The Thunderbolt that coulda been.....

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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First off- let me say that the Tamiya 1/48 scale P-47D Thunderbolt Razorback is absolutely the finest kit I’ve yet to lay my hands on since getting back into this hobby in February. (And as my growing stash will attest, I’m laying hands on a lot of 'em.) It is absolutely fabulous. Do yourself a favor and buy it. Today. (Go now and read this later!) The fit is superb, the mouldings are beautiful, the detail is incredible. The only thing I could find to fault is a single, small, easy to fill sink mark on the cowl.

Do not, however, buy it when you are trying to launch a major redsign of your company’s website, prepare the next years annual budget, develop your annual business plan, all the while searching to fill two sales positions. Oh yeah, and going through a mid-life crisis because you never got to be a cowboy, astronaut or Batman and now realize you’re a fat, almost 40-guy who still wonders what he wants to be when he grows up.

This should have been a great looking build. And I guess it ain’t bad, overall. But I just sorta plowed through it, when I probably should’ve stopped, put it all aside, and got through the stuff at work.

It all started with the OD green. It was a bit dark (Tamiya acrylic- not the paints fault.) I should have lightened it, and then re-sprayed. That’s easy, right? But I said “It’ll look OK.”

So I sprayed on Future, which made it darker. I shoulda stopped, stripped the Future, re-sprayed, and corrected it. But I said “It’ll look OK.”

I put on the US insignia on the fuselage wrong, which screwed up the placement of the aircraft recognition letters. I should’ve stopped, stripped that, stripped the Future, and resprayed- then proceeded. But I said “It’ll look OK.”

I’ve never been good at weathering… paint chipping especially. So I tried several chipping methods… on every dang panel line. (Don’t ask me why… I don’t even know…) I should’ve stripped the chipping, decals, Future and paint at this point.

But I said “It’ll look OK.”

I finally realized “It most certainly will not look OK.”

So finally I just said “Finish the dang thing.”

Now- it ain’t a bad looking plane.

It IS a rivet counter bullet magnet, however.

So anyway- here is one of the greatest kits in the world, that I probably should’ve done justice to by stopping and letting life go on by for a few weeks. The kit would’ve waited, patiently. BUT- it did help me get my mind off of it all, so it did alright I guess.

And as we all know, if at first you don’t succeed- buy it again with a 40% off Hobby Lobby coupon and try, try again! [;)]

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Ha thats life. [:D]

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“That’s what all the people say…” [;)]

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Jon, you crack me up.

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The Jug looks pretty decent to me. Don’t be so hard on yourself.

Darwin, O.F. [alien]

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You realize that even though the OD is too dark, there is a filled sinkmark on the cowl, the future made it darker, the US insignia on the Fuselage is misplaced, and that every panel line is weathered that is still looks pretty good to me [tup]

Don’t be so hard on yourself.

This Jug could have been a super double secret probation night fighter at one time. They had painted it a much darker color for the night ops and even though they tried to clean off the dark paint, they never could get it off all of the way. The slackers even chipped it up in the process.

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I did this same kit and I liked it as well. I understand where you are coming from. I don’t think all modelers are consistant with their builds. At least I’m not. Some turn out better than others and some you seem to want to rush thru, no matter how long you’ve been modeling. I just finished the Academy’s P-36A kit and it is a great little kit. However,it’s not my best. But, I did what I could to finish and be satisfied. You can’t expect to give 100% to every build when “life” is going on full stride.

I think yours turned out well considering. You are getting the hang of weathering and its looks pretty good here.Keep 'em coming!!

Andy

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Other than the excessive chipping, it looks fine to me.

I did my first razorback with tamiya OD and like yours, future darkened it even more. I’m not a color stickler so I don’t mind one bit.

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Well its not that bad. I mean its not perfect …sure the decals are not great and the chipping is a little over done but…you probably learned something.

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From where I sit it looks like you do a pretty good job.

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Well, you pointed out the faults so I’ll just say it’s not as bad as you think. Not a Contest entry but OK for a shelf sitter. On the paint chipping, next time try & find pics of the real AC as a guide. The pics I have of Little Chief show it to be almost immaculate. The crew kept this one clean & polished to a semi-gloss finish, not for aesthetics but to reduce drag & enhance performance.

