Nervous - That is some very oustanding painting. I too followed suit when Doogs mentioned that tape and ordered up some myself. Lord knows I'll be needin' in the future. As for my attempts to repair my paint job I am meeting with futilty. Shot another coat of aircraft aluminum on the afflicted area and I now have a patch on the side of my fuselage that is no where near a match for the rest of the plane in aircraft aluminum. Must admit a bit baffled but somehow not surprised.  I am not yet dismayed as I have a bit of experimentation to do on my stunt model to see if I can recreate the right sheen and shade. I'll get some oics up to show you all where I'm at.

                                      Joe

NE: The 'swoose' looks great to me! As do the tail accents. I'm going to have to pick up some of this tape after the recommendation you guys have given it.

I used Kits World decals for the first time early this year and am really impressed by them. Only complaint is the same, I'd rather get some national insignia instead of them shoving a dozen different schemes on one sheet. Still they look and apply great. Haven't tried any of the dry transfer in years, not a big fan of something you have to get right the first time and can't slide it around once applied.

My P-47 is holding right now. Funny, the kits pretty much done but the drop tanks don't seem to fit very well, partly because I applied them without the sway braces at first and had to pull them off and now need to reattach them once I touch up the paint where I scraped it off for gluing. The tanks have been repainted more than the aircraft by now...

Well heck.. guess the post was too long and it ate my rant.  Sigh... I'll retype.

The Kits World decals I'm using for the plane specific markings are incredible.  Thin, tough, great color, sharp, great adhesion... even a micro-surgeon couldn't cut the film closer to the paint then what you have here.  Unfortunately, though, the decal kit doesn't come with the 'common' decals like the roundels... you have to use the kit decals for that or another source.

I'd heard the Trumpeter decals weren't quite right in register or shape for this kit, so I got a $9 set of Eagle Cal decals from eBay for the Trojan Horse P-47 for the roundels and such.  Great color, thin, sharp... and wouldn't stick.  Tried undercoating with set.  Tried overcoating with sol.  Yanked 'em, and stuck the trumpeter roundels on, and they went on perfectly.  

The HobbyDecal dry transfers was also something I was excited about.  Unfortunately, they're not effective at all on airframe aluminum.  They just won't stick unless you work them over hard with the stylus, and then they stick alright... to the sheet they came on, with the Alclad coming upwith it.  They work pretty well on regular aluminum, but you have to be careful just to rub on the lettering or you'll get bare adhesive that's tough to get off.  Worked perfectly for the prop stencils, and look incredible.  Disappointed, though, that the dozens of little touches over the AA panels will have to be left off or use waterslide.

Next kit will be nothing but paint masks for the roundels and lettering.  I'm tired of decals.

Finishing this week, and will post final pictures for edification, amusement, and derision, along with build notes.  The Trumpeter kit builds up to a great looking main aircraft, but it fights you in so many little ways.

Update time.  Got some pictures that are now about 3 weeks old, but better late than never!

First off, thanks to Doogs for the suggestion of using Artists Tape for Curves.  That stuff is like MAGIC.  You have to be careful and 'prep' it some with old stick it on the jeans trick to remove some sticky or you risk paint pullup, but it truly makes masking a cowl ring or any other irregular surface a breeze.

The swooshes didn't come out quite as nice as I could have made them... a case of the masking looking great on the model, but then once the paint was down I realized the inside curve wasn't as steep as it should have been and it made too hard an angle where it hit the cowl ring paint.  Oh well... it's close enough I'm certainly not re-doing hours of prep and paint, and the offending missed angle will be covered by the nose art on the business side.  The lines were perfect... that artists tape makes it look factory done.  Anyone not familiar with the swoosh angle wouldn't realize I'd missed how strong the angle should have been near the cowling.

The rudder / vertical stab was simple enough.

I've actually finished all principle construction and painting (save a few bits like lights and antenna), and everything has come out pretty well.  I'm working on decals right now, and it's time to rant a bit.

Joe. good work on that cockpit and engine. Cant wait to see her all dressed up!

Looks really good Joe. I'm off to llok at your 'how to' as I'm about t odo it for another build.

I've just started my 1/72 'Eileen', spraying the prop tips as I have for a number of other builds, at least it's under way.

Cheers

Tony

Great job there Joe, looks pretty darn close to ones I've seen.

I'm going to print off your post over the aircraft forum to use for reference if it's ok by you.

Cliff

DoogsATX

Joe - excellent work on the Jug and the R-2800 wiring. I'll have to look up your technique on the Grumman build (or if you could post it here that'd be awesome as well!)

