P-47D 'Razorback' Thunderbolt - Squirt II – in 1/48 Scale
This was supposed to be quite a straightforward build of Tamiya's excellent 1/48 scale P-47D-22 Razorback kit with some Kits World decals.
I wanted to do the full invasion stripes markings worn by 'Squirt II' on D-Day itself as it's a very eye-catching scheme.
However, the decals blistered, wrinkled up and refused to stick despite hours of attempts with Micro Set/Sol, Mr Setter/Softer and other tricks. In the end, I had to varnish over them a few times, sand down the raised wrinkled areas, manually repaint the damaged bits and then try to blend in the result with rather more two-tone chipping than I'd normally like with a USAAF ETO Thunderbolt, as they tended to be quite well maintained through 1944. Ah well.
In the end, I'm reasonably happy with the result, so all's well that ends well!
For those interested, I've done a build slideshow vid here:
https://youtu.be/ndXq1pkvw0I
Nicely done, Justin. Despite the roadblocks the results are well done.
Well done Justin, she looks good despite the difficulties you experienced. Nice displays showing just how big the Jug is compared to other A/C.
Excellent tesult, Justin! You tackled the decal issues very effectively!
Very nice Thunderbolt, Justin @britflyer
Glad you were able the repair those decals, no signs of the issue you had with them.
Really nice result Justin. I wouldn't know you had all the problems with the D-Day stripes if you didn't tell us.
One smal nit, not a complaint - info for future P-47s: camouflaged P-47s painted at the factory had the flaps fully painted before they were finally attached to the airplane; thus the leading edge was OD-41. The P-47s painted in the field had the bare aluminum leading edge of the flaps because the airplane was painted with the flaps raised.
Like I said, not a complaint - information for your next one.
Wonderful weathering and chipping.
Decal issues absolutely not visible when looking at the pics, only after reading your comment I learned that you had to deal with “unwilling” decals.
I take my hat off to you! 🎩
Those D-Day stripes really stand out, well done solving the transfer problems.
Really nice result and an equally impressive collection of finished builds on display! Well done
Came out great in the end! If you hadn't mentioned the issues, I would never have guessed! Just looks like a perfectly weathered workhorse. Well done.
Nicely done Jug, and your other builds!