Hello everybody. Ive finally finished up one of my projects thats been going on and off for about a year now. Hasegawas P-47D finished as Daddy Rabbit. This has been a big experiment for me.. for one, its my first P-47D, a first 1/32 WWII aircraft... and a first at using Alclad metal paints! Its built mostly out of the box.. the further I got into the build, the more I wanted to inprove what the kit offered. I used Eduards colored seat belts to help with the cockpit. Though next time, I think I might make me own, or repaint them. I also used wheels from Jerry Rutman. I expected a little better from them than what I got. They were cast rather poorly, which required filling 30 or so holes and repairing some of the tread which was plagued with missing resin (old molds?) The wheel hubs were also poor with detail and riddled with holes. I drilled the hubs out and used the kit supplied ones instead. The gun barrels were very disappointing, so I made my own from copper tube cut to size using a K&S cutter. I also plumbed the engine with copper wire. Decals were from Eagle Cal.
Soooo , please feel free to give me any constructive feedback. I didnt have any reference for this, I just went with it for a fun project.

Hi Tim -

Great looking build! Cockpit is excellent and the Alclad is great too.

I'd be interested in a brief rundown on how you painted the tires - very realistic,

regards,
Steve

Hi Tim.
Very very nice!
The gun barrels really let the Hasegawa kit down dont they?
Would you please submit more photos of this (say 12?) for an On Display feature.
Nige

Hi Tim,
Your Thunderbolt looks great!
The cockpit, machine gun barrels and break lines really set it off. The panel line shading is a bit heavy for my taste but then I'm an odd ball anyways.
The decals look super. I have a P-47 in my stash and a set of decals for the "Balls Out" bird that I'm hoping to do for an upcoming campaign.

Again, great job!

I got that kit in the stash. Tell us about your experience with the kit, all clad, and decals. We like stories almost as much as pictures.

Your build really looks great.

Bravo. nice work.

Thats my favourite P-47 of all time! I too have the decals and will be building a 48th version for the Thunderbolt campaign next year.

Really love the way yours has turned out. I look forward to seeing more!

Howard

thanks everyone for the compliments and feedback. sorry for the delay in responding.

Herman, I too felt the as you with the panel lines.. I think I should have used a dark shade of alcad myself, instead of black ink. I think it would have blended better and not been so harsh. I'll try it on my next build like this.

Carl, the alcad was a new experiance for me. I certainly had to make sure the model was primed and sanded VERY smooth before applyig the alclads. One thing about this particular kit, the belly tank. It had some weird swirly spots in the plastic, as well as a rough looking surface. I sand and sanded and sanded the whole tank.. the surface of it felt very smooth, but you could still see the defects in the plasctic. I figured it was just visual ,since it was all smooth, so I primed and wet sanded some more. which worked to cover the blemishes.. however, when I applied the alcad they showed up again! sooo I sand it down again, and covered the whole tank with Mr Surfacer, sanded smooth and primed again. this took care of that.. no more belemishes when I applied the alclad. The decals wnet on very well. I had to use a little extra app of Solvaset but they laid down just fine. The nstructions didnt show all the stencil placement though, only a few of them, even though the sheet provided them. I just used the kit instructions.