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P-47D Thunderbolt

What a fantastic looking model!! :-) Proof for everyone that we don't need to trash all those old classic models we've got stashed away, just because "Tamigawa" have released a new super-kit! :-) Wonderful job... All the best Rowan

:-) Superb P-47, this is one scheme I have been aiming to do. With so many interpretations of this scheme it will be difficult to get it right. Whatever the truth it's a striking scheme. Thanks for showing it David Mal PS I'm intrigued about this out of the box category. I would have thought drilling out gun barrels would be exceptable?

thats a great palne he built i hope that my planes will look like one day

Hi Alles, Wonderful model! Brings back memories. I must have built it several times as a kid. I have another with Monogram's p/e, but not Gabreski's. The colors? Who knows. Gen. Gabreski died recently but some other Wolfpack members are still alive. I wonder if any of them know what paint was used? I always read they were from RAF stock as at the time we were operating NMF. Then again, Dana Bell writes that Du Pont was producing a lot of RAF paint and I recall him writing that despite RAF standards and quality control, a lot of RAF paint was almost imperceivable from A/N colors. About the invasion stripes. Don't know about Gabreski's, but I have seen photos of stripes that were a). crudely brushed on, and b). masked with overspray. In some cases it was obvious that the painters didn't worry much about how straight the edges were. I have a close-up of a F4F where the star was obviously masked and sprayed, because there is a big shot of overspray clearly beyond where tape had been. Still, for 'scale effect' I intend to have my stripes as straight and crisp as able--I just won't sweat a wiggle here or there. :-) AND! can someone help me with this? I recall reading that on some OD planes, only the white stripes were on the upper surface. Keep up the inspirational work!

You mentioned Dana Bell in your comment. He wrote an article in the March2003 issue of Fine Scale Modeler that went over the history of the stripes and when they removed from upper surfaces, fuselage, etc.