Tamiya P-47D Thunderbolt "Bubbletop" 1/48

I had never built a Thunderbolt as an adult but have had this and the Razorback in my stash since there release many years ago.  I always knew what scheme I was going to build this Jug in - one of my all-time favorites, Colonel Francis Gabreski of the 61st Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group in Boxted, England.  Always loved that paint scheme but never attempted it when I was a kid since I didn't think I could pull it off with a simple Testors brush.

So what do I need to say about Tamiya's kit?  Hmm, let's see.  Ah, I have it.  This kit and the Razorback is among the best 2-3 I have ever encountered.  I loved building these Jugs.  They almost build themselves.  Very little filler needed anywhere.  My only complaint are malformed wing-tip lights; they do not fit flush in the cutout tips.  

Paint is Model Master and Alclad with Tamiya weathering compound and Flory wash.

Build Photos

The only problems I had with this kit was that I did not assemble the flaps with the actuators in place, thinking that would promote painting efforts and the actuators would just slide into place later.  Nope.  So the flaps are not deployed.  And the after-market decals caused me some grief; one of the "H" and "V" characters actually blew off partly while I was spraying with a gloss coat.  I replaced the missing part of the "H" with the decal from the kit but from the photos I see that the font size is not quite the same, so the "H" looks larger against the adjacent "V".