hey, im a long time armor modeler who has gotten back into the hobby after doing some long stints overseas. I recently decided to jump the side for a little while and work on some aircraft models. Currently im nearing completion on a 1/48 Tamiya Thunderbolt and i have to give you guys credit. Alot of work and time consumption with some really tiny part and steady hands. Ill be posting pictures up soon so you guys can tear apart my first aircraft model.
-Chris
Hi and welcome back. Ill never get sick of looking at the builds on this site. Im a lover of all things WW2 but i can still appreciate the time and skill that goes into producing almost any model.
Glad to have you back and look forward to seeing your work in the future.
…Guy
Yes, [#welcome] back to the hobby! You have chosen an excellent kit for your return, and I am looking forward to your pics! [tup]
Chris, glad your back stateside. You can’t really go wrong with that particular kit. I’ll be building a P-47M here soon, so I’ll be able to join the Thunderbolt club with you! Can’t wait to see pictures.
Welcome back! That kit is one of the nicest kits anyone has produced of a 1/48 WWII subject in along time. I build the Razorback around 6 years ago and there was not one part that did not fit perfectly into place. A very enjoyable build. Hope to see more from you soon.
Soulcrusher[oX)]
C, so you think armor is easier? I have about 10 armor models in my stash but right now can’t get away from building just aircraft. I should strive for some variety.
thanks for the welcome messages. I have been having an enjoyable time building the kit. But im afraid that if it is the best as you guys say it is, i may have spoiled myself for future aircraft builds. I hope to have pictures up by the end of the week. So far i am happy with the results that i am getting.
Any ideas on any future kits. I have a Tamiya Me 109 and an Eduard Me 110. However i think im really fancing a Mosquito.
Welcome back to the world of sniffing glue[#oops]can I say that. The Tamiya T-Bolt is a wonderful kit. If you are fancying a Mossie. The Tamiya is also hard to beat. I’m in the middle of the NF.XIII and it is a beautifully engineered kit.
JOHN
This is my first attempt in switching over from armor to aircraft, i havnt modeled in a few years due to recent trips overseas, however the aircraft is proving to be quite challening, i have broken my own rule and i have let a project intimidate me!! Any of you guys ever have that problem. One thing i have learned is that aluminum paint highlights mistakes and makes me go “oh man,” so ill have to work on that, some of the metal flaked onto the rest of the model, but a quick coat can recover all of that up. I like how it is coming so far. I had to step back a few times and say oh wow how will i do this, but i am really enjoying working on aircraft. i welcome all constructive comments as long as you guys arn’t to to harsh. 
Sometimes its easy to get intimidated by kits, especially when they’re super detailed. I’ve opened a few kits, both car and aircraft, seen all the little details and just kinda shut it back really quick… especailly with you having been away from it for so long.
But that being said it looks great so far! Looking forward to more progress.
First off I just like to say she looks great so far. Saying you were an Armor builder before this it really is a huge jump considering the T-Bolt for all intents was a flying tank [:D].
Two things in the pics I noticed were minor at the stage your at.
Looks like the pic of the front on shot. The gap in the wing root could have used a little filler. ( no worries there some of mine do as well), but did I see some wiring on the cylinders? great job on that.
The other is the area behind the cockpit where the canopy slide on the rail should probably be the same color as the cokpit itself.
Thats a out it. Other than that she looks great to me.
The two rules I go by:
1: Can a person tell what it is when they look at it. (I.E A p-47)
2: Most important Did I have fun building it.
Keep going and post more & welcome back to the wingie side of the house.
