I would say I’m a pretty easy guy to shop for, aren’t we all? Model kits are the things that make us happy. Back in June, my friends Joe and Jessie happened to be in a craft store that was going out of business. Joe spotted a 1/72 Academy P-47D Bubbletop kit, and got it dirt cheap. When I came to their housewarming party, I was surprised that THEY were the ones giving me a gift. I had never built a P-47 before, but I had always wanted to do one in either Brazilian or British SEAC markings. The kit came with the latter, and as soon as I was done with my last airplane I got crackin’ on this one. It’s been a fairly simple build so far!
One nagging little aspect of this kit bugged me: the aerial post. The hole drilled out in the mold was too far forward, meaning anyone who wants to buy this kit and have the cockpit open will have a heck of a time gluing the canopy on. After checking my references, I saw where the post was supposed to be, drilled a new hole and filled the old one.
I just spray primed the model tonight, and tomorrow I’ll be painting and putting together the landing gear.
Academy does a really great job with their kits and it seems you’re doing an even better job with assembling the Thundrebolt! I love how you enhanced the very fine details on this build.
Thanks for the comments, folks! I’ve done a lot more work on the jug this past weekend…having a few days off from work always aids in that process! I’ve since painted the Thunderbolt, glued on the bombs and fuel tank, the gear and the prop. I pained model master ocean gray over the top surfaces first. After that was dry, I rolled out worm-like pieces of poster putty and shaped them into wavy patterns across the top. I painted MM dark green inbetween the pieces of putty, and when that layer of paint was dry I removed the putty. This created that awesome British SEAC camo scheme. The lower surfaces are medium sea gray. The entire plane has since been given a gloss finish, and I’m hoping to put the decals on this weekend!
About a year and a half ago now the blood vessels in my right eye burst. Although it’s cleared up some, my eyes are still not great for fine detail work. I would move up to 1/32nd, but I just don’t have the room for those (or the money). [:)]
Rocker,
That is looking great! Nice looking scheme. Not much longer till she’s done.
Hey, no offense taken! Just an explanation of why sometimes increased magnification doesn’t help. It does explain why sometimes my models look perfectly fine until I photograph them! [:D] Take care, my friend!
Well everyone, my jug is complete! A few things to watch for if you end up buying this kit…the decals. SOME of them are okay, others are not. And some need a bit of trimming. The SEAC roundels seem to have been printed just slightly off kilter, and as a result there was a crescent-shaped white area that was just off the edge of the dark blue (see photo). You can try to trim this excess off, or do what I did and take the smallest brush you can and paint over the white…carefully.
The large white stripes that adorn the tops and bottoms of the wings are thick and tricky to deal with. I wish the instructions would have said “put stripes on before cementing hardpoints to the underside”, because it would have been a heck of a lot easier to put them on without the bombs in the way! As as result, I ended up tearing one of the stripes. I decied to do away with these, broke out my tamiya tape, and painted the stripes on.
I mixed up a sludge wash using craft acryilic paint, water and dish soap. I dry brushed testor’s aluminium to the edges and on the prop blades to create a chipping effect, and I dry brushed testor’s flat black to create exhaust and gunpowder stains.
Over all, this was a fun build! Except for some tricky decals, this kit is a dream to put together, and I was left with a mighty fine jug at the end of it all! Thanks for checking this one out, folks!!
