So now I know what all the hoopla is about…This Tamiya kit is very thoughtfully engineered and wonderfully executed overall. I’m enjoying it so far. What a pleasure to build.
I decided it was time to take a break from 109’s and 190’s and make a US plane. I’ve always been a Thunderbolt fan, so I decided to make my first as Francis Gabreski’s colorful P-47D from June/July 1944 (61 FS, 56 FG, 8 AF, Boxted, England).
I’m sure many on this forum are familiar with the story. As the US top ace in Europe, he had orders to head back to the states after reaching his combat time threshold, but asked to fly “just one more” mission. He ended up clipping his propeller on a strafing run and spent the rest of the war as a POW.
I plan to build the model straight out of the box except for the Techmod decals. The decal options include 1) June 1944 with full invasion stripes and 27 victory marks, and 2) July 1944 with partial invasion stripes and 28 victory marks. I haven’t decided which version yet.
The office is complete but I have to admit that the decal seat belts are suboptimal. Next time I’ll get an aftermarket set but I wanted to go full OOB on this first one.
Here’s the latest update. Main construction and painting is complete. I decided to depict the July 20, 1944 version of Gabby’s jug.
This subject is an interesting challenge because the actual photos show some significant overspray of white on the black invasion stripes, overspray of the serial number paint on the tail and the overall look of the Ocean gray over the dark green is inconsistent and sketchy. It all has the look of camo and markings hastily applied at the unit level as we’d expect – not a factory job! However, if one decides to replicate the field-applied paint job, the model is going to look a little sloppy IMO (at least for me). So I decided to avoid overspray, tape lines, and inconsistent camo. Hopefully the model will still capture the spirit of Gabby’s jug.
I primed, preshaded and then painted the invasion stripes and red cowl and rudder sections.
I masked these and painted the undersides with AK real colors Medium Sea Grey. For the upper sections, I started with RAF Dark Green overall, added some panel fading and shadows with lighter and darker versions of the main color. Then I painted the Ocean Gray camo color freehand, along with some fading and shading. Fortunately the masking worked well and only minor touch up was required.
Outstanding work. I’ll be starting my Gabby Jug tonight. Mine will get full invasion stripes. I agree, on a scale model neat looks better even if it’s less than accurate. I’ve read these stripes were slopped on with mops. Not conducive to scale modeling.