Paul[#toast]
Ya might wanna paint the mag covers and prop govenor… I do the covers in dark brown and the govenor in black for the P&W R-2800. Also the front cover’s a little garish in silver…
Here’s a color pic of an R-2800 from a Jug…
Don’t sweat being an armor modeler doing his first aircraft… They aren’t THAT tough… Just a bit more work in watching for seams, gaps, ejection pin marks, etc… I’ve been building aircrft and armor for 45 years or so… (That’s why I consider myself a “Military Modeler”, rather than locking into one genre)
THe biggest difference though, is the amount and style of weathering on aircraft… The techniques used for armor are way too heavy-handed for aircraft, so take it easy on the weathering… Also, on the Jug, those 50 cals have blast tubes over tem, so you won’t have long streaks of “gun powder residue” on the wings, with the possible exception of the outboard guns… Aircraft with the guns sticking 12 inches or more out from the leading edge seldom have any residue on the wings… Guns that are flush or recessed from the leading edge will stain the wings though… Same with nose guns staining the engine cowling…
At any rate, keep going… You got a great looking Jug so far…
Chris,
Good start on an unusal “Jug” paint scheme. I’m guessing this is the Hasegawa kit becasue of the “regular” R-2800 nose case. It’s nit picking, but the reason it was an “M” was because of the installation of the R-2800-57C engine and new prop. It’s easily identified by the split nose case with all the bolts around it. 99% of folks don’t know or care, it just looks pretty so don’t sweat it. A lot of aircraft builders overlooked this. Hasegawa dropped the ball on this one major fact. I’m fairly certain Tamiya got it right and inculuded “-57C” nose case in their P-47M. I have the kit but it’s unopened so can’t verify. I’ve got so many kits I don’t open them any more until it’s time to start work on it.
Good job! Have fun!
its actually the Tamiya P47M with this paint scheme given to it. Thanks for all the help on the P&W 2800 engine. However the kit gives three different options for however you want to model the nose and propellers so now im certainly confused. After seein the previous picture of the engine up ahead from Hans, im tempted to change the engine however best i can.
The other part of me wants to leave it as it, and save it as my first aircraft build so i have a benchmark and to see where the improvements need to be made. Im starting an Eduard 1/48 F6 Hellcat for the Pacific Theater group build so ill certainly be looking to all of you guys for advice. All my efforts are on this P47 right now though, before we head out to the field and JRTC. Ill be putting some more P47 pics up soon to show how my progress is going.
Chris,
Sorry to have confused you. Here is a shot of the front of a PW R2800-57C. Notice the magneto housings are a different shape also.
Just a “head’s up” on the Hellcat then… It’s also powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-2800… Although you’ll see a few different colors on the rebuilt and museum display R-2800s, P&W sent their engines out the doors with a medium grey engine block…
Nice Jug! I am the same way with armor. I can’t get all of those road wheels to sit right. And the tiny bits all over the hull drive me nuts!
O.T. Have you been to the new and improved JRTC? I was impressed with it but OCs are still OCs no matter what they call themselves!
http://www.thescale.info/news/publish/aircraft-detail-photos.shtml
This was a great website that i found that has detail photos of a variety of aircraft. It may be useful to many of you or maybe not, but i thought that i would share.
Ill definately be paying attention to alot of your advice for the Hellcat but in the meantime ill be needing serious help on the rest of the Jug. In a week or say i can see myself decaling and getting ready to wash and weather. Hans mentioned that its not the same as armor so now im going to be totally stumped until i can learn of a decent way to do so, any advice??
O.T. no i havnt been to the new JRTC yet. We did all our previous deployment training right on Bragg, so it will be a new experience. It will definately be good for all the green troops that have just been arriving.
You can still use armor techniques on aircraft, you just can’t be as heavy-handed with them… I still use washes, dry-brushing, and pastels, same as armor, just less of it… A lot of guys use pre-shading on panel lines, and do it with paint or pens, I prefer post-shading with pastels and 0-size red sable brush for that, using charcoal powder. I like pastels because if I screw the pooch, a damp cloth fixes it right up…
I also use a rubber cement masking trick for chipping paint on wings, cowls, and prop blades that’s similar to the salt-chipping method on armor. I paint the area aluminum, then dab on the rubber cement with a stippling/stabbing motion, let it dry, then paint the base color… When it’s dry, simply rub off the rubber and the chips appear… Here’s an example on my B-17 again (that still isn’t finished, B-17 Guy):
Hey man, I think the jug look’s great thus far, I really cant add anything to what’s been said already. I do like the camo scheme though, I can add that much.
Mike, I hear ya man, I still havent finished my forts either. Summer’s been busy and work is kicking my but, plus a whole bunch of other reasons and a bunch of excuses. On the bright side, there was some room switching in my house during the course of the last 2 weeks (my boys couldnt maintain they’re toy room and after numerous threats to no avail, my wife and I took it back). So now I will have MY own work bench, err table…whatever…that is mine! All mine! I should have it up and running by mid week so hope fully work can resume on my forts and I can say I finished a build for 09.