1/48 Tamiya P-47 D Bubbletop

by Brett Johnson

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Much has been said about this kit from Tamiya on other features in this site, so I shall not bore you with a review. This is my latest build up and the first P-47 I have built. I had no hassles building, the kit nearly fell together. It is a beautiful kit that looks wonderful out of the box.

The only aftermarket enhancement that seemed necessary to me was etched metal seatbelts from Extratech. I chose to build the "B" Option of the kit modelling Maj. Gen. William Kepner's aircraft, "Kokomo".

This version does not have wing pylons and external stores, and needs removal of the outboard machine guns. That said I have a few spares in the box now!

Click on images below to see larger images

This particular model was airbrushed with varying shades of Alclad II, Aluminium, pale burnt metal and Duraluminium. Most of the painting was achieved in a night as the Alclad dries quickly and I was able to mask over it after 20mins. The kit decals took a few applications of the microsol and set but settled down quickly. My only complaint is the Orange in the nose art is not a solid color. After decaling I applied a wash of heavily thinned Gunze, oil and rust. I wanted to achieve a grubby NMF instead of a clean version. I think there is room for improvement but non-the less I am happy with the end result.

The photos were shot with my Canon EOS300 in natural light with f25, ISO 100, Shutter 1/25 at a focal length of 47mm

Brett

Photos and text © by Brett Johnson