I first read Robert Johnson’s autobiography when I was in grade school, probably when I was around 9 or 10 years old. One incident in his story always stuck in my mind and that was his near fatal mission of June 26 1943. On that sortie his aircraft “Half Pint” was badly shot up by FW-190s of JG-26 during a bomber escort mission. His description of the ordeal in the book has had me wanting to build a model that P-47 of his one day, but it was a P-47C, and nobody at the time was making kits of the P-47C, only D’s, M’s, & N’s. But then SuperScale Decals released a set of decals for all of Johnson’s P-47s, and Cutting Edge released a P-47C conversion cowling for the Hasegawa P-47D Razorback. I bought all of the above and eventually started the project, but then it was sidelined when I encountered some warping on the fuselage where it connected to the lower wing behind the engine. So it sat for many years on the shelf of doom until I recently decided to do knuckle down and finish this one up, no matter what.
Without further elaboration, here is my build of “Half Pint”, as it would have looked, before setting out on that June B-17 escort mission.
Decals are SuperScale, paints used are primarily AK Real Colors and Tamiya Acrylics.
Thanks for looking, comments and critiques are welcome
That looks really nice. For me the weathering is just right– it’s there, it’s believable, but it doesn’t dominate the model. I’m sure the newer Tamiya kit is an improvement on the Hasegawa kit (I’ve never built either) but it looks great.
Looks great. I remember reading Johnson’s account of that mission as well, but I am not sure I’ve seen the photos of the damage before so thanks for that too. His recollection was pretty vivid, and it’s clear from the photos why his canopy was jammed and he couldn’t get out, and why he was near panic before he started sorting it out and remembered he was flying a Jug and it could take a lot of damage and still fly.
Brilliant showcase there Stik, and I appreciate the enlightmentment on both your backstory with it as well as the pilot’s experience on that fateful mission! You deserve a nice “palette cleanse” kit after defeating a beast that’s been following you through 15 years and 4 house moves!
@Migrant, I would love to get a Tamiya Jug for my collection, but I have several others already to build someday.
@keavdog, John, it feels great finishing up another Shelf of Doom kit. I think that makes number three of those for me this year.
@El_Guapo, yes, that story has stuck with me in my mind ever since I first read it. His hunching down behind the armor plate as the 190 would slide back into position and fire again… I found the photos on American Air Museum Britain Project or something like that. It’s run by the Imperial War Museum and a fantastic resource. If you run an aircraft’s serial number thru Google and it served in theater, it will likely turn up in their database.
@pr154, in all honesty, no palette cleanser is really needed on this one. Not compared to other deep dive projects that I’ve done. Aside from the new cowling and gun barrels, and adding a PE pre painted seat harness, this was otherwise OOB. After the new year I might start off with a “palette cleanser” though
Excellent build. As others have said, the weathering looks historically accurate and appropriate for the aircraft. I especially like the chipping and wear around the cockpit sill. That’s an area I think can easily be overdone, and yours looks very convincing.
But what I really enjoyed, not being a World War II historian, like I am with more modern aircraft, was the story behind the build. I didn’t know the story of Robert Johnson and Half Pint, and now you’ve given me something else to go read about. That’s one of my favorite parts of this hobby. I love it when a model becomes a doorway into a piece of history I didn’t know before. Great model and a great story to go with it.
@Samphoto, I barely scratched the surface of the tale of that day with my brief synopsis here. The story as told in his autobiography was just so compelling of survival against the odds when it should not have happened, and it sure stuck in my mind for all these years. A neophyte USAAF fighter pilot still learning the trade up against some of the Luftwaffe’s best in the West. I love the historical aspects of this hobby when we can bring it to existence in miniature.
As far as the wear goes, I know that the aircraft had only been in service for a few months and the unit had barely begun flying combat operations a couple of months before when the fickle northwest European weather permitted, so it would not have seen excessive use at this point. Plus having some reference photos of the actual aircraft was a huge help.
That historical side of the hobby is becoming a bigger part of it for me too. I also really enjoy researching the design and mechanical side of an aircraft—what all the individual bits and pieces do, why they were designed that way, and how everything actually works. For me, understanding the technology is every bit as interesting as understanding the history behind the aircraft.
And your explanation of the weathering makes perfect sense. Knowing where an aircraft was, how long it had been there, and what it had actually been doing seems like a much better guide than just weathering it because we know how to weather models. I really like what you’ve done with this one.
Nice work. The Thunderbolt looks like a beast, big and heavy. You captured a war-weary Tbolt with a not-overdone level of weathering. And nice pair of Jugs with the bubbletop and Razorback.
Thanks Aggie! The Jug was a big old beast of a bird… like its Naval Aviation cousins that used the same big power plant, the F4U and F6F.
And who doesn’t love a pair of Jugs?
I like it, A lot. Beautifully rendered without overly aggressive wear and tear.The cockpit detail is especially nice. 1/48 scale cockpits can be very difficult to pull off as well as the decal warning stencilling. 5 Stars!!