Thanks guys!  Doogs, I'll just start a new thread in the aircraft forum explaining my process on wiring radials.  That way it will be easy access for anyone who may wish to give it a try.   Speaking of the engine, I just finished it.  A little detail painting here and there, a wash with my trusty Detailer wash, then a spray dusting of Tamiya Smoke to give it a used appearance.  When compared to the picture I used as reference of an R 2800 (Squadron P-47 Walkaround), I think its reasonably close; at least in 1/48 scale.  I also put together the airframe and its ready for primer.  I needed a little putty in the wing root gaps, that's it.  For some reason, I couldn't quite get the wings and fuselage to meet completely.  There was a hair line gap all the way down down the chord.  I've never heard about this happening on other builds so I'm sure it was operator error.   

Joe

DoogsATX

Randy - that's one awesome decal sheet - I know there was also an all-black P-47 bubbletop with the same squadron markings as that OG/DG-camo Razorback - think it was a postwar thing though. But very cool looking.

Joe - excellent work on the Jug and the R-2800 wiring. I'll have to look up your technique on the Grumman build (or if you could post it here that'd be awesome as well!)

maybe this?

also got seac markings for a bubble top.

Joe: Yeah, that engine looks great! I can smell the oil and gasoline from here!

Randy: Nice set of decals, the RAF P-47s are really cool and different!

Randy - that's one awesome decal sheet - I know there was also an all-black P-47 bubbletop with the same squadron markings as that OG/DG-camo Razorback - think it was a postwar thing though. But very cool looking.

Joe - excellent work on the Jug and the R-2800 wiring. I'll have to look up your technique on the Grumman build (or if you could post it here that'd be awesome as well!)

Randypandy - Now that is sweet scheme. Nice to see something different. Wonderful thing about modeling the P-47 is not only is the wide varieties of paint schemes, markings and nose art just within the USAAF but then you expand your research to all the different variations with the all the other nationalities that utilized the Jug and the options seem limitless.

Joe - Wonderful work on the engine. I couldn't agree more about detailing the radial engine. Wired my first one for this GB and I couln't be happier with time and effort I invested doing that.

Progress on my repair job has been slowed simply due to time committments this week. Yet I'm slowly getting the masking necessary for the effort done.

                                                 Joe

awesome work on that engine!!!

Hello all.  Well, I got a little bench time in last night and managed to get alot done.  The Jug I am building is a D-1 RE (Republic built plane), at least according to the Super Scale sheet with Gentile's markings.  From my research, the razorback D variant was essentially the same as the C, up until the D-15.  The only external difference was the addition of the two lower cowl flaps on each side of the cowl.  I think the early D's did not have wing pylons either but I'm still not sure about this yet.  I know the C models didn't.  Any input would be greatly appreciated in this area.

Since the kit's cowl is the later variant, I had to do some minor surgery, by means of adding to the lower flaps with Evergreen stock.  This was easy enough.   I then turned my attention to the PW 2800 mill.  I scratch built the ignition harness with some Evergreen rod and copper wire.  (I described my process with my Wildcat in the Grumman Group Build, if anyone would like me to explain it again, let me know and I'll post a thread on the topic).  To me, a radial just doesn't look right without the harness,especially on a Jug where the cowl is so exposed.  All I have to do is paint  then wash it.   

I also manged to seal up the fuselage and glue the wings together.  Not one speck of putty needed.  A test fit of the wing/fuselage joint and it looks perfect.  What a kit.  Here's where I'm at so far.

Joe

this sheet got me excited. been looking for ocean gray/medium sea gray/dk. green camo for the razorback. it's been answered. 

LD114: Great work there, love how the seat belts came out , they look very natural!  

Although now I'm wondering if I painted my cockpit too light a green.

Thanks Joe, Yeah, no worries. I had family visiting for the past few days which was good in that it gave me time to just set the Jug aside for a bit gather my head together and then set to fixing it. Hope to actually to get in some initial action today.

Now, let's address that absolutely stunning cockpit you have there. Your detail work is really superb. Your DDG looks pretty darn good to me. Unsure if you have read the earlier posts in this thread and how folks interpret the cockpit green and how they opted to match it. Some really good stuff there. Indeed, you simply have to love these Tamiya P-47 kits. They honestly are outstanding and a real joy to build.

Keep that good stuff coming.

                                                  Joe

Hello all.  Man there are some fine looking builds in here.  Joe, sorry about your mishap. I know how frustrating operator error can be.....been there many times.  I'm confident you'll get it fixed.

