GB-56 1/48 P-47D-30RA - Thunderbolts and Lightnings.

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Thanks chaps.
I'm pleased that things have gone smoothly so far, and the rest should, I hope, be fairly straightforward.
Once the wings and tail planes have been fitted and tidied, the next step will be to tackle the engine. The ignition harness ring is quite nicely replicated, and I've yet to decide whether or not to attempt to add the ignition leads, at least to the front block. These will only just be seen, once the cowling and prop are in place, but if my stiff hands are up to it, I might have a dab at fitting them, using lead wire.

I hope to be back with a further up-date tonight. Thanks to all for looking in.
 
Thanks all.

Didn't get anything done yesterday, but cracked on today and got the wheel bays detailed and painted, and the wing and tail-planes fitted.
Although the kit provides some reasonable detail in the wheel bays, they lack the ribs on the rear walls of the leg tunnels, and are devoid of "plumbing". Ribs have been added using plastic strip, cemented in place and then shaped, and lead wire used to provide at least some of the "plumbing". The bays were then painted, the details picked out, and a thin "dirty" wash applied.
The fit of the main wing was fairly good, but there was a gap at the front joint, on the underside. This has been filled with stretched sprue, sanded flush, and the wing root joints lightly sanded.
Fit of the tail-planes was rather loose, and they had to be held in place until the cement took effect, but they set-up OK, with just one very tiny joint line to be filled with PVA on the port side.
Pics show the progress so far.

I'm just about to start on the engine, and hope to be able to add the ignition wires using lead wire, even though they'll only just be seen, with the engine buried in the cowling and the large prop in place.
The pics below show the basic engine parts as provided in the kit, and the ignition harness ring is quite nicely replicated. I'm hoping to be able to attach the lead wire to the outlet "tubes" on the harness ring, and then "plug" them in to holes drilled into the cylinders, but I'll need to see if this is possible without affecting the fit of the parts before proceeding. If not, then I probably won't bother with the wires.

Thanks again for the interest, and I'll be back when there's more to show.


 
Thanks, Wojtek and Vic, and the engine build has started.

After some time messing about, I established that the ignition wires could be attached without interfering with the fit of the gearbox.
First step was to drill the cylinder heads to accept the wires, then paint the cylinder banks and bulkhead. The cylinders were painted in "steel" on the lower barrels, with the top half in "Aluminium" and the rocker covers in "Silver", all these being Revell enamels. A dark wash was then applied to emphasise the cooling fins, and then the push rod tubes were painted black, with a clear gloss finish coat.
Once dry, the cylinder banks were assembled and attention turned to the gear box assembly. The kit provides a "poly bush" to hold the prop shaft, and this was inserted into the gearbox housing, before fitting the magneto assembly over it. Once set, a small piece of plastic rod was cemented onto the underside of the reduction gearbox housing, to represent what I think is the oil pump and, once set, a hole was drilled into this, and another hole behind it, on the housing itself, to which the oil feed pipes will be fitted, using lead wire.
Next came the awkward part - fitting the spark plug leads, again using lead wire.
So far, only two wires have been attached, roughly aligned with the small nibs that represent the tubes running off the main harness ring, and this took a lot of patience, a number of attempts and a few new curse words!
This part is going to be a long, slow process, and I hope I can get it done without everything falling apart when it comes to attaching the wires to the cylinders, but I'll take it slowly, bit by bit, over the course of the weekend, and I might even have the engine completed by Sunday evening, if all goes well.
Pics show the progress so far, and a pic of the Duxford P-47 engine, showing the ignition harness ring and the wiring.


 
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Thanks Vic.
I was going to leave all this until the weekend, but I had a couple of hours kip, got up for a coffee, and decided to make a start. Of course, it all took much longer than expected, so I'm off to bed again now, and hoping for a decent, long kip !
 
Thanks, Geo and Wojtek.

I was hoping to get the wiring completed today, and finish the engine assembly, but I've started with another heavy cold - streaming eyes, dripping nose and feeling like I've been hit by a truck, not conducive to doing tricky, accurate work.
However, I noticed something that needed correcting before going any further with the wiring and assembly. The sloping section on the front of the gear box casing, from the oil pump up to the front of the housing, is the wrong shape, being set back from the rim, so this has been corrected by cementing a scrap of plastic card in place and filing to shape.
It's still not totally accurate, but should look acceptable once painted and with the P&W logo decal in place.
Pics below show before and after, with a pic of the real thing for comparison.

I'm now going to bed try to shake-off this bl**dy cold, and hope that I can get more done tomorrow.
 

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