Bump time folks, 8 enlisted, plenty of room for a few more!

Done!



Jelger

Jelger, great to have you on board with us! Do you have a specific aircraft in mind already?

Cheers, D

Don't forget a ribbon everyone!

Michael

Not really, but I have the book of Nigel of the 56th FG and an Osprey book about the Thunderbolt aces of the 8th air force, so plenty of inspiration. I already have the Tamiya 1/48 razorback back, so scale and type are decided.



Jelger

Here's a first effort, comments, thoughts, alternatives very welcome


and in ribbon GIF format


This is extracted from the 56th FG emblem


stolen from the 56th FG website HERE

I'm fairly sure Nige won't mind!

Cheers, D

Bump time, 10 enlisted, looking forward to this one firing up to start 2016.

Cheers, D

After unfortunately accidentally ramming a B-24 in his first plane, P-47C 41-6334, (no name, coded UN:M) Mahurin scored his first two kills in a replacement plane (P-47C 41-6259, normally assigned to a Capt. Schiltz) These kill marks were applied to "Spirit of Atlantic City" immediately after he received the aircraft. Two other kills he got in another plane (P-47D 42-75278, UN:B) on November 29, 1944 were also applied to "Spirit of Atlantic City", meaning all the complete kills (19) he scored were displayed on one plane; Mahurin didn't paint on the half-kill he scored on November 3, 1943 for some reason.

Maybe a stupid question, but can Eduards Gun Bay for the Academy kit fit in the Tamiya P-47D razor back.

I am aware that Eduard has a gun bay for the Tamiya kit, but this doesn't show the guns (only the belts) and the Eduard brasin guns look so cool.

I am also thinking about a P-47 with ETO markings, because such markings are high on my 'Must do list'. Anyone suggestions for decals.

Looking forward to start the build. Less than 2 months....



Jelger

I'm in for this campaign. I fancy changing scales for this one. Normally I build anything from 1/144 up to 1/48 scale. For this campaign I fancy building a Jug in 1/32 or even 1/24.
tim

Great to have you with us Tim, and really looking forward to a large-scale build as well. What kit(s) do you have in mind?

Cheers, D

Mine, for inspiration (hopefully)

http://www.hyperscale.com/2010/features/p47d32mo_1.htm

Matt, you ended up with a really nice looking build once you overcame those issues. Well done!

Cheers, D

Damian I plan to use Hasegawa's 1/32 P-47D or the Kinetic 1/24 P-47D. I was looking at Matts Hasegawa P-47D in 1/32 [post above] and that looks plenty big enough for me
tim

Can anyone help me with this? There is also an Aires set, that fits the Tamiya kit, but the resin belts seem to be warped on the product pictures. An alternative would be the Brassin guns in the Aires set, but I am not sure if that fits.

Many thanks,

Jelger

It's the biggest thing I've ever built other than the 24th scale Mosquito. I'd have to check, but it's very close in size to my 24th scale Spit Vb

Hi folks,
I'm in! Got an Academy 1/72 P-47 Bubbletop already on my shelf and Lifelike decals for
"Miss Fire / Rozzie Deth II" Pilot Frederick Christensen.
So I'm looking forward to the start of this campaign.

When did the 56th FG begin using, and then remove the red-bordered US insignia? I know they were officially in use from June 28 until either August 14 or September 14, 1943, (I've seen both of these dates sourced and am a bit confused) but some units carried them longer, even to the end of the year.

Did Bud Mahurin's "Spirit of Atlantic City" ever carry the red-bordered US insignia, and if so, when?

This photo was taken during the period when Mahurin had eleven kills (November 29-December 22, 1943) There are two possibilities here;

1. The red borders were removed before November 29 or

2. They were removed at some point during the period November 29-December 22, but before the photo was taken.



I know Gerry Johnson's P-47D-1 "In The Mood/Jackson County Michigan Fighter" (42-7877, HV:D) had them. Can anyone put a rough date on this picture?

I did some investigating by watching the film "Ramrod to Emden" which can be found here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_5ELQhzrPA

The events in the video are supposed to represent the raid to Emden on October 2nd, 1943, but I suspect that it was put together after the fact for these reasons:

1. Footage of 55th Fighter Group P-38 Lightnings taking off and flying; the 55th FG did not begin flying operationally until the middle of October.

2. Captain Frank E. "Mac" McCauley having 6 kills. According to 56th FG combat reports, he claimed his 5th kill on October 14, 1943.

