I love a P-47D (1/32 Trumpeter dorsal fin)

[Paulw]

I got this in just a couple of days ago and I have a couple of ideas to get it going.



Bought a set of decals that will work out nice and they should be here by Friday. I started with the sub assembly that gives me the most trouble, the engine and I thought I would assemble in a reverse kind of order to make sure that everything fits as it should and to head off issues at the pass so to speak.



I actually have more than this done but tomorrow I will get the rest of it finished so I can start in the pit which is my favorite part of the build. I am also planning to do NMF with the AK xtreme metals I have and am also hoping that they play out nicely also.

 

[moon puppy]

This should be a treat!

 

[lupanzer]

....

Luiz

 

[razordws]

Should be another goodun'

 

[Skinny_Mike]

This will be a fun one to watch!

 

[Paulw]

Since I am building this sort of backwards (rear part of the engine first then all the other stuff) I thought I would start next with the engine mount.



This shows the assembly in the inverse. One of the big things that poses as a challenge is how straight you can get this before gluing it to the fire wall and heat shield. The rear ward part of the assembly do not provide sufficient area to support each other and it makes you wonder how much angle there must be in order to attach it to the heat shield so I just glued the top and bottom parts to the fire wall then after they set for a while I then attached the heat shield to the top and bottom mounts. After this dried I was able to fit the side mounts with out much fuss.





I let the assembly cure for a day or two while I worked the engine assembly in order to get it to fit to the mount. This is where I found out that the mount only attaches to the heat shield and the completed engine assembly only attaches by the exhaust header to the shield which gives it a crooked appearance.









The two cowl attachment rings attach by the small pins on the rocker covers and are not a real good fit so care must be taken. I also managed to break the ignition harness in two so I need to figure a way to finesse it behind the reduction gear.

While all of that was curing I managed to do some work on the pit. everything here went on with out much fuss except the ip which I am not happy with. the clear part does not have holes to see the various instruments and it sort of blanks them out and you barely are able to see them so I should have bought a zoom set5 at least.

The pilot is out of my P-40N that I finished a few months back and he is my first real effort at painting figures. I do think he does look proper sitting in that pit being all business and such.







I did hit the pit with some flat clear and I may need to do so again.

Thanks for lookin'

 

[moon puppy]

Dang, looking good Paul! Really dig the pilot, great leather effects.

 

[lupanzer]

Great work Paul ...

Luiz

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Going great Paul!

 

[jugjunkie]

 

[moon puppy]

Paul are you doing the inside plumbing? I had read that it causes fit issues but it really did not for me when I attempted this kit. Remember I had paint cracking issue and it came to a stop.

 

[Paulw]

Paul are you doing the inside plumbing? I had read that it causes fit issues but it really did not for me when I attempted this kit. Remember I had paint cracking issue and it came to a stop.

Maybe as a outside display. I played around last night and tried to fit with out it and it looks like a good choice to just leave it out.

 

[moon puppy]

I got a Razorback in the box, Just need time to build it now. But yeah all that plumbing is for nothing other than part count unless you go all Fight'n Joe on it.

 

[phantom II]

Wow, looking very impressive Paul .

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[Paulw]

:pp thanks, Chris

 

[Paulw]

Like Hippy Ed had suffered with back pain for years I too have some of the same problems that most ordnance handlers in the military. lower lumbar and sciatic pain. Sometimes excruciating and sometimes just bad enough to let you know it's there ready to flair up at a moments notice. I had suffered that for close to 40 years and today I have no pain thanks to a lumbar puncture performed by the Muuskogee V.A. I wont lie and say t5hat I am totally free of stiffness but I can function with out a back brace or cane for the first time in years. Now maybe I can concentrate more on trying to produce my first quality build.

since I am doing thin build with pilot seated I saw no need to keep the gun bay doors open. Here is where I ran into my biggest problem with this kit yet. Gaps big enough to stick a pencil through.



Trying to square it up close enough to the rivet lines but that just left steps and uneven fitting all around. No matter what I tried to do it just got worse so I found a happy medium. I glued the surfaces that touched and filled the rest in with bondic liquid plastic welder.

The bondic worked well when back filled then sort of skimmed on top. This leveled it out better and was easier to smooth out. Then I went and leveled the giant steps with Bondo to be later re riveted.
I have a bottle of Alclad surfacer/primer that will go on before the black base when I get that far.



A little more fill and polish



\

Come to think on it, Why did I not just make some doors out of plasti-card? I could have come out with
better results.


Looking a bit closer to the pics I notice that I have the door panels in the wrong wing. :smack

 

[phantom II]

Hate to say but looking through your steps, that was my thought as well :idonno

Guess it's not too late. Probably would get a better fit.

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[moon puppy]

Fantastic news on your back Paul, good deal!

Nice job on the fill and sand.

 

[Paulw]

I have been having some real problems finishing kits for these past few months. A lot of them hit the wall and some hit the shelf in hopes that maybe I can get back to them in the not too distant future. Il-2 is dead, H-53 on standby so I thought I would continue with the P-47D project I started with the trumpeter kit which I soundly screwed up. In that deal I bought the Hasegawa one which in my opinion as far as surface detail and fit is a better kit, however, I am still using some things like the cowling and some landing gear parts.

I started this yesterday and already I have come pretty far. Engine done, pit done and fuse sewn up. Tomorrow Ill lay down the black base and shoot some polished aluminum on the tail feathers and flaps and such. All the big parts need some smoothing out and a bit of buffing to get them ready for the base.





This guy looks a bit like George Preddy.






Here's to a flying finish....

 

[ausf]

That's one of the better pilots figures I've seen. Nice work.

I was just reading last night that the Jug was most produced plane of the war. Outpacing the Stang by a small margin. I was also surprised that it was designed to be an escort, I always thought of it as a flying tank battling just above ground level.