**** DONE: GB-56 1/72 P 47D "RAZORBACK" - Thunderbolts and Lightnings

[Ralph Haus]

Username: Ralph Haus
First name: Ralph
Category: Advanced
Manufacturer: Tamiya
Model: P-47D Thunderbolt "RAZORBACK" (kit# 60769)
Scale: 1:72

Yet another P-47, and a RAZORBACK to boot. But the 1:72 version

No need to post the spru trees, already done, at least a couple of times in other threads.

Still debating the final finish. HV-V is the one I'm kind of leaning towards. Will be monitoring the other builds to be sure of some variety.

(images are web captures)

Just an idea (as of 11/10) what the P-47 competition looks like:

The 1:48's
fubar57 - George - Canada - F-47D-30-RA Tamiya 1:48
fubar57 - George - Canada - P-47D-25 Hasegawa 1:48
le_steph40 - Steph - France - P-47D-28 Tamiya 1:48
N4521U - Bill - NSW - P47N Academy 1:48
donivanp - Don - Texas - P-47D Razorback Tamiya 1:48
airframes - Terry - UK - P-47D-22-RE Arii 1:48
F-104nut - Brian - Kansas - P-47D-25 Razorback Tamiya 1:48
The 1:72's
Ralph Haus - Ralph - Texas - P-47D Razorback Tamiya 1:72
Jock Tamson - Greg - Scotland - P-47M Revell 1:72
T Bolt - Glenn - Illinois - P-47M Revell 1:72
bernhart - Bernie - Canada - P-47D Academy 1:72
PlasticHero - Alan - P-47D Bubbletop Taymia 1:72

To be sure, as stated, I will be monitoring all builds, just to be sure I'm not screwing up! Is that cheating??

 

[Snautzer01]

P-47D-15-RA 42-23224 Sleepy Time Gal
Aircraft History: Built by Republic at the Indiana Division of Republic Aviation in Evansville, IN. Constructor Number 975. Delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) as P-47D Thunderbolt serial number 42-23224. Disassembled and shipped overseas to the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) and reassembled. Pacific Wrecks

Flown by Lt. Herbert Emrich of the 69th Fighter Squadron, 58th Fighter Group, in the Pacific Theater of Operations. Few pictures Republic P-47D-15 of the 58th FG

Herbert B Emrich in US, American Battle Monuments Commission, 1914-1950

Index record for Herbert B Emrich in the US, American Battle Monuments Commission, 1914-1950 from American Battle Monuments Commission, historical military records.

www.fold3.com

 

[Ralph Haus]

Showing some more of my ignorance. I have noticed some of the builds have a 'sub' designation, i.e. P-47D-25 or as mentioned above P-47D-15-RA 42. What does the -25 (or -15) represent. I understand the AF - FG and FS designations but the -NN?

 

[Snautzer01]

42-23224 is the USAF Serial Number, P-47D-15-RA - Evansville equivalent of the D-15-RE. 157 built, P-47D-15-RE, with underwing pylons and a completely jettisonable canopy 446 built Republic P-47 Thunderbolt variants - Wikipedia

Read more about serials here USASC-USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Military Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to Present

 

[Ralph Haus]

42-23224 is the USAF Serial Number, P-47D-15-RA - Evansville equivalent of the D-15-RE. 157 built, P-47D-15-RE, with underwing pylons and a completely jettisonable canopy 446 built Republic P-47 Thunderbolt variants - Wikipedia

Read more about serials here USASC-USAAS-USAAC-USAAF-USAF Military Aircraft Serial Numbers--1908 to Present

Much obliged, the article certainly covers a lot, including the serial numbers, but I did not see any referances to the '-NN' after the craft type (P-47D-??). Might have missed it?

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Good on ya Ralph, look forward to seeing this one take shape.

 

[Wurger]

... but I did not see any referances to the '-NN' after the craft type (P-47D-??) ...

As memo serves the first digit/digits there mean the number of the batch or a block and then the two letters are the code of the aircraft manufacturer.

RE - Farmingdale built Thunderbolts
RA - Evansville built Thunderbolts
CU - Curtis Aircraft Industries built Thunderbolts

 

[Snautzer01]

See below

U. S. Army Aircraft Designations 1939-45

 

[T Bolt]

Those are the block numbers Ralph.

A very quick explanation of the obvious differences in the D model block numbers:
D models up to Block 20 were razor backs
D-25 was the first of the bubble tops but retained the same control panel and corrugated floor of the razorbacks.
The D-30 had a new control panel layout and no corrugation in the cockpit floor
The D-40 Introduced a fillet fin on the fuselage spine in front of the tail fin

The P-47M looked the same as the D-40 but had the R-2800-57 engine which had a more boxy look to the gear box with lots of bolts instead of the more streamlined bullet shape of the earlier versions .

The P-47N Had the same engine as the "M", a larger fillet fin, two side by side antenna masts, a different control panel, a seat with arm rests, squared off wing tips, and a longer wing due to a plug that was added between the landing gear bay and fuselage of both wings to make room for additional fuel tanks

The P-47G was a Razorback made by Curtiss. There were issues with it and it was not used in combat. The cockpit color was chromite green instead of the Republic bronze green

The P-47 was a Razor back with a Chrysler XIV-2220-1 16-cylinder. 2 made converted from razorbacks

The P-57J was a lightwaight razorback with the same enging of the M and N models and a new more streemlined cowl. 1 made

There were many other differences between the different models but these are the big ones.