Regards, Rick

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Looks good to me, I’m doing the bubbletop version. and the kit is the same a real fall together. Same stupid cowl depression though. If mine turns out looking that good i’ll be more than happy. I’m spraying my first alclad II tomorrow so i assume heres where the really fun build goes to S*@t.

Steve

CustomHobbyDecals.com

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Jon, it looks good to me and I rarely ever touch a WWII aircraft kit. No model you build is ever going to be perfect and I know this for a fact… I’m the guy that ruined an F-14 kit. [(-D]

Give yourself an A+ for the effort.

Air Master

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OMG!!! I’m gonna git the little punk who keyed my Jug, even if I hang!!!

Quite honestly, the OD as it appears in these photos is absolutely AOK.

I do understand that the flash may have lightened it up a bit, but the OD on early P-47s could be very dark.

Yeah, the chipping is a bit overdone. I think many of us have been there. I know I have. But you live and you learn, right? I should dig out some pictures of some of my old stuff. Not just because I ain’t got no new stuff to show, but because some of it is rather… humorous… LOL

If you really wanted to, you could get rid of some of that chipping with some selective masking and spraying…

Fade to Black…

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Jon, Great looking Yak-3. That IS a Yak-3, right?

[:)]

Like the others have said, after you get past your own “over-critical” stage, it’ll look fine up on the shelf with the other nice builds you’ve shown us so far. Maybe this one even made you a better modeller, after all.

And don’t worry, you can still be a Cowboy…I saw Billy Crystal do it in the movies once.

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Jon, been there and done that. Hey it makes a great story[:P]

Thad

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wing_nut- That’s my mission in life! Cracker-upper! [;)]

yardbird78, tedhealy, davew6003, Aggieman, Toother1321, AirMaster, KINGTHAD- Thanks for the encouragement!

Cudamav- That’s it! Alternate history! Woo-hoo!

Wulf- That’s me, man. Inconsistent. Like my team, the Dallas Cowboys- which team will show up? I think I just gotta slow down and not build when I’m not in the mood and can’t focus. Or maybe have two kits going. One is the sacrifical “who cares” kit for clearing my mind, the other is the real one. [:)]

rjkplasticmod- Sad thing is I had a stack of pics, printed out. I guess I just went nuts… it’s those darn Tamiya acrylic vapors! I’m a victim! I’m a victim!

BlackWolf3945- that, sir, is truly funny! [:D]

mucker- Little known fact- the official name for the Yak aircraft was “Yakkity-Yak”. Really. [;)] Actually, a Yak-3 buzzed the airfield that this Jug was at, and rocks and gravel went everywhere, and just ruined a decent paintjob. Hadn’t thought about Billy Crystal… he was a cowboy. Hmmmm… I wonder if they make Batman suits in 3XL?

Thanks to all!

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Jwb It looks really good. I would say you have the panel line chipping down. I see nothnig wrong with it. I have seen aircraft with alot more paint missing than that. Darker colors in a mono tone tend to cause the chipping to stand out because there is less to advert the eye to. I do the same thing when I’m done with a build look at all the mistakes. Like someone else said I don’t think there is a perfect one out there.

I have no idea what you are using or how much you know, but maybe this will help. There is two common way paint tends to be removed. One is it starts near a seam or a sharp edge and usually starts to peel away (like you have). The second is it get worn away by people always walking on or using that part of the plane all the time. To simulate this I use a brush that is worn or has soft fan head to it. I then dry brush it on by dabbing it around where I want it rather then brushing it like the latter. The brush should be almost dry and it does take some practice to get it right. If you use too much paint it will like you made a mess or it is painted over top. I also use a matallic gray to do this. One it does not draw attention to it itself like a silver or any other bright color. Second in high traffic areas where the bare metal is exposed it weathers unevenly to a matt finish. The matalic gray in most scales is a good balance of not too shinny but still worn metal looking.

Weathering is an art in itself and the only way to get good at it is my doing. On some of my builds I spend more time finishing and waethering than I do building. But as you will find it’s the little subtle detail things that add up to a real looking aircraft finish. The Jug looks great.

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Hey, it looks far better than most models sat on my shelves. as for it being a bit dark, so it rained on the t-bolt (wet o/d always looks darker), put it on a dio with some rather wet groundcrew and you got a nice shelf filler there. as for the weathering as said above some selective touching up will sort that out. but all in all as it is i would be proud to have work like that on my shelf,

all the best.

Greg

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I think it looks ok and you’re being too critical of yourself.