Fujimi 1/72 P-47 Thunderbolt - finished

Fujimi 1/72 P-47D Thunderbolt

Well got to the point, of can't be bothered doing anymore, so she is done.

A fun build, and I enjoyed the kit, I'd certainly build more.

Fujimi 1/72 P-47 Thunderbolt - touching up

Airbrush out tonight, as Bruce Leyland-Jones posted a lovely 1/144th Platz P-47 with the same scheme, and it showed yellow edging tot he black tail stripes. Also some red (I assume) no step marks on the flaps.

A couple of coats of gloss varnish, and I got the brushes out to touch in the eagle.

Much better.

Fujimi 1/72 P-47 Thunderbolt - deccles

Just finished putting the deccles on tonight..

The stars and bars are from an Academy Avenger kit, a little bit crispy but seem to be ok, a tad translucent over the black invasion bands, might have to fix that.

Tranluceny of the eagle isn;t oo bad, as it's a clear decal, I think I'll just have to paint the neck/ace white, and the talon.

I really chuffed with how the skull and crossbones look.

Fujimi 1/72 P-47 Thunderbolt - decals and touch ups

Sat down this afternoon and printed out the decals..

The eagle I pinched from a profile I found on the web, and tidied it up a bit. The skull and cross bones, weren't the best in the profile and to low a resolution so I created them from scratch, and (to me) look a lot better.

Got the airbrush out tonight and sprayed some Klear over them, and fixed the yellow and aluminium on the P-47. Remembered to paint the prop boss yellow, and paint up a prop blur for it, so quite a productive evening.

Fujimi 1/72 P-47 Thunderbolt - painting..

Vallejo Aluminium - tick
Stuffed up touching up the yellow - tick
Yellow overspray on the fuselage - tick
Damaged the aluminium while removing overspray - tick

Masked up to touch up the yellow and aluminium - tick
Writing out "Must use tweezers to lift masking tape, not dirty  great clumsy finger nail" 100 times - tick

Fujimi 1/72 P-47 Thunderbolt - painting

Well I didn't leave the primer long enough to dry and had some scrape off, so I sanded it back and tried airbrushing it on. Gace it a good few days, then sprayed some white for the yellow, and invasion stripes, sprayed the yellow, and left for a couple of days. Masked up for the black today, and tonight sprayed the black and olive drab.

 A bit of a black booger on the yellow, I was scraping the masking tape to lift the edge with my finger nail, and the nail picked up some black which ended up on the yellow, too impatient to get my tweezers...

I'll leave it for a day or so, then mask up for the silver.. must start doing something about decals too...

Fujimi 1/72 P-47 Thunderbolt - danglely bits and primer

The kit bombs have bugged me, and I tried to make them more likable, but I gave up..

so rummaged through the spares and bits, and found a couple of more beefy and American looking bombs (top), also added a seam to the fuselage drop tank.

Then had a play with some Vallejo primer..

Brushed on really well, I tried thinning it first, but it was too thin, so then slopped it on, and it self leveled and dried really nicely. Just needs a polish out, and it should be good.

Also tried some Vallejo Model Color Yellow, I should have jsut brushed one coat and left to dry, but I went over it too soon, and it lumped up. I'll sand it smooth.

Why all this Vallejo? Well I decided to retire my old Humbrol Enamels, sick of inconsistent new tins, and sick of the smell of turps I use to clean my brushes. It's quite refreshing to start with some new paints.

Cheers
Jim

Fujimi 1/72 P-47 Thunderbolt - fit fettling

Got the lower wing on..

here's the underlap, that would have been a wing root gap.

FIlled the gaps in the flaps with a bit of stretched sprue.

Took some sanding to get the cowling to blend in, there was quite a large step. In the process sanded off the lourves, so replaced them with some plasticard. also drilled a couple of holes and added the exhaust bypass.

Added a piece as a sight, and some rails for the canopy.

That silver plastic, really shows up the ghost of rivets past..

Fujimi 1/72 P-47 Thunderbolt - Engine..

Added some stretched sprue as push rods and magnetos(?)

also added some cut drop tanks as intakes.

A bit of paint and a wash and looks busy.

Fujimi 1/72 P-47 Thunderbolt - Undercart and wingies

Have made new undercart doors, and cemented the wing upper halves to the fuselage, as after a bit of dry fitting there was huge gaps at the wing roots.

A bit of tiding up of the cowl flaps and rudder hinge line as well.

Fujimi 1/72 P-47 Thunderbolt

Five weeks without touching plastic, due to house having it's minor cosmetic earthquake damaged repaired, I really need, need, need, to build something, so a bit of Stash diving, and dragged out a Fujimi P-47

 

 I like the box art scheme, flying skull, crossbones and eagle, awesome, but it's not the scheme included,..

 HV A in white codes.

I really want to do the box art so I'll print some decals I think.

Few parts and fewer instructions, no painting guide, I suppose due to it being:

"Molded in true colour"

"Full rivet detail"

"With detailed pilot"

It has working features as well, spinning prop, working under carriage and the first time I've struck it:

 working flaps!

But all poking the borax aside it looks like a fun build.

Cheers
Jim