 

[Ralph Haus]

See below

U. S. Army Aircraft Designations 1939-45

Very good information. BLOCK numbers. I guess this would allow insight as to what build level the craft was, modification wise. Not sure if that would help with kit building?

 

[Airframes]

Yes, the Block numbers indicate what modifications, upgrades etc were included. Some of these were changes to instrument panel layout and switches etc, but to be honest, most of the internal stuff would not be noticed on a model. Some external differences might be apparent.
Note that the P-47D-22 and -23 were also "razorbacks".

 

[Snautzer01]

I only hope with this info, you have even more fun building. Yes one can be trying to be 100% but as Airframes said most will not be visable. On the other hand, knowing who flew this one might be just a tad extra into building. A little bit of extra history might be an incentive i hope.
And to be honest i like this one the most.
But its up to you. Hope you have fun. Good luck.

 

[CATCH 22]

Very good information. BLOCK numbers. I guess this would allow insight as to what build level the craft was, modification wise. Not sure if that would help with kit building?

Ralph, the block numbers together with the variant (letter) are the most important characteristics of an a/c. As for the P-47D, it was obviously the most important variant but there were so many changes during the production of the D-model, that without the knowledge of the exact production block, one will be lost forever (much like with my favourite B-25).
Most of the monographs about different planes will give you a full list of changes, characteristic for each production block resp. the serial numbers included within each block.
Since I'm not a P-47 aficionado I can't suggest any good source but only a link to Joe Baugher's detailed listings. I'm sure all of the participants in this GB have more examples.
There are always some fine details, depending on the production block, that will keep one's model true to the original. One example from the above site:
The P-47D-6-RE to P-47D-11-RE and P-47G-10-CU to 15-CU production blocks had only ventral shackles, which were stressed to accommodate one 500-lb bomb.
And so on...

 

[fubar57]

Lots of good info but don't get too worked up about it Ralph. When in doubt, before committing to glue or paint, ask. Sometime that gets overwhelming as well, everyone has a different view point. When in doubt, go with the majority or a reference photo. Now that you have you own thread, here's the innards colour your are striving for. Keep in mind CPU colour correction and the likes....close enough is close enough

 

[Ralph Haus]

Lots of good info but don't get too worked up about it Ralph. When in doubt, before committing to glue or paint, ask. Sometime that gets overwhelming as well, everyone has a different view point. When in doubt, go with the majority or a reference photo. Now that you have you own thread, here's the innards colour your are striving for. Keep in mind CPU colour correction and the likes....close enough is close enough

View attachment 694124​

Certainly beat this one to death. I did some low level experimenting and as you can see I did not come close to George's example; mixing Tamiya XF-5 (green) and XF-8 (blue), Tamiya XF-5 (green) and XF-1 (black).

However, I did do some web searching, and the second most (my opinion) best source for info, BritModeler.com had this thread. Interesting read. Seems like supplier mixing variations, date and block numbers did play a part in the colors applied. (See, I did learn something new 'block numbers'!)

P-47D Cockpit Colors

Hi Folks, I'm finally ready to start my P-47D build. Before I apply paint to that magnificent MDC cockpit, I just want to make sure I have my colors straight. As I understand it, later block P-47D's had the cockpit painted overall Dark Dull Green (DDG). While perusing the net, I came across a few...

www.britmodeller.com

Looking at the example photos and reading the text, seems like there may not be an 'exact' color to strive for. Tamiya may have picked the best, in their opinion, of the choices? SO, I'm running with the instructions XF-5.

 

[Crimea_River]

In their older kits, Tamiya picked the closest match to their then-limited range of colours. In their newer kits they suggest mix ratios of their paints to get closer matches and, with their introduction of the 1/32 scale Spitfire IX several years ago, introduced three new colours specifically for the British camo colours. So, the Tamiya call-outs need to be researched, as you have done, to come up with the best solution. Good work.

 

[Wurger]

Not sure if you found the one too. But it may come in handy as well.

the source: P-47D cockpit "Dark Dull Green"

 

[Ralph Haus]

Not sure if you found the one too. But it may come in handy as well.

View attachment 694192
the source: P-47D cockpit "Dark Dull Green"

Great reference. Tamiya calls for a red-brown color (XF-64) for the head cushion but it sure does appear to be in the black range to me (dark grey?) ? Both photos have the same cast. Maybe that ole 'block number' showing up, but I'm going with what I see. Will apply the same color to the sight cushion.

 

[fubar57]

Detail & Scale said the headrest could be brown or black leather so I did one of each

 

[Ralph Haus]

This is an interesting link for the P-47 cockpit. It's a the National Museum of the US AF. Looks a bit stripped. No head rest nor oxygen tube but fun to do the 360 look around. This is an 1945 build so would possibly be different than the earlier versions that are depicted in the kits?

nmusafvirtualtour.com - nmusafvirtualtour Resources and Information.

nmusafvirtualtour.com is your first and best source for all of the information you’re looking for. From general topics to more of what you would expect to find here, nmusafvirtualtour.com has it all. We hope you find what you are searching for!

www.nmusafvirtualtour.com

And these two. Found my elusive air line color reference! looks like cockpit color with the hose material showing (paint flaking off due to flexing?).

I'll quit now! On to actually applying some colors.....