Tom Cleaver (@tcinla)
Wowza ! I just noticed your build journal a few days ago and now you already have it wrapped up. You didn't let the grass grow under your feet on this one did you ? 😉

It looks very good. I'm also going to look into trying out the Mr. Paint "Super Metallic" colors. They do indeed look very nice on your Thunderbolt.

I have been taking a lot of pictures of a P-47 that recently arrived in the shop. It was wearing the same markings as yours. The Collings Foundation now owns it, and it's scheduled for a full on flight / airworthy restoration. The coolest thing about this, is the plane is mostly original, having only had a "facelift" or two during it's lifetime. It is mostly original otherwise, and has never been completely apart.

But this has now changed, and they have discovered a literal gold mine of information about the P-47's that was not known about before. They even found a "Rosie" signature !

I'm looking forward to seeing this one in the headlines, and thanks for talking me into getting one of these kits. It looked so good in the box, I couldn't resist doing a full on review and posting it here for everyone.

Take care.

That definitely shows quality, Tom @tcinla

Nice job, Tom (@tcinla). NMF came out great. I still think NMF is evil, but I am getting a little more comfortable with it. I also need to try the Super Metallic.

You’re right about where it came from. They traded their Tuskegee Stearman to the Air Force Museum for it from what I’ve read online.

I also thought it was a D-40 also but the data plate says it’s a P-47D-30

You can’t believe the cool stuff that I have seen in this one. Incredible that it has managed to survive in such a pristine unrestored condition for as long as it has.

Other than the facelifts I mentioned earlier it was never taken apart or completely apart before now. They are documenting it thoroughly and taking tons of photographs as well.