As another contribution to the 56th FG group build, I'm going to be modeling 63rd FS ace Walker "Bud" Mahurin's P-47D-5-RE 42-8487 "Spirit of Atlantic City, N.J." as it appeared between November 29 and December 22, 1943. This was the period during which Mahurin had 11 kills. For this, I will use Tamiya's 1/48 scale P-47D "Razorback."







In order to picture Mahurin's plane the way I would like, the kit needs a little work:

The kit depicts 42-8487 as it appeared between March 6-8, 1944, when Mahurin had 16 aerial victories:







When Mahurin had 11 victories, the name of his armorer and assistant were not painted on the plane; they were added later, probably sometime in early 1944. The decals will need to be carefully modified with a sharp knife.

The cowl flaps of the kit are the later type, with the two lower ones cut-in to improve cooling. Mahurin's plane *was* eventually fitted with these, just not during the time period I'm modeling it; I have ordered Loon Models' No-Cut Conversion to fix this, but it hasn't arrived yet.

In order to add some detail to the cockpit, I will use a set of Eduard USAAF seat belts. I will also modify the ignition harness and add wiring. I will additionally add some detail to the kit gun sight in order to make it better resemble the Mark II that Mahurin's plane had.

Some additional pictures

Captain Walker "Bud" Mahurin (1918-2010)



"Spirit of Atlantic City, N.J." as it appeared in an undated photo, most likely in January 1944 because the paddle propeller, wing pylons, and new cowl flaps have been fitted, but there is no evidence of the 63rd FS's blue-colored cowling (that appeared on February 5th) The other squadrons used their assigned colors on their cowls as well; the 61st FS had red, and the 62nd FS yellow.

The 63rd FS for some reason repainted their cowling color from the initial blue, to duck-egg green (Sky Type S?) later in February.

All three of the squadrons then painted their cowlings red on March 22nd, with their respective colors moving to the rudders. The 63rd FS didn't paint their rudders blue until summer 1944, however.

Nicholas, great to see another build hit the bench. It looks like the Tamiya Razorback is the flavour of the month!

Some excellent images and very specific detail in your intro, best of luck with the build. It will be good to see how you go with the conversion.

Cheers, D

Nicholas,

Glad to have you aboard.

Will you be using the decals that came with the Kit to do Mahurin's P-47?

Also, the colour picture you posted of him in the cockpit is interesting. For an early P-47D it kind of looks like the pit was painted in ANA 611 on the armour plate behind the pilot but I am not sure of the cockpit colour. Kind of looks like Yellow Zinc Chromate. These existed but I am not sure how common they were as opposed to the mandated Interior green which Republic didn't seem obligated to follow.

I'll be using the kit decals, but just modifying them a little bit.

The part of the fuselage under the canopy was the outside color (olive drab) Some of this paint could have gotten on the back part of the armor plate when they were painting the fuselage. Since it's through glass, it's kind of hard to tell what color it actually is.

In regards to the cockpit color (this may interest Nigel a little bit) I'm led to believe that the cockpit of "Spirit of Atlantic City" was indeed Zinc Chromate Yellow, even if the photo is colorized.

Here is some intriguing evidence, from the P-47 maintenance manuals:

January 1943:

e. INTERIORS.

(2) The wing interior parts of assemblies shall be
finished with two coats of zinc chromate primer. Aluminum-alloy parts in the fuel tank areas shall not be finished but shall be anodized if not of AIclad 2S, 3S, or 52S material.
(3) All Alclad parts may be anodized and given one coat of primer.
f. COCKPITS.-Cockpits shall be finished with two coats of zinc chromate primer.
g. FUSELAGE GENERAL.-In addition to the cockpit and luggage compartments, all other interior surfaces
of the fuselage excepting the fire wall shall be finished with two coats of zinc chromate primer.

May 1943:

g. FINISH FOR INTERIOR PARTS AND SURFACES.

(2) The wing interior parts or assemblies shall be finished with one coat of zinc chromate primer.
(3) Cockpits shall be finished with one coat of tinted primer to eliminate glare resulting from untinted
primer.
(4) With the exception of the interior side of Alclad covering, the cargo and luggage compartment
shall be finished with one coat of zinc chromate primer. ( 5) All interior surfaces of the fuselage with the
exception of the fire wall and the interior side of the Alclad covering shall be finished with one coat of zinc
chromate primer.

The manual for May 1943 gives this formula for tinted zinc chromate primer:

(2) Tinted zinc chromate primer for the cockpit shall be prepared as follows:
Zinc Chromate Primer (Specification No. 14080) 1 gal.
Tinting Enamel-Black
Toluene (Specification No. 50-11-38 or Toluene Substitute AN-T-8 1 gal.

The manual of August 1944 also refers to "tinted zinc chromate primer"

So,

1. All the P-47 production blocks built between January 1943 and May 1943 would have had Zinc Chromate cockpits. P-47 production blocks built before January 1943 could have had Zinc Chromate cockpits as well.

