P-47M-1RE MiniArt
Finally finished up the MiniArt P-47D-30 as a P-47M-1RE of the 56th Fighter Group aka Zemke's Wolfpack.
Thanks Louis@lgardner for the Tamiya decals. Raided my Tamiya bubbletop Jug for the M prop. Used a Quickboost resin C series R-2800 crankcase. Plus SAC metal landing gear. Other than that, it was straight out of the box with nary a problem.
Top color for this squadron is something of a can of worms. After seeing a few color photos decided a very dark blue was in order so settled on the dark sea blue Japan uses on their F-2s. Underside is Vallejo white aluminum and dark aluminum. Rudder was Insignia Red.
Was not going to get the SAC landing gear until I misplaced one from the kit. Ouch. But then when I tried to sit the plane on its legs, the tailwheel strut proved very weak so the SAC tailwheel strut was used. Then I found the missing gear leg in one of the P-47 In Action books acting as a bookmark. Uh, nothing to see here.
So here it is. It was a fun project. MiniArt should be congratulated on producing such a good kit. All screwups are mine.
Should add link to build article.
https://imodeler.com/groups/work-in-progress-aircraft/forum/topic/miniart-1-48-p-47m-1-re-thunderbolt/
I just got a Hase P-47M off a certain auction site... still not sure what color to use. There's that persistent rumor about the burgundy auto paint that makes me wonder...
Hopefully you now have a 'definitive' answer. 😀
Good luck with your build, hope to see it.
Love the camo
Thanks you.
Never seen a Jug finished this way. Very unique offering. Thanks much for sharing and great job.
The question of the upper color for 61st Squadron P-47Ms is indeed vexing. Mike Gladych's crew chief made a model of that P-47M and painted it with the color they used, which was described as "very dark plum," with a reddish tinge; that color may have been used by the other Polish pilots in the squadron. Others have said both the dark blue as David did here, and also flat black are correct. There is no documentation about an official "squadron color," and apparently the airplanes were painted with whatever was available that the pilot liked. Basically, the answer now is, "use whichever color you think right and dare a doubter to prove you wrong with photographic evidence."
I would have to second what Tom @tcinla is saying David @kahu and Brian @wyvern1965. I don't have the advantage of all the historical research that Tom has, but I know from my own experience and research trying to get the colors right for any of the 56th Fighter Group is difficult if not impossible. When I built my P-47D "Ole Cock III" I found four different sets of paint instructions for the scheme and NONE of them agreed. I ended up creating a fifth option when I painted mine.
Great looking build build David of what looks like a pretty nice kit. I would love to know what you thought of the kit itself.
I suspect what I shall do is eventually get two more, and do all three of the suspected colors... that one one of them has gotta be right 🙂
Here are two black and white photos from Witold Lanowski showing himself, his wife, and a P-47M. I wonder what type of film was used as it appears the upper surfaces are not black at all.
Cockpit
http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/wp-content/groupimages/gallery/56g/lanowski2.jpg
Right side nose view
http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/wp-content/groupimages/gallery/56g/lanowski3.jpg
Three? That might be a little extreme. But hey might be fun.
If you want different, here is HV-W "Lil Snorkey" with bomb racks and no fin fillet.
http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/wp-content/groupimages/gallery/56g/hv-w1.jpg
Lanowski's airplane is one of those thought to be painted "dark plum"
Walt, I thought it was a great kit. A bit fiddly with the fit but nothing to make me want to chuck it.
Excellent P-47, David!
Thank you Spiros.
The result of this Jug is superb, David @kahu
Paintwork does look great.
Thank you. This was the first time I used the Vallejo metallics on such a large part of a kit and it went on pretty good. This was also my first time using Mr. Color for the upper surfaces and it also went on without a fuss.
David, I see that you have chosen the same decoration as me for your P-47M-1-RE Thunderbolt, but on your side your realization is finished for a pleasant result 🙂
Just a small remark if I may.
The wire antenna connecting the rudder to the fuselage was removed on all allied aircraft operating in the ETO. The latter used a high band radio frequency system which made the wire antenna redundant. All the photos in the book by Nigel Julian and Peter Randall on the 56th FG confirm this. Thus, our P-47M-1-RE Thunderbolt s/n 44-21116 did not have a wire antenna.
Bernard
Thanks Bernard, I just went looking through all the photos I have access to of P-47Ms and not a single one of them have the wire. Doh!
Thankfully it is a simple fix. Hope to see what you do with your effort. Should be smashing.
David Odenwald (@kahu)
Your P-47 looks incredible ! I'm glad to see the decals I sent you were put to good use. I really like what you have done here. Like the others have mentioned, these colors are indeed a "big ol' can of worms"... But I believe yours is a very credible representation.
I have one of these kits in the stash... so I was paying close attention to your build journal. It's a great looking kit in the box, and I'm very happy to hear the fit was very good. Thank you for letting us know about the problem you encountered with the tail wheel. I will be using the CA glue trick that Tom Cleaver described when I eventually build mine. Tom Cleaver (@tcinla)
I had these pictures stored on my computer... I thought you would enjoy seeing them. I think you have nailed the color on yours personally, especially when you look at this first photo. I know the first photo is a colorized one. But it looks very good... More can of worms stuff for sure.
You hit another home run here. I'm definitely clicking on several of the various "like" buttons.
Well done !
Thank you so much Louis, without your gift of decals this endeavour would not have been possible.
That's a great-looking Jug, and I like the colors you ended up with. Well done.
Thank you Greg. In spite of the can of worms it was a fun build.