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Csaba
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Razorback – Tamiya 1/72

March 19, 2019 · in Aviation · · 18 · 2.9K

This is my recent Razorback build. The kit is 's excellent P-47D in 1:72 scale. No problems at all, except my own build errors here and there...

Painting olive drab have been a real challenge for me, simply all of my previous attempts were too dull and lpoked boring. This time I decided to try something different. I found a very interesting technique described on Jon Bius Scale Models, where he built a quarter scale olive drab P-40.

The basic idea is to use yellow to lighten the olive drab, do a patchy base layer with that color on a dark base, do one more layer with yellow on selected panels, and finish the paint job with a heavily diluted olive drab.

The results are good enough for a first try, however there is a lot to learn about this technique.

Reader reactions:
12  Awesome

5 additional images. Click to enlarge.


18 responses

  1. Csaba, the overall look of your P-47 is certainly a fantastic used but not abused airframe, and the OD looks amazingly real. I’ve read similar approaches to get that uneven finish of an otherwise dull color, but am still to try it an a long overdue Hasegawa P-38. Thanks for posting this little gem

    • Hi Pedro, thank you, I hope your Lightning will also look great! I believe that this technique described on Jon’s webpage has a lot of potential, but I have to do more experiments.

  2. Great looking P-47. Excellent paint work.

  3. Super paintwork. You've inspired me to have a go!

  4. Csaba, having built a bunch of the Tamiya P-47s myself I must say they are probably my favorite kit to built, and yours turned out very nice. Your paint work looks really good and I like the over all appearance. Well done !

    • Hi Terry, thank you! These 1:72 Tamiya warbirds series kits are indeed amazing. I have a few more in my stash. The next one from these kits will be a Birdcage Corsair. I was doing the final assembly of one Corsair recently, when I spilled Tamiya extra thin over the bottom side and the landing gear parts. Total disaster, no chance of recovery... But my wife allowed me to buy a replacement kit. 🙂

  5. Lovely, interesting, and very well done.

    ‘Liked’

  6. An excellent subject choice and very well done...beautiful weathering.

  7. Yes...absolutely - what they said !

  8. Nice work. The OD looks just right.

  9. Love it! I was just thinking this morning that I need to add a razorback -47, and wanted to do the OD overall but have a hard time breaking up the monotony of the monochromatic scheme. That technique looks like just the ticket! I think my only modification to what you did would be to use just a tad lighter shade so looked a bit more "scale faded" (and I know that is just in the eye of the beholder!). That said, I love the result you got - overall looks very realistic, and in my scale to boot! Kudos to Jon for the idea of using an interim layer of yellow, and to your execution of it!

    • Hi Greg, I agree, it is a little bit too dark. I hoped that the yellow base will lighten the olive drab, but the end result was darker than expected. Next time I have to add a little bit of white or light grey to the final olive drab layer.

  10. I agree: super paintjob; very convincing; successful weathering!

  11. Outstanding work,congratulations!

  12. Thank you guys, I am happy to hear that you like it!

  13. Stellar job! That painting technique really sounds worth trying. Thanks for sharing!

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