Clemens are you using zinc chromate green or zinc chromate yellow?

Thanks a lot, Checkmate!

I'll post an update, as soon as Photobucket lets me upload any pictures...

I got the fuselage halves joined (no sanding done yet), put the IP-decal in place (I had to cut it into pieces) and I painted all the innards of the Jug in that beautiful Zinc Chromate (you have to get used to the color, but you start to like it as soon as you do so...)

Cheers, Clemens

Outstanding cockpit, Clemens.  The worn paint look is especially convincing and well-done!

Rob, glad to have you on board. I have added you to the roster.

Hello Bish.

Can you add me as another member for this GB?  Please put me down for Eduard's 1/48 Spitfire Mk. IXc.

Thanks,

Rob

I'm glad that I'm not the only one...

Thank you very much, mate!

I know, it gets confusing does it. I first posted the completed pics of my Me 262 in the Canadian GB, and I am not even in that one.

Nice work there, great work on the pits.

I posted the update in the wrong GB (Reich Defenders), as I'm building a Thunderbolt for that one as well.

I didn't have the opportunity to correct this "mistake", but now I can do so:

I painted the the whole tub in Tamiya XF-26 mixed with some Gunze "Flat Black" to darken it down. Then The details are painted in various Vallejo Air colors.

I used two colors for drybrushing: XF-26 mixed with XF-4 for all green areas and XF-16 (Flat Aluminium) for all black areas and those areas that would show a lot of wear.

As a last stap I applied an oil-wash consisting of a 50/50 mix of black and burnt umber.

Here are the pics:

I had to remove a nasty mold line going right over the whole gun-sight:

The Whole IP-assembly is removeable, because I have to add some wiring to it:

I still have to add the IP decal (the gunsight is just stuck on for the photo, so that I can remove it for applying the decal):

A side-by-side comparison with the cockpit tub of the 2nd Thunderbolt I'm building right now (Razorback). Note the missing gun-sight (I snapped it off when I applied the IP decal, but it is an easy fix). The IP is glued in place on the Razorback tub, as there is no wiring necessary with that one (it is not visible unlike on the Bubbletop):

There are 2 more kits on my bench atm (1/35 King Tiger to my right and 1/48 Fw190 to my left), so I had to sacrifice some of my working-area for the Thunderbolt kits:

Please note that the green is much darker in person. My camera just screws up all the colors when the lighting is so bad... The 1st pic is probably the most accurate regarding the color (it's even a little bit darker IRL)

I hope you like it. This Pit took me about 6-7 hours to paint up and weather (not counting in the time the wash needed to dry) I really love building those Tamiya Thunderbolts! The are the best kits I've ever seen (together with their 1/32 Mustang).

Cheers, Clemens

I just got the whole cockpit tub sprayed in Tamiya XF-26 mixed with some Gunze flat black. I'll do all the detail work tomorrow and post some pics. I might be able to spray the rest of the inner surfaces in Zinc Chromate as well... Stay tuned, fellas!

This build will be slowed down a bit though, because I'm building Tamiya's other P-47D kit (Razorback) simultaneously for the Reich Defenders GB (a captured bird with yellow underside...). Gotta love me some Double-D jugs... (pun intended)

Cheers, Clemens

Cliff: Yep, that's exactly what I thought too when I decided to build Kokomo the first time! I just love the green trim on the cowling! (I used a completely wrong shade of green though...) The Jug is lying around next to my bench right now and I'll start work on her soon! I just want to finish the pit for the Razorback I'm working on atm, so I can build those 2 kits together! (The only difference are some minor details in the pit and the fuselage spine)

Cheers, Clemens

Clemons: Ohhh, I like 'Kokomo' - want to call her 'Kokomo Joe' for some reason though. You see plenty of planes with red or blue trim but not that many with green. Nice change of pace.

The Churchill is mostly together and looking like a tank. But the bleeping bow machine gun has vanished and I can't cement the front glacis plate on till I have it. I'm thinking I should rob a mg from the old Tamiya Crocodile in the spare parts box, once I add it and glue the plate on the new mg should magically appear...

Thanks Stik! Full stripes it shall be then! I think they look really cool on NMF Thunderbolts anyway!

Cheers, Clemens

SchattenSpartan

Thank you very much, Bish!