2. All the P-47 production blocks built after May 1943 would have tinted Zinc Chromate cockpits. 1 gallon black to 1 gallon Zinc Chromate gives a dark green color; this is probably the elusive "Dull Dark Green." Variations in this mix could have produced lighter or darker greens.

If there are rough timeframes for the production periods of the different P-47 blocks (if that information exists) it would be quite helpful here. 42-8487 was an earlier D-5-RE, the 85th of 300 built.

If "Spirit of Atlantic City" was built between January and May 1943, which it probably was (Mahurin received it in mid-August 1943), the cockpit would logically be YZC per the manual

On the off chance "Spirit of Atlantic City" was built after May 1943, Republic could have been still using up previously primed parts (parts were primed before assembly), and "Spirit of Atlantic City" could still have had a YZC cockpit. The use of YZC for cockpit parts probably did not come to a "hard stop", but gradually tailed off as leftover parts were used up. This is another possible explanation for why the armor plate appears darker than the cockpit sidewall; it could be a new, tinted, part.

Great Summary Nicholas,

I have only recently come across pictures of early P-47D's with YZC for the cockpit colour.

To start, I've painted the cockpit sidewalls, tailwheel bay, and firewall

Now, I have painted the cockpit parts. I have left the pilot's seat off for now, since it will be easier to attach the seat belts that way.







The decal for the instrument panel is flawless, although I do see a couple spots that could use another drop of Micro Sol. I have drilled out the holes in the rudder pedals.



The cockpit is just dry fitted together now. It will be glued after I put the seat in.







Next up, the engine

Nice stuff here.

I aim to get moving on my build once my new compressor arrives. I am hoping it will arrive this weekend.

Again nice initial start.

Dave.

Really neat work on the cockpit details Nicholas, great detail painting!

Cheers, D

Nicholas,
That's a really nice start to your build. the cockpit is nicely detailed painting to achieve the effect you're looking for.

Joel

The Eduard seat belts and correct cowling flap arrived so I finished the cockpit up.

The seat and belts were touched up a little bit since this photo



I added the reinforcing bars used when the N-3 gunsight was replaced with the Mk. II





To begin the engine, I corrected Tamiya's rudimentary ignition harness, adding the stubs for the wires

Very nice work, love the attention to detail in the little scratch additions. Great image of the office as well!

Cheers, D

I was able to make some more progress this weekend. I closed up the two fuselage halves and attached the cowling with the corrected Loon Models flaps and completed engine. In hindsight, I should have used wire that was a little thicker, but it still looks nice, better than a bare engine! I didn't wire the top three cylinders because they'll be completely hidden.





I then glued the two canopy pieces (which I stupidly forgot to take any pictures of...) After examining other aircraft with zinc chromate cockpits I painted the forward windscreen and bulletproof glass framing black, while the sliding part of the canopy was painted zinc chromate. A Republic training film featuring a D-5-RE with rather convenient views of all the cockpit parts as well as a previously posted color picture of the cockpit of "Spirit of Atlantic City, N.J. were very helpful.

Being apprehensive due to how thick and unruly Tamiya's decals can be, I decided to spray on the white tail ID stripes. I have gotten extremely good results whenever doing this before. The 12-inch vertical stabilizer band scales down to 6.35 mm, so I used a piece of 6 mm masking tape. The 15-inch horizontal stabilizer stripes scale down to 7.93 mm, so I overlapped two pieces of 6 mm tape to get a round 8 mm.



No problems here

Neat work Nicholas, looking good and getting the work done quickly as well!

Cheers, D

Wow, your really motoring along on this build. Nice progress.

Hey, slow down!!! I can't keep up with you!!!!
I reckon I'll be lucky if I get my P47 finished this year.

Looking forward to seeing the finished article

Cheers

DT

Finally having some extra time on my hands, I completed the propeller.

Nice neat work Nick, looking good.

Cheers, D

Great looking work! But now I'm confused. Was the pit zinc chromate yellow, or Dull Dark Green?

Gary

There's a very telling color photo of "Spirit of Atlantic City" that I posted above that shows the cockpit sidewall to be Zinc Chromate yellow.

The color authorized for the cockpit in the P-47's maintenance manual is Zinc Chromate yellow up until May 1943, and Dull Dark Green after May 1943. This change in color probably happened somewhere in the D-5 production block, as the D-5 is the latest variant that we know of showing a Zinc Chromate cockpit.

Thanks for that!

Gary

Looking good

Nice to see someone taking the bull by the horns and going for the YZC cockpit too.

One thing everyone always seems to miss when building Mahurins aircraft is the wheel hub decoration.

Nicholas,
Just an excellent start to your Jug. As far as the YZC for all interior areas, dirt, dust, grime, hand prints, etc. all added to the general darkening of the original color.

Looking forward to your next update.

Joel