Dear friends and fellow airplane fanatics! Its good to be back in New Jersey! The job has kept me away from home and hobby way too long. I see that the forum is alive and well and most informative as always. I hope you will welcome a wayward modeler who has wandered back in from the cold. It was a great feeling to sit down at my work bench and heft the old x-acto knife again. After looking at sanderson 91s beautiful P-47D, I feel inspiration arising, and have pulled my Hasegawa 1/32nd thunderbolt from the stash, and plan to do Gabreskis machine as depicted on the box art. Normally I am not a real obsessive rivet counter, but this kit is so nice that wish to do it ( and its legendary pilot) justice. My research tells me that the final version of the Jug that Gabreski flew before his capture was the P-47-25 RE. Was this version the last to have the corrugated floor? Even though the kit is depicted as Gabreskis plane, the floor is of the P-47-30 variety meaning it is flat without ribbing. This may seem like true nit picking, but I really do want to get this one right. If this plane did have the ribbed floor does the aftermarket have a suitable replacement (probably another dumb question). Thanks for any help in advance! Its good to be back.
The floor in the P-47 cockpit changed with the P-47D-27. So you would need a corrugated floor for a -25. The floor should not be that hard to change with thin plastic strip. Either the Detail and Scale or Squadron Walk Around books have pictures of both floors to show you what to change.
If you don’t want to scratchbuild, Eduard’s #32 603 interior kit has the photoetch for the floor and a lot of other goodies, too!