I did some research myself (using the internet and my little book of the Thunderbolt as well as Tamiya's instructions) and found out the following:

The Thunderbolt I plan on doing for the "First time" GB, "Kokomo", was flown by William Kepner. He was the commander of the 8th FC. The book states that "Kokomo" as assigned to the 359th FG. That FG was taking parts at the events of D-Day by escorting bomber formations and strafing ground targets in and near the battle area.

I also found out that the 359th converted to the Mustang in May 1944. The decals for Kepner's plane are supplied with the Tamiya kit, but are for how the bird looked in Autumn 1944 (Kepner was with the 495th FG at that time).

Now here's my questions:

The 359th FG was already equipped with Mustangs at D-Day, but Kepner's Thunderbolt seems to be around untill a later time (judging by Tamiya's decals). Was Kepner flying his Thunderbolt on D-Day or one of the days after it (if he was flying at all) or was he flying a Mustang?

If "Kokomo" saw action during those events, would it have full invasion stripes painted on? (The kit instructions state that I should only use the stripes at the underside of the tail for the "Autumn-version")

Is "Kokomo" a valid subject at all for this GB?

Tamiya states that "Kokomo" had only 6 machine guns instead of the usual 8 and no hardpoints on the wings. Would this apply for a D-Day version of it as well (if it is a valid subject)

Lots of questions here, but I don't want to build a model that is completely wrong historically, as this is a GB regarding a certain historical event...

I hope you guys can at least answer me some of the questions...

Cheers, Clemens

In the 48-72 hours leading up to June 6, all Allied aircraft that were tasked with anything to do with Overlord, with the exception of US and some British heavy bombers, recieved full wraparound upper and lower surface recognition stripes- the so called "invasion stripes" of 3 white and 2 black stripes. Those were worn for roughly one month after the initial landings, and then the upper surface stripes were ordered removed/painted over. The lower surface stripes remained at least through late 1944, and some units even kept the lower fuselage stripes into 1945.

Thank you very much, Bish!

I'll pick the kit up at my LHS tomorrow.

I said that I'll use PE belts for this one in the other GB. May I change them to a set of HGW belts? (I have one of those lying around already)

i have used 32 gauge fake flower stems for tow cables. wipe them down with metallic gray, and black pastel , glue the ends on and it's flexible yet firm. probably not be flexible enoiugh fro the winch but something to consider when draping one along the side of a tank.

I don't see why not. From what I have read he was a bit aggresive, and he did fly 10 fighter sorties. I can just imagine him flying over the beaches to see things for himself. And why else fly an armed P-47 if your not going to use it.

Not sure why that book says 359th. That other link does say it was assigned to a different unit, and the codes on his P-47 don't match the 359th.

Thanks for your replies, guys.

Bish: Would it be OK if I still build "Kokomo" for this GB. Kepner might've been in the air after D-day to get a better view on the beaches i reckon... I'd like to do this bird as a crossover with the first-time GB (with full invasion stripes, of course).

If it isn't, I'll just try to find another Jug with some nice nose-art (would be my 5th kit of this plane... I jsut love me some thunderbolts!)

Here's the pic in my book I was Talking about (Thunderbolt in Action, page 46):

Cheers, Clemens

Yes, this page describes "Kokomo" as a "hack" (see color slides).  Not a D-Day aircraft I'm afraid.

http://www.ww2color.com/nennius/webapps/slides/slides.php?db_limit_start=4580

Gary

If he was commander of 8th FC, I can't imagine he would also be part of 359th FG. And I found an article on the US Air Force website, but it doesn't even mention the 359th.

www.af.mil/.../bio.asp

My guess is that the P-47 he had was used as a hack, to get him from one airfield to another. He did fly 24 combat missions, 10 in fighters and 14 in bombers. But I can't find a list of his sorties. He may well have flown over the beaches on D-Day or soon after.

This page also doesn't mention the 359th.

www.p47pilots.com/P47-Pilots.cfm

Here's a short Biography of Kepner

A color profile of "Kokomo":

Here's a photo of "Kokomo" taken at Mount Farm Air Base (Autumn '44)

And a pic of it's nose-art (hanging in a museum):

Thank you very much, Bish!

I did some research myself (using the internet and my little book of the Thunderbolt as well as Tamiya's instructions) and found out the following:

The Thunderbolt I plan on doing for the "First time" GB, "Kokomo", was flown by William Kepner. He was the commander of the 8th FC. The book states that "Kokomo" as assigned to the 359th FG. That FG was taking parts at the events of D-Day by escorting bomber formations and strafing ground targets in and near the battle area.

