(COMPLETED) - Tamiya P-47 Bubbletop / Passionate Patsy

bvallot

Very nice Mark! =] I can't wait to grab this kit. I've been wanting to see what all the fuss is about with Tamiya's Jugs. Beautiful masking that cowl. Very impressive. It came out perfect. I'm all about painting every thing I can. Very nice job so far.

 

Thank you sir.  Yeah, the Tamiya kit is fantastic.  There was one thing I ran across a couple weeks ago that made me think, "this is kind of screwed up," but now I can't remember what it was so it must not have been very bad. 

Latest WIP pictures of Passionate Patsy, that I'm making for the Thunderbolt Group Build.

Not much progress the last few days.  Been too exhausted after work to focus on modeling.  But managed to get a few small things done last night.

Started weathering on the engine.  Still need to wire it up and finish the weathering.  And finished painting the prop, the wheels and the main gear.

Hopefully get some serious bench time this weekend. 

Cheers, Mark

Latest WIP pictures of Passionate Patsy, that I'm making for the Thunderbolt Group Build.

Arghhhh...  a few real-life issues kind of ruined my bench time over the weekend, but I still managed to make a bit of progress on the old Jug.

Shot some AK Xtreme (Dark Aluminum) onto the gun-bay panels and to some other panels on the underside, to break up the look a bit.

Finally got the engine wired up (still have to do some final painting and weathering), and put the final paint to the cowling... the little bare metal ring on the inner lip at the front.

Tonight I got the wingtip stripes masked and painted.  Tomorrow I'll do the same with the two black fuselage stripes.  These stripe markings were included in the decals, but I decided it would be better to paint them instead.  Happy I've gone this route.

That's it for now.  More to come soon... ish.

Cheers, Mark

I really like the way you've given some variation to the NMF on selected panels. It makes for, I think, a much more realistic looking model. Your painting is super good.

I'm really glad I have Tamiya's 1/48 P-47M in my stash - your build is whetting my appetite for building a jug.

Wow, you are doing great work on one of the best kits ever made.  (Built two of these myself earlier this year)

On NMF I started way back when with Model Master Metalizers, but found those to be notorious for not adhering well. Switched to Alclads and have found them to be far more sturdy and forgiving of things like masking, although they will lift a bit to the point of changing the sheen, not seeing underlying primer or even plastic like the MM paints do. But these AK paints you are using look fantastic. I will need to add a few of those to my paint collection to give them a try.

1943Mike

I really like the way you've given some variation to the NMF on selected panels. It makes for, I think, a much more realistic looking model. Your painting is super good.

I'm really glad I have Tamiya's 1/48 P-47M in my stash - your build is whetting my appetite for building a jug.

Cheers, Mark

Aggieman

Wow, you are doing great work on one of the best kits ever made.  (Built two of these myself earlier this year)

On NMF I started way back when with Model Master Metalizers, but found those to be notorious for not adhering well. Switched to Alclads and have found them to be far more sturdy and forgiving of things like masking, although they will lift a bit to the point of changing the sheen, not seeing underlying primer or even plastic like the MM paints do. But these AK paints you are using look fantastic. I will need to add a few of those to my paint collection to give them a try.

Thanks Aggieman.  Yeah, I'm very impressed by the AK Xtreme paint.  Especially with the multiple masking and un-masking I did on the cowl, the tape never pulled up any of the paint.

Cheers, Mark

Hey Mark, your painting is superb.  I agree that painting the wingtip stripes was the way to go.  I am really enjoying watching this project.  Excellent job on that NMF!

Have fun!

D

That's some top-notch work you got going on there, Mark.

Nice. 

Thanks Dwayne, and Greg.

Quick update: Got the fuselage stripes painted, attached the intercooler exit doors and the tail wheel assembly.

Cheers, Mark

Your paint job is outstanding!

Toshi

Thank you Toshi.  I've learned so much from following your builds, and the builds of everyone else on these wonderful forums!  I'm so glad I found this "home." 

Cheers, Mark

Very nice painting job and  work here.  I've been wanting to see the AK polished aluminum, as I have a couple of  NMF projects to plan for.   Mark if you soft-cloth rub the AK after it's cured will it buff to a higher sheen at all?  Did you us the AK thinner to spray?

The youtube vids from AK  show that it's very resiliant. I don't think it needs to be sealed either.

Wilbur Wright

Very nice painting job and  work here.  I've been wanting to see the AK polished aluminum, as I have a couple of  NMF projects to plan for.   Mark if you soft-cloth rub the AK after it's cured will it buff to a higher sheen at all?  Did you us the AK thinner to spray?

