Well, I’ve been rather busy lately and I just haven’t had much bench time and for that reason this one took a great deal longer than intended. But alas it is done.
This kit went together without any real fuss and the only issue I ran into was the old decals fell apart and I was able to save only the nose art and tail numbers. I had some extra P-47 decals and I was able to use those to make up for the lost ones from the kit.
I painted it with Alclad and Gunge paints. I coated the Gunge in flat clear and the Alclad in Semi gloss and I like how it came out. From the photos I could find of this AC it was well maintained and in good condition so little weathering was needed and that saved me some work. I hope you enjoy it.
[dto:] Gotta agree with everyone here. Fantastic build of a awesome plane. I’m working on the very same kit as we speak and I hope it turns out as well as your did. I’m a slooooow builder though so it’s going to be another month before I finish it.
What did you use for your Alclad base coat? I used the Tamiya grey primer out of the rattle can. It goes on glass smooth but, for the first time, I actually used polishing cloths to give it a glass-like surface. Then I applied a thin layer of Testor’s Gloss Black and that, too, was polished. So that’s where it stands at the moment. My next step is to apply Alclad Airframe Aluminum. I’m rather nervous about using Alclad and I hope I don’t botch up what has, to date, been a really good build.
I use Alclad black base and micro filler. It needs to be put on heavy and wet otherwise you have lifting issues with it. Once I give it at least 24 hrs cure time I hit it with 3000 grit padded autobody sanding paper you can pick up at Walmart. This knocks down all the issues on the surface and makes it super smooth and it makes the surface dull in some spots and still glossy in others which helps with the NMF effect. I then shoot the alclad over that in a few very light coats until I get the effect I want and I then seal that with Alclad Aqua Gloss before adding decals. It took me several Alclad adventures before I found this method worked for me. As with all painters you just have to play around with things until you find a method that works well with your painting style.
I hope this helps.
Thanks for all the kind words they are always appreciated.
Pretty unique scheme on your P-47N. I really like how it looks. I’ve got two of these kits in my stash, I’ll definitely have to look and see if I’ve got decals for this one. Nice work!
