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Wayne Landis
15 articles

P-47D Uncle Tom’s Cabin

June 7, 2015 · in Aviation · · 16 · 2.5K

Here is my attempt to model the P-47D of Thomas E. Bowers (65th FS, 57th FG) based at Grossetto Italy in March of 1945. This is the 1/48th scale P-47D kit with Ultracast seat with belts, Ultracast tires, and Superscale decals. The gunsight is photoetch with a bristle from a toothbrush for the bead sight. The belly rack was modified for the fuel tank, MTO P-47s apparently did not carry the paper or flat tanks found in the ETO.

Although this aircraft had a typical gunsight from this period of the war apparently many were fitted with the ring and bead sights for dive bombing. The classic documentary movie provided some great footage of this activity in Italy.

The cockpit was my interpretation of the dull dark green that Republic used for the interior. The instruments were the decals from the kit. I used Citadel acrylics for model figures to paint the details.

The finish was made with buffed Old Silver tinted in some places and Metalizers. Gray-black and redbrown acrylic washes were used to provide some additional weathering.

The jeep is the Tamiya 1/48th scale kit. It is hard to give a proper impression of just how large the is in a photograph without something to give it scale. P-51s and Spitfires are pretty but Jugs are awesome.

Reader reactions:
4  Awesome

5 additional images. Click to enlarge.


16 responses

  1. Wayne,
    Beautifully done. The jeep comparison really shows the size of the P-47.

  2. said on June 7, 2015

    A beautiful Jug! I like this one very much. A true mud mover! Well done!

  3. Greetings :
    OK, so far so good. Two P-47 in a day, very good.
    Nice work on the cockpit.

  4. Nicely finished, Wayne...I like that. You can't go wrong with Tamiya's stuff. 🙂

  5. Here's a "comparison" shot for ya, Frank:

  6. A natural looking series of metallic shades on the exterior. For me, the cockpit green is a little on the blue side - more like a Japanese aircraft interior colour, but a nice build in any case.

  7. Profile Photo
    P.k said on June 7, 2015

    NICE!
    Bronze green for all cockpit office of P-47D;M;N .
    http://www.colorserver.net/showcolor.asp?fs=34094

    • The color is based on the Euro dark green from Testors. The photo makes it look a bit too green so next time I will blue it up a bit. The color chip you sent if pretty close to what is in the paint bottle.

  8. Nice work Wayne. Especially like the NMF. Looks like real metal. I wouldn't worry too much about your cockpit color. First off it looks to me that your picture contrast makes it looks lighter than it really is, and once you close it up it's not a bad idea to have it a shade lighter just so you can see your work. You can't beat the quality of this kit, I have a Razorback on my table as we speak.

    • Thanks. The razorback is a very cool airplane. I have built a 1/72 Tamiya razorback and it is very impressive for the scale. I should dust it off and take some pictures. Have fun with yours.

  9. Very nice work, Wayne, very realistic NMF.

  10. Thanks, you know it is a great kit.

  11. Nice Jug! Especially like the look you got on the NMF finish - looks very real and nice subtle shading/weathering. Beautifully done!

  12. Thanks Greg, I will be sad to see the last bottle of Old Silver from my stash.

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