The youtube vids from AK  show that it's very resiliant. I don't think it needs to be sealed either.

 

Thanks Wilbur.  I experimented with polishing the AK finish, and it didn't do anything.  In fact, because I wasn't sure if it was doing anything I pushed harder to see what would happen and quickly went through to the base black undercoat.  I'm glad I discovered that on scrap plastic and not on the plane! 

It is excellent with masking though.  With all the masking on the wings and fuselage, and numerous masking and unmasking on the cowling, I've never had anything lift.  Not even any silver residue on the tape.  I've been using Tamiya tape, and sticking it to my hand before applying to take a little of the tack off.

The paint is extremely thin out of the bottle, so I haven't thinned it at all.  After experimenting I found that shooting it at 18 psi worked best in my situation.  So far I am super impressed with this stuff! 

Cheers, Mark

Beautiful work all around, starting from the pit to the masked nose cowlings and very methodical processes used, too...a man of my own vein.

Cheers,

Martin

UKguyInUSA

Beautiful work all around, starting from the pit to the masked nose cowlings and very methodical processes used, too...a man of my own vein.

 

Cheers,

Martin

Thank you Martin.  Cheers. 

Mark

Hey Mark, That project is looking extra-fine! Wow, I say!

Max

You certainly have some mad skills Mate, this Jug looks terrific !

Hodakamax

Hey Mark, That project is looking extra-fine! Wow, I say!

Max

Thanks Max. 

Jay Jay

You certainly have some mad skills Mate, this Jug looks terrific !

Thanks Jay Jay.

Latest WIP pictures of Passionate Patsy, that I'm making for the Thunderbolt Group Build.

A few pics from Friday.  I got a lot done yesterday, so I'll post those pics sometime this evening.  Have to do chores today.

Applied decals to prop and main gear struts.

Applied nose-art decals to cowling.  This was a tough one.  It was three different decals, so it took me a while to get the alignment "right."  Fairly happy with it, but there is a small tear in her leg.  Later, after using Solveset, another small tear appeared in her hair.

I used small amounts of Blu-Tack to temporarily attach the struts to the wings and the wheels to the struts.  Then applied small strips of tape on the wheels to mark the alignment of the flat part of the wheel. 

This worked really well when it came time to glue the wheels to the struts.

That's it for now.  Cheers, Mark

D'oh!  I knew someting looked off about the prop!  Thank you for spotting that.  I'll have to take care of that. 

I'll have to try your tire ideas.  I used Rubber Black on these and today I used a mix of mud and concrete washes to try and fill in the tread a little.  I'll post some updated pics shortly.

Cheers, Mark

I hadn't commented on your build thus far, but seeing what brilliant job your doing, I thought it only fair to comment and pay my praise.

Well Done.

Thank you Damian, I appreciate it. 

Cheers, Mark

Latest WIP pictures of Tamiya's 1/48 P-47 Bubbletop - Passionate Patsy, that I'm building for the Thunderbolt Group Builds.

A lot of things came together this weekend, so the plane is finally starting to look like... a plane.

Engine, ducting and cowling got assembled...

...and finally mated to the fuselage! 

Got most of the major decals down.  Still have to do the bulk of the small stuff, but it sure is nice to see markings on her now.

Initial weathering pass, starting with the wheel wells.  I'll be using a combination of washes and oils for the weathering.

Have a few things to fix.  Have to add the yellow tips to the prop blades.  (Thanks to Lawdog for spoting that).  I forgot to paint the aft half of the tail-wheel doors white, to match the tail paint.  That should be an interesting masking experiment at this stage.  And I'm still working on the bombs.  Have tried the kit-supplied decals for the yellow stripes, but not happy with them.  Super tough to mask and paint though, due to the compount curves.  Still pondering a solution.

That's it for now.  The finish line is in sight. 

Cheers, Mark

Patsy is coming along nicely. Fantastic job!

Thanks Stephen. 

Cheers, Mark

Oh Wow, the nose art is immaculate.  And your build is just fantastic and moving along flawlessly!  I wish my builds could look like yours!  Keep up the great job.

Toshi

She's moved along quickly since I last checked...looking super!

Cheers

Toshi

... I wish my builds could look like yours!  Keep up the great job.

Toshi

 

But wait Toshi, I wish my builds looked more like yours!     It's great how we all draw inspiration from each other's work.  It helps to push us to keep learning and improving.