Working on the Hasegawa P-47 in 32nd scale. I am normally an armor modeler but I like to throw in the odd wingy thingy. The cockpit is done for the most part… only a few bits of painting once it’s installed. A few details were added in the way of wires on the floor and behind the insturment panel. Also added throttle control handle and the control rods that go forward to the engine.I chose not to use the Eduard insturment panel, rather I painted the kit one with I think was well detailed and molded.
and with the seat belts… Which btw nearly did me in… there are like 20 parts in those bloody things!
All in all I’m quite happy with how the cockpit turned out. I was a bit apprehensive because it was a different color than I’m used to but I think it’s a reasonable representation of the bronze green interior…
FYI, If were to do this again I would skip the Eduard cockpit set probably and just get the seat belts… I used the radio which turn out looking like crap because it’s so pixelated. I should have just painted the kit one which was more than adequate… The placards were useful but the rest of the zoom set was a waste I think.
Great start, I love the “wear-n-tear”, very realistic looking. The only beef I have is with PE seatbelts. The shoulder straps look good, but the lap belt on the left side, I think could use a bit of bending, it just looks a bit stiff, other than that, everything is great. can’t wait to see more. Another thing to think about with seat belts: every time I’ve strapped myself in a cockpit, I’ve had to reach down to the floor to grab the lap belts, I would imagine this would be more common, considering, while getting in with a chute and all that gear, one wouldn’t want to have to reach in underneath to pull the belts before sitting in the seats. I usually bring the belts over the sides and bend them back around to hang over, that way, they can still be seen, and adds a touch of realism.
I’m not knockin your work by any means, it’s excellent, just my thoughts.
Thanks for your thoughts… I will do some more bending on the one belt there… (one problem I had as that they’re so thick… 2-3 layers of PE doesn’t like to bend very well over such a short distance. As far as where the belts are at, well I agree with you that they’d most likely be hanging down beside the seat but this is one of those “artistic license” moments that we all indulge in to show off what we’ve done. You know how it is…
I understand completely, it would be a shame to not see them things, bending them too much usually results in lost paint, be careful! I hate PE belts, if they come with a set, I’ll cut off the buckles and glue em to some tape, makes shaping them a lot easier.
Yeah, this is only the second set of PE belts i’ve ever used and the first that was this much trouble… All the buckels and everything was seperate in the Eduard set. I should have used tape, and I will next time…
Great start on your T-Bolt. I am currently working on the same kit as we type. I used the Big Ed Set for both interior and exterior.
I agree that the kit Cockpit doesn’t really need any PE cept maybe the belts, but that self sticking instument panel is hard to give up.
Good Luck with her and hope you have a ball building her. I will be watching and maybe stealing some of your techniques. Maybe I’ll post some pics of mine here as well ( different thread though).
I noticed you said you were mainly an Armor Modeler. Well not all tanks are bound to the ground. You may as well be building a tank with wings.
Personally I thought Hasegawa’s insturment panel was miles ahead of the Eduard one and only needed careful painting. I started the 1/48 Tamiya thunderbolt a while back and the improvements in that scale were remarkable. I just think in 1/32 and up that the printed instruments (seat belts to for that matter) doesn’t really look all that great. But that’s my opinion, take it as that… [swg]
I did prod the belt to lay down a little more and I think it looks better. The fuselage is closed now and the spars glued. This evening i’ll be working my way around it trying to close up the seams with as little gap or step as possible. I intend to do a natural metal finish on this one if the body work comes out good so we’ll see.
I hate sanding…! I have the fuselage closed and the seams sanded down. A few more body parts to add then polish it down real smooth… Did I mention I hate sanding?
Each wing top has two 2 inch long sink marks in it from a thick spar thats molded under the wing and each wing bottom has one 2 inch sink mark… I have half of them filled with superglue and sanded smooth but my arm is tired so i’ll do the rest tomorrow. Btw, I HATE sanding…
That is why God invented electric toothbrushes. [(-D]
With a little imagination and some superglue sanding becomes just a little bit more manageable
Seriously though. If it is too big to fill with Mr Surfacer there isa a product in that line called Mr Disolved Putty. This the stuff thins with either thinner or acetone and can be smoothed out with a dipped Q-tip making sanding minimal.
Warlock, I have some Mr Surfacer but not the disolved putty. I’m sure the NSLHS has some but that’s a 150 mile round trip… I think I’ll do the superglue. I know the longer superglue sits the harder is becomes so I’m laying down a bead in the sink line, spraying it with accelerator and then sanding right after. That way it isn’t too hard, seems to be working fine and isn’t as bad as I thought it would be… I should be done with all that at the next sitting.
Mike, Nice build… I’ve always liked Eagleston’s markings, but so does everyone else, that’s why i’m building a different one… [:D] I have two options depending on how the sanding comes out. I want to do a NM finish but if I start to get frustrated with the process I have a fall back scheme of green and gray that’s really sweet with some nice colorful markings.
I haven’t done much the last day or so except fill those seams on the leading edge and start on some nav lights. The kits wingtip lights are molded solid (kind of a rip off on such a large kit) Anyway… I got a chunk of clear plastic cut it at 90 degrees to fill the chunk i filed out of the end of the wing. You’re pretty much committed once you cut the wing obviously so make the light first… I drilled a hole in the back of the light and put a drop of green paint in it to represent the bulb. Superglued the whole mess in and filed it to the wing profile. I sanded it down from 400-4000 grit to bring the shine back and finished it off with some future. I need to rescribe some panels around it but that ain’t no big deal… Also repainted the engine wires to bare copper… And, the fuselage is done for the most part…
I drilled a hole in the back of the light and put a drop of green paint in it to represent the bulb. Superglued the whole mess in and filed it to the wing profile. I sanded it down from 400-4000 grit to bring the shine back and finished it off with some future. I need to rescribe some panels around it but that ain’t no big deal… 
Also repainted the engine wires to bare copper… 
And, the fuselage is done for the most part… 