Okay guys ..I've commited myself to building another aircraft kit and believe it or not I have to finish it with a bare metal finish ...Is there any good articles on the web about building and finishing Tamiya's 1/48 scale bubble top ... Any help will be appreciated...

Rick

Richard, if you are about to build the Tamiya Bubbletop, kit#90[the boxart has a baremetal aircraft with a checkered cowl] get ready for a very nice model. I'm building 2 of these for a Wolfpack dio. The cockpit detail is OUTSTANDING, in my honest opinion you will not need an aftermarket set. I just assembled the fuselage halves and they went together pretty well. I dry fitted the wings to the wing root and it looks pretty darn good. If you would like to see some pics of the build so far, go to my gallery and take a look. I hollowed out the rocket launcher tubes to give a more realistic effect. Hope you enjoy your build as much as I am. Tamiya kits are more expensive but you get what you pay for, have fun Wingman out.

Yep that's the kit all right ... I think the bare metal finish is going to be quite a challenge ...I'll try and post some pictures as i get things done on this kit..What do I get myself into !!! lol.

Rick

Rick,
It is not on the internet (and so not free) but Osprey just came out with a great book by Brett Green (the guy who does hyperscale.com) on building the p-47. It is very nice.

Somewhere there is a free online version of it for the 1/72nd scale Thunderbolts, but I can't seem to locate it.

Leon

Well I'll keep looking around I'm sure I can find a few articles either on Hyperscale or Aircraft Resource Center ..thanks for looking . I might just look into that book too..

Rick

Richard, I just added the top back part of the fuselage to the model. This consists of two halves that go together to create the top of the fuselage. It starts about 3/4" from the back of the cockpit. These two halves also have the tail included too. The panel line on the sides of the fuselage where these parts meet is very nice. According to some line drawings I've seen, you'll have to remove the seam on top of the fuselage because it looks like there are only panel lines going from side to side. If there is anybody outthere that can verify this, please let us know. I'm thinking about using some BareMetal foil on the canopy and windscreen. Have fun with your build, Wingman out.

This should be fun we're a bunch of guys that get together every couple of weeks and we all desided to build a T-Bolt with bare metal finish ..All pretty well out of the box except seat belts ...My Canopy has to be painted blue if I remember right ..I ordered my decals on Monday ..can,t wait to start this one...Along with 2 shermans I'm building at the same time..Fun ..fun ..fun!! Thanks for the tips !!

Rick

Hi Michael

D&S Vol. 54 seems to show a fuselage seam (p. 27 & 69 - the panel lines don't meet up either!) and Airlife's P-47 book by Dan Patterson seems to confirm this (p. 44).

All the best

Rowan