P-47 Thunderbolt GB

Darren - thanks for the pic... the debate is over!  I'd done another P-47 but gave it away as well so couldn't remember how much actually showed through...  no wires on this one! 

You guy's builds are coming along great, need to finish the bomb pylons and glue them on, then I should be ready to prime my build. Went to the LHS today and picked up my Alclad, going to give it a try. Won't get much done tomorrow because of Easter and being with my grandkids.

Hi guys,

thanks for your comments.
Here's some photos of the topside of my Joy Boy.

First of all a word on the color.
There is a continuing contreversy about the so called "black/blue/purple" color used by the 61stFS/56thFG for it's P-47M and some, at least one, P-47D bubbletop.

Here's my take on the subject:
I used 2 sources of information;
1- IPMS-USA Quarterly Vol 11, #4;summer 1976 where the author report a conversation with Mike Gladych, a polish fighter pilot flying in the 61stFS, who claim that he was the first to paint his P-47D "PengieIV" in midnight blue. He states that the rest of the squadron followed suit later. The author, John Schaaf, states that this color is darker than Insigna blue. Gladych P-47M "Pengie V" was the same color.

2- Gladych told Schaaf that a model was built suing this same color.
I've found these photos on a post on Hyperscale forum.(I hope I'm not making a mistake with a link to a competitor )
http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/thread/1129144219/

So I mixed my own using Tamiya XF1-black and XF8-blue. Proportions being
1.5 black to 1 blue.






I finished adding few white drops to the mix to highlight with a lighter colored mix some upper panels.

All the best.

Jean

Looks great Jean....It's nice to see something different. Can't wait to see more.

Jerry

John - looking forward to seeing your progress!

Jean - Looks good!  I like the color and can't wait to see more painting!

Jean, Joy Boy is looking excellent and there is nothing like a paint color controversy to liven up a build, keep on posting those updates.

Cheers

Yay! I finally got the last color on. I applied a light white coat before I sprayed the red, and I think that helped a whole bunch. I have a little overspray in a couple of places, but I'm thinking I'll mask off the red and dab a q-tip in thinner to take care of that. I might have to use some Alclad to touch up the wing root when I glue the wing back on, but I doubt that will any problem. Now comes the future, declals, future, wash/weather, and flat coat.

 

Jabbe - looks wonderful!  a really crisp paint job there...  looks like it is going to be a keeper!

word of warning though, putting a flat coat over the Alclad can cause a whitish "haze" over your NMF.  I'd stick to just the Alclad, maybe a mist shot of future on top after the decals to protect them and give a decent shine to the metal..  if you want to portray any "flatness" to the NMF I would do it very carefully, not in an overall coat..(and not use future beforehand)  Maybe you should consider an acrylic "satin" or "Semi-gloss" sheen instead?

If you stick the decals straight on top of the Alclad they settle in wonderful since it is a slick surface, Microsol and Microset don't affect the Alclad at all... once they dry you will see it all blends together without the future/decal/future/dull, maybe try decaling it then sitting back and looking at it a day or two.. just to see if it is where ya wanna go or if you're already there. 

BTW:  Here's a movie of P-47's kicking butt in Europe:

http://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/movies/thunderbolt2

Click on the "Flash file" link on the page...

 

Jean, Josuha,
great work on the painting, your builds are progressing well and look like they are sure to be real lookers. Keep us posted,

Darren.

Joshua great looking progress, your Alclad finish has come up very nicely.

Tom I am definitely looking at some sort of satin or semi-gloss finish over the NMF on my kit.  I am going to do a couple of practice runs on a scrap fuselage with different combos of Alclad and finish to see how it comes out, but I want the aircraft to look like it's been used and weathered.  I agree with you though, a flat coat over Alclad is not that great, I tried it before and it wasn't exactly the result I was looking for.

Cheers

Darren - I think the Satin may be the way to go after thinking about it... in all the pics and movies of even weathered P-47's they tend to 'glow' on the surfaces hit with sunlight..  I might even try it on mine as most of the planes I've seen from this group were somewhat weathered...

One step closer on my Tamiya P-47D.

Looks good Mike. You're almost there...
Leon

She's looking good Mike .  I know from the last T-Bolt I built that those fuselage stripes can be a bit of a challenge to mask but you look like you nailed it.

Cheers

Thanks Darren.
This is the first time I have painted invasion stripes and it was challenging.
Lots of masking for sure.

