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P-47D Thunderbolt "Fat Cat"

by Larry Goodell


 

Construction

Here is a Republic P-47D-28-RA Thunderbolt, "Fat Cat", flown by Capt. Hank Bakken with the
509thFS/405th FG.

I think enough has been said about the quality Tamiya has molded into the P-47D
series so I won't elaborate on that area.

The build was straightforward starting with the cockpit with no fit problems at all. I used no filler other than a little thick Model Master primer at the rear wingroot. Harnesses and lap belts were added using lead foil.

 

Painting

After assembly I cleaned the seams and then sprayed primer over those areas to check for imperfections. Any deviations were fixed and I wet sanded the entire airframe with several different fine polishing cloths. The model was then given a couple of light coats of gloss white then a good wet coat that produced a good slick finish. When the white had cured I masked off the entire tail assembly using panel lines to guide the mask demarcation so overlaying coats of silver wouldn't show up with raised edges underneath. The cowl was masked as were the wings next to the tips and the alternating cowl flaps. The exposed areas were given a series of gloss red coats. The white allows the red to be mixed thin enough so the edges next to masks
won't build up and still show up as bright red.

 

 

Once the red had dried I masked off where the theater stripes would be and reverse masked the cowling, cowl flaps and wingtips then gave the whole airframe several good coats of Floquil's Bright Silver. The flaps were also painted in this manner. Allowing the silver to cure I proceeded to work on other details like underwing stores and the landing gear. The 500lb bombs were given photo-etched arming props from a Monogram P-47 kit. Tamiya's rocket tubes and the enginneering of the bombs to pylons is just fantastic. Saves a lot of mess trying to line up without smearing glue where it's not needed. Once the silver cured selected panels were given some Metalizer tones and the antiglare panels were masked and sprayed ANA 613 Olive Drab.

 

Markings

The decals are SuperScale's Set No. 48-792 and went on with no problems other than my own thumb strikes. There should be the pilot's name and where he was from in red just under the windsreen behind "FAT CAT". We won't go there!

 

 

There is one more "decal oops" on the aircraft that can be detected. You look at the pics and the first one that spots it and emails the correct answer to me gets a SuperScale sheet for North American B-25H Mitchells. Set 48-783 for 82 BS/12 BG "Eatin Kitty" B-25H-10 and "Dog Daize" B-25H-1, both gun nosed Mitchells.

Don't forget to send snail mail address.

Photos were taken using Kodak's Easy Share digital camera.
 

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Photographs and Text Copyright © 2005 by Larry Goodell