Neel Kearby tallied the most kills in the PTO flying the p47, with 22 total before being shot down and killed over Wewak early in 1943. The aircraft that he flew for most of his victories was a P47D called Fiery Ginger IV, named after his red-headed wife. However, his first kills were made in another aircraft, also a P47; Blue 73 Fiery Ginger. This early plane was my choice for a build for Hans von Hammer's Group Build "Before They Were Aces". For those interested in additional details about Kearby and Fiery Ginger, or about the earlier stages of this build, I'll refer you to pages 6 and 7 of the "Before They Were Aces" Group Build in the GB Forum. Here is the completed build using this as the base kit, a 1/48 Tamiya P47D:
A white tail and wing edges were theater markings used by the 348th FG, painted over the usual olive/neutral gray camo scheme. The build depicts Kearby's Fiery Ginger after his first successful mission in Sept 1942 where he downed 2 enemy aircraft.
One problem with the P47 encountered in the PTO was its limited range. This was eventually solved with the design of a suitable belly tank, but early on, P-38 tanks were used on each wing to extend the range. Forum member RadMax answered by request for 1/48 Ligthning tanks and sent me some unused parts from one of his builds. Thanks Max. After some slight modication, they fit nicely on this kit.
A few additional photos:
And Neel in the cockpit.
Thanks for reading; I will say that I had some problems (of my own doing) with the decals, but overall, I pleased with the outcome. Also, my daughter contributed to the build; it is one of her strands of hair that was used for the radio antenna. 
Comments and criticism are welcome.
Don