I found these aircraft in the video that have red borders around the insignia:

P-47C-2-RE 41-6261 UN:B "Bat out of Hell"

P-47C-5-RE 41-6325 UN:V "Lucky Little Devil"

P-47C-5-RE 41-6343 LM:W "Little Cookie" (2 kill marks)

P-47D-1-RE 42-7853 UN:R (Believe it or not, this is the very first P-47D!)

P-47D-1-RE 42-7896 UN:H

P-47D-1-RE 41-7938 LM:S or LM:S_ "Hairless Joe/Hewlett-Woodmere, Long Island" (4 kill marks) The man in the cockpit at 12:37 in the video doesn't resemble David C. Schilling and could only really be one other; Lt. James E. Fields, which would make the aircraft a hand-me-down and therefore LM:S_

P-47D-6-RE 42-74635 UN:D

P-47D-6-RE 42-74750 UN:L "Lady Jane" (2 kill marks)

This aircraft had the border evidently painted over with dark (blue?) paint:

P-47C-2-RE HV:Z 41-6271 "Rat Racer" (6 kill marks)

Based upon these conclusions, I'll make the conjecture that the 56th FG used red-bordered insignia at least into late October, and possibly began to get rid of them around that date, due to "Rat Racer".

OK, I'm convinced!

I'm new to this forum but I've been watching, reading and learning from Aeroscale for some time now. I'm a returner to modelling after a 23 year layoff! I used to do armour but got fed up with wheels.

So, as I live about 3 miles from the Boxted airfield for the 56th, it makes sense that I have a go.
I've just about finished my first plane - the 1/48 Razorback in Spirit of Atlantic City livery, but I'm keen to have a go at a bubbletop in bare metal finish. Therefore, my entry will be 'Miss Fire' of the 62nd FS. I'm also going to have a go at adding a resin cockpit.

The decals will be the ones provided ion the Kagero book, which look great.

When I get started, please be kind! It will be my first build log, first campaign etc etc.

Cheers

Peter, David, welcome aboard and thanks for joining in. I'm looking forward to following your builds and I'm sure you will really enjoy the Group Build.

Nicholas, excellent info and superb images, thanks heaps for sharing!

Jelger, I'm sorry I can't give you an answer, I have searched a bit but I'm sure somebody here will be able to help out!

Bump time folks, just over a month before we get rolling!

As a side note, the 1/24 Kinetic P-47 Razorback kit has been released now there goes my Christmas beer budget!

Cheers, D

Hi all,

@Damian: thanks for looking into it.
I also couldn't find any thing about it on the web, so i have contacted Eduard about it.

Today, I was visiting the local hobby shop and had a chance to look at the Aires gun bays. Unfortunately, using this set means removing a quite a few big casting blocks, which is something I am not a fan off. Detail is good though, but the barrels are warped so these have to replaced, which is not a big issue though. I am waiting for Eduards response before making a final decision.

One thing I made a decision about, was which P-47 to model. Next to the open gun bays, I had two other things on my wishlist and that was a BMF and invasion stripes (although the last one is optional for me).

Browsing the online catalog of my local hobby shop, I found a decal set by Techmod of an airplane that met my wishes: The Silver Lady (HV-Z - 42-26044) was originally flown by Major Leslie Smith of the 61st FS, 56th FG . Àfter the return of Smith to the US, this fighter was used by other pilots, like Gabreski, who scored his 23th and 24th kill with the Silver Lady.


(picture found on Wings Palete, http://wp.scn.ru/)

The Silver Lady had full invasion stripes for a while, so if I like, I can add these as well.

More information will follow.



Jelger

In a very interesting twist, it would appear the cockpit of "Spirit of Atlantic City" was yellow zinc chromate, like a few other early P-47C-2's and C- and D-5's

There is a little bit of the cockpit sidewall visible around the fuel primer handle under Bud Mahurin's right hand. The color seems far too yellow to be interior green, and could logically only be YZC.



A closer look



These other photos give evidence of P-47 cockpits that were YZC



In regards to the photo above, were headrests almost always black? It seems to me that the leather was wrapped around some sort of filling and stitched to the back of itself, leaving a flap all the way around. This leather flap was then trimmed and riveted to the small plate (attached to the armor plate) the headrest sits on, securing it. This would make the top of the plate the same color as the headrest, but not the sides, like in the picture.



Here, we can see the color of the inside of the landing gear doors (which were YZC) matches the inside color of the cockpit

Nice photos Nicholas, and yet again the discussion of interior colours comes to the fore!

Bump time folks, only a couple of weeks until we can get cracking on this project.

Cheers, D