flat top, but I think I may need to replace this with a scratch-built item, as it looks rather small. I just hope I can find my thicker gauge clear sheet !
Although I'd already separated the windscreen from the canopy, I've decided to have this model with a closed canopy, using the one from the second Arii kit (the open canopy will be used on the second Arii build), mainly because of that "high" gun sight, and because I also feel that the decal instrument panel detracts from the overall "look" of the model, although it'll be acceptable when viewed through the canopy, which is quite clear.
So, another two or three hours required to mask the canopy inside and out, before painting the frames !

The (rather poor) pics below show the state of play so far, and I'll be back in the next day or two with another up-date. Thanks again to all for the interest and "likes".

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Nicely done Terry.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Nice work so far Terry!

 

[Jock Tamson]

Nice job Terry, and interesting about the ring sight. I didn't know about that.

Cheers Greg

 

[Totalize]

Nice to see you going for accuracy here Terry. Looking good.

 

[Airframes]

Thanks chaps.
Yes Greg, all P-47's up the P-47D-30 had a stand-by ring sight, with a post and bead sight on the top of the nose, aft of the cowling. These were deleted when the K-14 gyro sight was introduced, from the P-47D-40 onwards.

Still plodding on, having masked and painted the closed canopy and done a little detail painting, and now deliberating on that armoured glass screen.
I might have this finished in the next couple of days, stiff hands permitting.