Where's the best place online to buy Alclad II products?

gedenke wrote:

Where's the best place online to buy Alclad II products?

It really depends on where you are located.  I have a couple of different suppliers/online stores I can recommend to you but it would help if I knew what country you are located in.

Cheers

United States. I'm still trying to decide between "Fightin' Gator" and "Georgia Peach",  but it will definately be an NMF.

Oh, by the way, how do I get the '06 P-47 GB logo?

www.greatmodels.com has Alclad, I've never ordered it from www.squadron.com but I am sure they have it too...

Mike...lookin' good.  Definately on the down wind leg.

Mike - sorry for not commenting but I was on the way to work when I checked this, looking good! I am looking forward to later pics!!

As far as my build I am about to join the wings to the body and then comes the Future.  I plan to use coffee filters to polish the plane first (saw that in the auto thread as an alternative to micromesh, it works!!) then some polishing nail sticks I bought that are even finer... then the future..

I should be ready to start the Alclad by Sun. 

Bad news is I was sick again for the last week, good news is the doctor put me on short term disability today for the next two months and changed my meds, hope to get feeling better and get back to modeling. Hope to prime my build and take some photos tomorrow, I will post them this weekend.

Sorry to hear that John, I hope you get back on your feet soon and I'll be looking forward to those pics.

Cheers

Darren

John - get better!  We need ya back to building soon! 

Well - tons of progress today... got all the bomb racks and all ready to go for painting, ordnance is assembled (I bought the AccMin US WII Armament set with the ammo tractor... a nice set with some nice stenciling that you don't see with kit decals!, it also showed some of the nice added things you can do like the wiring to the 5.5 rockets etc..) 

Prop is futured and ready for Alclad, cowl flaps the same... Cowl is painted a nice white and futured and drying... I sanded and polished the body today which took most of my time.  I started with 2000 grit in some of the rougher looking areas, went to a shaping nail stick all over the body, then a cleaning stick, and the after that a polishing one.. Then came the Piece de Resistance... all over final polishing with a coffee filter (poor man's micro mesh!)... I learned that in the auto forum and now it looks like it is already futured... theory is since the plastic is already like glass, the future will level better and give a better shine without building up too many coats... Tomorrow will be Future and I forecast Tuesday as my first night with the Aclad. 

I started cleaning up the Ultracast wheels tonight and will future them before bed, and speaking of future I almost forgot the canopy!!!

 

Great news!  Finally after several months the FedEx guy showed up this afternoon with my new Waldron Punch set!  I can move forward on my P-47!!!! 

Scott, Glad to hear it. I hope you enjoy the set.

Tom, Sounds like a great method. I really look forward to seeing your build, especially the am weapons (wiring bombs, etc.)

John, Take it easy. I hope you feel better soon.

Leon

Later on I'll break out the camera and do a in the box review of it in case anyone else wants to try them at some time...

Interesting.. I just took the decals out and they even have the graffiti from the period you'd see on the ordnance.  "Hell from above"  "Kilroy was here" (complete with the little face and hands from that saying) etc... They even have the yellow stripes I hate to paint so much haha..

-=edit=-

Scott... must have seemed like Xmas when it came!  I just ordered me a new airbrush and when I noticed it was routed well north of my location, and it was supposed to be second day air, I was on pins and needles checking the site on the hour to make sure it wasn't going to TimBukTwo by mistake... I almost took off of work early when I saw the "delivered" status on the website... it was worth the wait though!!

Tom you finally settled on a new AB, but you didn't tell us what you have decided on.  I gotta know.

Also thanks for the heads up on that technique with the coffee filters, I will certainly put that to good use.

Cheers

Darren - I got a Iwata HP-CS... and love it!  It really atomizes much better than my HP-CR... I've only sprayed a few things with it so far but am in love with it!!!  In fact I had to sit down with the wife yesterday and admit to her I have been having an affair the last few nights... she said as long as I don't name the airbrush she is ok with it and can live with it haha...

-=edit=-

the coffee filter trick is nice.. I was able to achieve a nice gloss future coat in two passes... usually it takes about 4+ to get it... I didn't want to go TOO gloss on this one though as it was a hard worked plane in a very hostile environment...  I wanted it to "glow" but not have too much lustre..

I am highlighting the panel lines on mine now so after that I just need to get the gun barrels in the wing, the landing gear, prop, and the windshield and she will be done.
I think it looks pretty good to if I may say so myself.