P-47 'Bridge Buster', 1/48th scale, 9th Air Force Diorama.

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I know all about the big store haberdashers Terry, Hil goes one way looking at sheets, pillows and the like and I get lost in the beads, wire, clips and such. Never know what you may come across.
 
Thanks Kevin and Vic.
I've got most of the diorama base done, and it's currently set aside whilst everything settles down and dries. I'm working on the figures and some of the 'set dressing' at the moment, and should have some pics later tonight.
 
A few pics to show progress so far. I haven't photographed the figures yet, as they're currently held in clamps, waiting for the main paintwork to dry, before tackling the details painting.
PICS 1 to 3. The basic ground work on the base has been done, and the mesh tracking laid down. There's still a little work to do on the track, and also a bit more work on the 'terrain', in the form of weeds, grass clumps etc.
PIC 4. Whilst the ground work was drying, the bomb loading cart had some additional work done to the main chassis, before assembly and painting.
Various field mods were carried out on these carts, to aid with bomb loading onto wing pylons, with the addition of screw jacks, hydraulic jacks, or just simple, fairly crude stands, quickly welded together using angle iron and steel tube. Plastic strip has been cemented in place to represent a typical example of the latter, with roughly bent plastic rod to simulate the tube or bar bomb 'cradle'.
PICS 5 and 6. The finished item, with the wheels, castor and tow arm fitted, and the whole assembly painted and weathered. This item is from the Revell/Promodeller 'Ground Support Equipment' set I picked up from e-bay at a decent price, as it lacked the box and instructions. A useful selection of items for three air forces in this kit, and with a bit of luck it, knowing Revell's policy of 'rotating' kits every few years, it will probably be re-released at some point in the future.

There's still quite a lot to do, in the way of scratch-building and/or adapting items for 'set dressing' for the 'dispersal area', as well as extra work on the base itself, and the figures. All being well, I hope to have more to show sometime tomorrow.
Thanks again for your continued interest and compliments.
 

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Thanks very much indeed chaps!
The two figures have had the basic paintwork done, but there's still some work to do to finish them. The flesh tones need to be softened slightly, and also need re-touching on the faces, especially around the eyes. The 'dirty' coveralls need re-touching where handling has removed some paint, 'dust' has to be added to the boots and trousers bottoms, and that fire extinguisher needs re-painting!
The bl**dy awful Humbrol red enamel went on like translucent grease, and had to be removed and re-done. Even now, it's still not fully dry, and is a dull, dark red. Given it can be improved, then a suitable decal will be sourced from the spare decal files, and placed on the extinguisher body when dry and gloss coated.
Apologies for the poor photo, but I'm in a bit of a rush this evening, as I have to dash out to meet Mick, to arrange the Elvington visit next week!
 

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You got it Vic. The erk with the fire extinguisher will be placed near the starboard side nose of the P-47, as, like many radial-engine types (and the Typhoon too), engine fires on start-up were not uncommon.
The other guy is the 'Crew Chief', and will be in line of sight of the pilot (who is looking at him from the cockpit), on the port front quarter, and is signalling 'clear to start'.
I'm afraid that time spent sorting out that e-mail spam problem I had has prevented me from getting any more done so far, but I'm hoping to have most of tomorrow free to work on the final elements of the diorama, and perhaps even get it completed. If so, I can then get back to the long overdue commission builds.
 

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