1:32 scale Trumpeter P-47D-15-Re, “Thunderbolt”
Restarting a long stalled project from the "Shelf of DOOM"...
After building the Hasegawa kit, (Which is a fine model by the way) I decided to get into THIS kit, because other than the old Revell offering, it's the only 1:32 scale 'Razerback" Thunderbolt out there. Can anyone say "Over engineering"?
Now don't get me wrong, I like the kit, it builds well and most of the fit is good but, the amount of stuff they have you pack inside that fuselage that will NEVER be seen is incredible. I get where if you were into super detailing, trumpeter gives you an excellent starting point, but even then, I'm not sure how much will be seen. At any rate it's there if you want it, and for the most part you need to use it, even if you don't paint it, because it is an integral part of how the model goes together, You can't leave it out if you wanted to!
What I did, was to paint the areas near each end just in case, but most of the interior detail is unpainted...and unseen.
Fuselage was difficult to close up because Trumpeter has a few issues with fit. It does go but you have to "Work it" to make it so. I might have had something out of place too so I will not dump all that on Trumpeter.
This is another one of those kits that very much resemble the Tamiya 1:48 model. Again, I won't point fingers, but it's VERY close. Trumpeter just added all the extra stuff inside the fuselage and the wing bays.
Otherwise the kit is starting to look good and I am slowly making progress towards finishing her. If you plan on closing the gun bay, you need to shim up the edges a tad as the bay cover will be a little recessed, and not be flush with the upper wing surface. The kit was designed to have these displayed open to show off the gun bays.
She'll be painted in the standard USAAC scheme of OD over NG, and will be from an Eighth Air Force fighter unit.
All I got for today folks, and I'll update on the "Jug" as more is accomplished.
Regards
Freddie from LI
Looks good so far.The commonest form of flattery in manufacturing model airplanes is to scale up another competitors product or in one case they made a copy and then corrected the originals error ( I'm thinking of a Me-109). Several companies have used Tamiya as a starting point for their RND for Mustangs and Wildcats. Accurate miniatures kits were allegedly scaled up using the Dauntlesses dive bomber and Grumman Avenger as patterns for bigger scaled kits. Saves time and money.
The one thing I've noticed about Trumpeters P-47 kits in 1/32nd is that they lack a brake housing. The wheels with the spokes can be found or they have the plate cover but, if look for the brake housing which would be found just behind and at the end of the gear strut, behind the gear cover plate. Its not there. Talk about over engineering...
Looking forward to seeing the model being painted up.
Just follow the TC Rule: "If you can't see it, I didn't do it." Not one of my Trumpy P-47s or P-38s have any of that plumbing inside, and the models are better for the lack.
Looks like you're doing a good job on this - it makes up into an excellent model.
If I recall Tom, it was you who tipped me off on the shimming of the gun bay doors... 🙂
I think it'll be pretty. I've to get it done finally. Now I'm just figuring on which markings to use...
What options are you considering (or have you) regarding the markings for this one? Maybe you can list the ones up for consideration and we can 'vote' on 'em. That'd be fun, right?
I'm figuring on Christiansen's, "Rozzie Geth"...nothing says 'Fighter Plane' better than Naked Chicks on an Olive Drab background...