I finally got started on the 1/48 Tamiya Razorback.  I must say, Tamiya's 1/48 Thunderbolts have the best out of the box cockpits I've ever seen.  The detail is absolutely stunning.  I only added Eduard seat belts.  I painted it Tamiya XF26 Seep Green which I read is close to FS34092, which is apparently a good representation of Republic Dull Dark Green.  I did add a couple of drops of black to it though.  There has been some scuttle-but about early Jug cockpits being painted Zinc Chromate or Interior Green, but I'm not one to worry about such issues.  I've also read that any one of them could be correct. I decided to use artistic license and use the DDG.  Anyways, after my usual "The Detailer" wash and a dull cote, here's where I am so far.

Joe 

Thank You Gentlemen for the encouraging words. I will indeed proceed as planned other than I am going to apply an intial gloss coat in order to protect the surrounding decals from the masking and to also provide a smooth surface for the Alclad aluminum.

                                        Joe

Hi Joe,

I agree with your approach to fixing it. It's a good looking model, so stay with it.

Good luck

Tony

Joe: ACK!!!  Wish I had some useful advice but other than masking and respraying the area I'm not sure what else you can do. All I can say is best of luck buddy, hate to see something going so well go bad at the last minute like that.  

Cliff

That Joe.........is salvageable. And now that I looked at it I think that trick we were talking about earlier will work. Don't loose hope man. It's a good looking bird.

 Joe - Nice to see you starting up. I am definitely looking forward to your progress.

Now on to the unpleasantries. I had been up dirtying up "Nifties" with an overall wash of the mig dark wash and wiping with tupernoid and this had benn proceeding well. That is until last night. I received in the mail a bottle of Mig thinner I had ordered as it had benn recommended for wiping away excess Mig wash. So, i figured I'd give her a try. My first folly was not reading the instructions on the bottle that stated use only on acrylic finishes. My second folly was applying it straight to model rather than going to my test bed. i figured in my oh so brilliant head that if the Turpenoid was not effecting the finish thhen all would be well. Here is a result of my best thinking:

 It appears to have stripped the gloss coat and marred the Alclad finish underneath. Oddly it did not remove the decal slencils. After a moment of shock, I cleaned it up a bit and then set it down and walked calmly away. As I preach on here often it was time to move past the horror and get my head into figuring out a means to repairing this. My first inclination is to mask around the damaged area and spray on a coat of alclad then unmask and gloss coat. Yet, I am open to any suggestions and certainly entertain any options before I proceed. This had the potential to really put me into a tailspin of dismay but, I just thought back to what Theuns encountered and the fact that he recovered his jug so splendidly.

                                                                     Joe

Now that I'm done with Sakai's zero, I'm ready to go.  I'm doing Don Gentile's 4th FG/336th FS P-47 Razorback.  We see alot of Gentile's "Shangra La" P-51B's, but none of his P-47 mounts, so I Figured I would try something different.  According to Super Scale, its an early D-1 so I'm gonna have to see if the kit needs modification.  If I'm not mistaken, the only exterior difference between the D-1 and later variants of the razorback is the lack of wing pylons.  If anyone would like to enlighten me in this area, please do.  Other than Eduard seat belts, and maybe True Details wheels, I'll probably go out of the box on this one.  If this kit is half as good as their bubbletop, I'm in for a treat. 

Joe

Joe: She's really looking good there! The wash looks good, looking forward to seeing how she comes out- I just might have to order some myself!

Close to done here, just keep getting distracted by other stuff

Finally got the panel lines washed. I started out using an oil wash of lamp and darrk umber mixed in turpenoid. For whatever reason it just wasn't working out to my satisfaction. I had just ordered some Mig Productions dark wash and decided to give that a try. Wonderful stuff! Easy to apply and remove excess with a turpenoid wetted brush. I have some additional weathering to do prior to shooting the Alclad Light Sheen overcoat. Here's a few pics of where I'm at so far even though they don't really show the wash effects all that well.

                                            Joe

Here is a photo to show before and after. Left wing is unwashed, right wing with wash:

One of the wallflowers here, checking in.  Awesome work on the powerplant; it looks like it's ready to kick over at any time.  Great job, Ace; really impressive!  Hope to get in on a T-bolt build maybe next time around.  Still working my way around that natural metal finish.....All of you guys are awesome!

Doogs:  Thanks!  I was concerned with having that much yellow to paint but luckily it covered well.

Tony:  Thanks!  I'm kind of limited with the camera we currently have.  It's just a point and shoot, but we're looking at others right now.  I'll see what I can do.

Gamera:  Thanks!

Joe:  Thanks!  I have yet to get used to these "short burst" sessions I'm able to get in now.  I'm so used to longer, and more frequent, sessions.  Who knew having a baby was so much work!

Brian - Very outstanding work so far. And that is a right gorgeous engine you've put up there. Good to see you making progress. Trust me I can completely relate to the half hour at a time concept. Keepit coming.

                                                               Joe