I also found out that the 359th converted to the Mustang in May 1944. The decals for Kepner's plane are supplied with the Tamiya kit, but are for how the bird looked in Autumn 1944 (Kepner was with the 495th FG at that time).

Now here's my questions:

The 359th FG was already equipped with Mustangs at D-Day, but Kepner's Thunderbolt seems to be around untill a later time (judging by Tamiya's decals). Was Kepner flying his Thunderbolt on D-Day or one of the days after it (if he was flying at all) or was he flying a Mustang?

If "Kokomo" saw action during those events, would it have full invasion stripes painted on? (The kit instructions state that I should only use the stripes at the underside of the tail for the "Autumn-version")

Is "Kokomo" a valid subject at all for this GB?

Tamiya states that "Kokomo" had only 6 machine guns instead of the usual 8 and no hardpoints on the wings. Would this apply for a D-Day version of it as well (if it is a valid subject)

Lots of questions here, but I don't want to build a model that is completely wrong historically, as this is a GB regarding a certain historical event...

I hope you guys can at least answer me some of the questions...

Cheers, Clemens

I hadn't thought of which FG's to use on mine yet Clemens. I'm doing a Jug too. Thanks

Thanks for the suggestions on the cable guys.

I have some links to 8th AAF FG's, but you have to go through them all to find which ones had Jug's in June 44, and it doesn't have info as to which ones were over Normandy.

I found some info, the following groups lost aircraft over Normandy on the 6th, so its a start.

56th, 353rd, 356th, 365th, 366th and 371st.

Really nice work, guys!

Can anyone of you guys post a list (or a link to one) of all the squadrons using thundeerbolts that were flying at this time? I'd like to build a jug for this GB but I have no clue on what markings to use...

Cheers, Clemens

greentracker98

Bruce - great looking Halftrack. What did you use for the cable in the winch? I'm doing the Dirty Dozen halftrack for the Hollywood GB. The trumpeter kit included a piece of string. Could I paint it? Maybe??

Ken: another alternative to painting the string is to dip in a strong tea or coffee to dye it.

stikpusher

68GT

Anybody know what Luftwaffe units might have been involved that day?  I read that Luftflotte 3  flew 139 “strike” sorties in the landing area on June 6th.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftflotte_3  Has a list of all of Air Fleet 3 but needs to be narrowed down I think.

During daylight hours, only the commander of JG-26, Josef Priller, and his wingman, are credited with actually having flown over the beach head and attacking in a pair of FW-190s. After dark there were attacks against Allied shipping in the Channel by KG units that were in range,  most likely by Ju-88, Ju-188 and Do-217 aircraft, but I do not have that specific info currently.

JG 2 also flew missions with their Fw 190's on D-Day. They attacked shipping off Gold beach and also clashed with P-47's, Mustang's and Typhoons later in the day.

There were also missions by Fw 190 equipped ground attack units, including SG 4, attacking landing craft in the afternoon.

In total the Germans flew just over 300 sorties on the day, of which around 170 were by fighters.

The Dragon kit came with nylon string for both the winch and rope. Painted the cable for the winch stainless steel and used AK Dry Light Mud for the rope. Have also used 100 lb test nylon fishing line for winch cable. You can dye, stain or paint it to look as you need. Hope this helps.

Bruce - great looking Halftrack. What did you use for the cable in the winch? I'm doing the Dirty Dozen halftrack for the Hollywood GB. The trumpeter kit included a piece of string. Could I paint it? Maybe??

68GT

Anybody know what Luftwaffe units might have been involved that day?  I read that Luftflotte 3  flew 139 “strike” sorties in the landing area on June 6th.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftflotte_3  Has a list of all of Air Fleet 3 but needs to be narrowed down I think.

During daylight hours, only the commander of JG-26, Josef Priller, and his wingman, are credited with actually having flown over the beach head and attacking in a pair of FW-190s. After dark there were attacks against Allied shipping in the Channel by KG units that were in range,  most likely by Ju-88, Ju-188 and Do-217 aircraft, but I do not have that specific info currently.

Bruce and Greg:  Nice looking half-tracks.  Like the detail on the M-21.

Unfortunately, my knowledge of armor is pretty nil, except it weighs a lot and has treads! 

Gary