Finished the Academy 1/72 P-47D with the “Eileen” markings. First one to finish in a few years, but I did lose the wheels. Not sure where they went to as the were still attached to the sprue, but can’t find 'em. Let me know your thoughts. The checker board decals, vertical stabilizer and invasion stripes were horrible. Ended up pre-painting the checkerboard area white as well as the vertical stabilizer stripe after I removed the decal. The decals over all were poor. Didn’t settle down no matter how much micro-sol and -set I used. Next time I’ll use aftermarket decals. Made the seat belts as well from masking tape that was painted.
As for the wheels … do you have a cat? They can be pure resident evil when it comes to missing parts.
Academy decals are definitely a mixed bag; most people on here have reported problems of some kind or another with them, so yours are not surprising. My issue was with them cracking weeks after the final dull coat had gone on. Overall nice effort on your part. You can get some replacement aftermarket wheels from Squadron, Sprue Brothers, or a similar on-line store.
Looks very good, after helping my 6yr old build a 1/72, I have respect for those who can do it well (hard to see for me and parts are tough to handle[:$] ).
