Hello everyone. Here is my recently completed 1/48 Tamiya P-47 D Razorback in Don Gentile’s “Donny Boy” markings of the 4th FG/336th FS around March of 1944. It was built for the P-47 group build elsewhere in the forum. It represents a D-5 so I had to slightly modify the kit, which entailed doctoring up the the lower two cowl flaps and the deletion of the wing pylons, or should I say they were not added. I also rigged up a 75 gallon drop tank I horked from a Tamiya P-51D kit. According to my research, this tank, along with the 108 paper tank, were the most common in the ETO at the time. I will add fuel line plumbing to this eventually should I find some reference photos of it.
This may be the best 1/48 scale plastic kit ever made. Building it was pure bliss and I think its better than their bubble top version in the aspect of buildability. Other than Eduard seatbelts and Ultracast wheels, the kit was built out of the box. I did however run ignition wires and brake lines out of fine fuse wire (Note: If you would like to see how I built the engine harness, there is a tutorial thread in this forum section for it). The decals are from Superscale. I used Tamiya Acrylics for the Olive Drab over Neutral Grey. I prefer a brownish hue to my Olive Drab and most seem too green straight out of the bottle, therefore, I mixed a 60/40 ratio of OD and Khaki. The base was made from real dirt and model railroad grass. The pilot is from the Hasegawa Pilot set. Figure painting is not my strong suit so its nothing special. I use them to provide a sense of scale. It was hand painted with Tamiya Acrylics per reference pictures, clear coated, then given a slight “Detailer” wash to bring out the detail.
Simply amazing. You’re right about the quality of that kit. I have yet to build a model that was even close in fit and ease of build. You’re weathering is perfect too. How did you do the streaking on the wing upper and lower surfaces. It looks to me like airbrush work, of is it oils?
That is one great looking build, and some very nice work on the base and figure as well. I just bought this kit on e-bay and now I’m just dying to lift up that box lid and see what’s inside.
Very nice indeed! The 'pit, the paint, the weathering, all of that looks great. The weathered streaking does look cool, and I’m also curious about the techniques used to get that look. That’s a fine looking P-47.
Thanks for the compliments guys! Due to the inquiries about my paint weathering “streaking” process, I suppose I could throw a brief tutorial in here. I have explained this to some degree in some of my other threads, but to save time in searching for it, I’ll explain it again. Believe it or not, I accidentally discovered this technique while spraying the exhaust stains on the top of a P-61’s wings. I tweaked it and came up with this. First, you need an airbrush that can do reasonably fine lines. I use the Thayer Chandler Omni 4000 which is gravity fed. If you use have a similar gravity fed brush, make sure you put the cap on it (ask me how I discovered this). I use Tamiya acrylics which I find give me excellent control. Well, here’s what you do (I’ll use the above scheme as the example paints):
Spray your base color. For Olive Drab I mix about 60% Olive Drab and 40% Khaki (estimate, not an exact science here). This gives a brownish green Olive Drab hue which I prefer on my USAAF subjects.
Once done, take the same paint and lighten it. You may want to thin it a bit as well. With the above, I added Tamiya Buff, however, with other schemes you can use white too. (Note: set aside some of the “original” mixture for future use (You’ll see why in a minute).
Set the compressor at a low setting…say about 5 or 10 psi. If you don’t have this ability, it still should work. I just find it easier to use low pressure.
This is where it gets tricky to describe in words…but i’ll try. Take your airbrush loaded with the above mixture and start at the wing root. Spray quickly across the chord of the wing from front to back mimicking the airflow. The wrist “flicking” motion you will use will be similar to how you dust your models, only you’re going from front to back and using an airbrush. Work your way down the wing to the tip. If its not yet noticeable, lighten the paint a little more. If you over do it, add more of the original mixture you saved and use the SAME technique over it, or should I say commingled with it. This will tone it down. Just keep alternating the mixtures until you get the affect your looking for. Its best to slightly over do it because your clear coat, decal application, line wash, and final dullcoat will tone the effect down substantially…experiment!
I then tape around the control surfaces and use another variation of the above mixture(s) on them so they stand out slightly, similar to how you change the shades of metal in a natural metal finish. I used to fade the surfaces considerably but this forum has taught me that this was not really accurate (not so old dogs can learn new tricks). The idea is to as interest to an otherwise boring scheme.
Optional: Once it looks good to your eye, mix up a batch of extremely diluted Tamiya Red Brown and NATO Black and hit the panel lines, with emphasis on the the control surface lines.
Thats about it. It sounds complicated but its really not, especially if your savvy with your particular airbrush. It works with any scheme too, not just OD over NG. I use it to some degree on just about all of my paint schemes. I hope this makes sense and I don’t sound like a rambling tool. Use it freely and good luck.
Ahh…good catch. I wrote that very late at night, or should I say early in the morning (as you can see by the time stamp…lol) and It sounded good in my head. Kind of like in my last description of this procedure in another thread as “wicking”. Perhaps I should have said “along” Oh well, hopefully the description coupled with the pictures will help people get the idea.
Constructor, sorry I missed your question. I use Tamiya masking tape exclusively. Fantastic stuff. I put it on a clean mirror then cut it into several thin strips with a fresh Number 11 Exacto blade. I then frame out each window pane individually, cutting the tape as needed on each pane (I use a separate new Exacto for this task), leaving the part that needs painted exposed. Once done framing it out, fill in the rest of the window with tape cut to size and put a large piece on the inside to prevent overspray. I believe I took that technique from and old FSM magazine article on painting canopies. There were several other options, but this one has always worked for me. Its tedious but worth it. It was in the issue with the sweet Atlantic schemed Avenger on the cover if I remember correctly, about 5 or so years ago…
I’m 75% through the Tam Bubbletop P-47. The kit is almost weirdly good - i keep waiting for something to not fit properly, etc - nothing. Any issues are my own doing.
Beautiful work all the way around LD [Y] Very interesting to learn about your wing streaking technique. Perhaps one day I may borrow it on a build of my own. Seems a lot easier to do than streaking with a wash, … I am with you on preferring a more brown shade of OD on AAF builds. Did the 4th FG really still have their P-47s in March of '44? I figured that Ole Buckeye Don would have had his Pony by then and started racking up the kills… In any case, from the groundwork to the tips of the propeller and tail, very sweet![t$t] I hear noting but praise for the Tamiya P-47s… and yours is obviously worthy of more[:D[ Perhaps an M may join my stash one day if the price is right
I too want to test out your streaking method, but my F-15 on the bench right now is looking too good to try something new.
Stick, the P-47M by Tamiya was the first kit I did a couple years back when returning from a 5 year break. I will tell you that you should put a Tammy Jug on your short list and try it out. The hype is well deserved and I can honestly say that when you do build one you will regret not having done so sooner. But spring for some AM decals. I fudged the kit ones. They were very fragile.
