56th Fighter group I wanted wings Button Nose D-22
Looking to build and paint a model as historical correct to a date in time as possible I am new here and this will be my first model I have made in maybe 20 years
The subject of my model is 56th FG P47 Thunderbolt D-22 LM*A bar July 1944
The decal sheet and details which I purchased for this model are wrong in some areas
After checking with some books and few emails to some of 8th Airforce Historians I managed to find the details I needed. Here are a few photos showing the correct paint scheme.
As of 1st jan 1944 8th air force mandate issued all aircraft manufactured be NMF ( natural metal finish) from the factory. Some NMF aircraft delivered to the Fighter Group were then painted as per request from some pilots in the case of the 56th this ranged in various styles of camo schemes as some will know I'm sure.
I wanted wings Button Nose was D-22 with wing shackles delivered from factory in NMF with black ETO ID bands to vertical and horizontal stabilisers rudder and elevator she was then at group painted as follows below
from what I can tell have researched and been told I believe the correct scheme would have been
- Red nose
- Yellow rudder per sqdn 62nd
- RAF dark green with disruptive ocean grey not sure if that would be tamiya dark sea grey
- NMF undersides with low straight line to fusalarge non wavy with Standard sized Star Bar D Day markings but not on wheel doors or cam shells
- Upper D Day markings over sprayed in OD olive drab
- Canopy front NMF with cut of camo dark green to back of birdcage sliding section
- Blue wall to nose art
- Heavy weathered oxidised exults stains oil stains
- Highly polished, so coat of clean not flat this time I guess
Welcome and looking forward to the build
A great entry, Martin!
Welcome aboard!
thank you guys appreciate it hoping to start building durning the summer and few others from 56th so will post add photos when all done its been quite in depth look into the why's and where for details of the AC and its paint work to get the model right first D-22 then when it was built and arrived to put it into date time then the guys at the top let me know 56th FG historians it was NMF to start of from factory to arriving in UK depot its paint scheme and all the little details within quite exciting to learn it all
I forgot to add to my post this AC arrived with the group in May 1944 taken from Roger Freemans book on 56thFG
Welcome Martin, @iwantedwings, you gotta love those 56th FG P-47's with all the fun and often hard to decipher camo's. Your choice should be a fun and interesting build and very enjoyable if you are using the Tamiya kit. I would invite you to start a build blog in on of the groups, which is where people can follow along on your build.
I have always enjoyed building 56th FG P-47's because of the diverse and interesting paint schemes and markings. One of the first things I noticed in your headline picture is that it does not look like they camoflauged over the anti-glare panel in front of the cockpit. I built Ole' Cock III, https://imodeler.com/2013/02/148th-tamiya-p-47d-ole-cock-iii/ and remember that three different decal sheets called out for different color combinations. In the end what ever you build will be and artistic interpretation of what is percieved as correct. Have fun with it and enjoy the hobby and this great website.
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1. anit-glare panel seems to still be present
Hi Walt thank you and yes your correct and I had not noticed that detail up to now so thank you very much great true to life detail to now add the the build and paint this will be my first build or paint job I may use a donor diecast corgi 1/72 to do it yet
like you the groups history is interesting to me my main interests specialised being the 8thAF FG's but all WW2 aviation interests me cheers
another detail that is all down to which date and time you choose to depict is this one photo below the use of both over sized and standard sized under wings Star Bars I don't have any photo proof that LMA had this apart from dates and version of T Bolt
pictured below is LMC in NMF with under wing shackles DDay half markings making it post June 44 and Black ID ETO bands D-25 bubble canopy I have one photo showing another D-11 or D-10 with underside oversized star bar but to counter that we have a photo to show button nose was standard star bar that same side so I don't know if it would have had standard both sides or one oversized and one standard
all in all its fun but confusing at times doing date and time correct paint job
I will try my best now just got to learn how to paint that camo patten with the airbrush this could take a few coats to get it right
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Thanks for sharing all your research info, Martin. Best wishes for the first of what we can hope are many successful builds as you get back into the hobby and bring your old skills into the present!
Love that scheme! If this is 1/72 (the only scale I model in) I would love to know who made the decals so I could get a set. I have a bunch of -47s in my stash... By the way, when responding to individuals, if you include their account name in your response, they will be notified via email that you have responded (example - your account name: @iwantedwings ) And - welcome to iModeler - looking forward to seeing your work!
thanks greg top tip for using the site I have brought the War Birds series in 1/72 also with re issued set for Gabby's HVA D-11 but hey are wrong in nose art colour of wall it is should be in blue but I couldn't wait for the new book and correct decals due out soon by one of the historians I know that helped me with some of these details in that book a model ref there are set of decals for 56thFG in main 3 scales I wanted wings is one of them I know it will have corrected decals and details I do have a screen shot of the decal sheet but better not go and show it off in case I get in trouble ha ha but look out for it they said July hoping for it to be available to buy the same guy that runs little friends web site 😉
Welcome aboard and Welcome back. That's a nice scheme to start with. Good luck! Can't wait to see the finished results posted.
Welcome to the group, Martin (@iwantedwings). I have found that iModeler is a comfortable place to share your work. Looking forward to your P-47.
thank you all great welcome to the group site lets hope after all this research I can learn to paint it in befitting manor airbrush lesson in close fine detail work needed
I've made plenty of 352nd FG blue noses in past I was friends with number of their group pilots when they were still with us but never anything as complicated as 56thFG Schemes going to be lot of fun
Tamiya makes RAF Ocean Grey (XF-81) and RAF Dark Green (XF-82). The undersides of 56th FG airplanes were left in unpainted aluminum, despite many uninformed people saying they were painted some grey shade. That's per interviews I did with several 56th FG pilots. There was no "camouflage pattern" - each was individual.
Good luck with this.
thanks Tom (@tcinla) makes sense to me and nice to have another informed input some good people told me the same thing cheers
Hi Tom (@tcinla) very interesting would you mind could I listen or read these interviews I knew Frank Klibbe before he passed so any thing you may have would be fascinating to me
This will be an amazing prject, Martin @iwantedwings
A not so often seen scheme used on P47s.
Welcome to this great community, looking forward to this Thunderbolt.
You might consider to enter it in one of the group builds so you can post your progress there.
This will be a great build! Welcome aboard.
I have the decals for this one too. Looking forward to seeing your work.
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that's a great painting David yes I'm looking forward to starting it as I mentioned above I may well use a donor corgi die cast and re paint it its been 20 years since I've made or painted so it will be fun to learn how to do the disruptive patten used here
a few models I had made 20 odd years back I posed them on the wing of P51 Mustang Princes Elizabeth at Duxford the second one in was an attempt at making home made decals for Little Gyp they came out far to dark and very thick but for me then it did a job
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any one needing some details on Princess Elizabeth here is the cowling with nose art I didn't paint it a friend did but I had to take the opportunity for a photo not every day you get the chance this was 2000's last restoration by fighter collection
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a better quality photo
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.