Along with my spitfire and hellcat, I am currently, slowly working on the amazing Tamiya p-47 razorback kit. It is one that I am trying to 'superdetail' to the best of my abilities.

First the cockpit, which is amazing out of the box (but I'm sure you already knew that). I am using parts of the eduard basic pe set and placard set (when I say parts, I mean everything that I didn't screw up or lose when trying to cut or install :-) ) Anyway, here is a picture of that. With all of these please feel free to give comments / constructive criticism. I am always eager to hear people's thoughts.



Second, the engine. I carefully drilled into the ignition ring and added wires with a small bit of their insulation left on. Then I tried to fasion some 'ties' with aluminum. I used a grimy black wash and wish it were a little more prominent on the cylinders, but I guess it'll do. Oh, and an eduard placard which I think is a nice, little small detail (although a little thick)

Before painting (giant spider):


After painting:


Finally, I have read that one of the short comings of the kit is that the duct area on the side opens up into a void. I know there was a company that made a resin piece (can't think of their name right now), but that they went out of business. I did have some pictures of their piece, though, so I tried to replicate it from evergreen sheets. Of course, I am fully aware that you will really not be able to see it at all in the closed up fuselage, but it was fun to do, and I'll know it is there.

Before painting:


Installed: (To show you really can't see it - this is with a bright light shining in (which will never happen), and no door installed.


Anyway, let me know what you think. Also if you are aware of any things I should try to work on if I am trying to 'superdetail' please let me know. Thanks,
Leon

Hey Leon,
Picture #1.........Better than anything I can do.
Picture #2.........I thought you needed professional help.
Picture #3.........Now I need professional help.

All jokes aside, the detail is amazing. What the heck did you use to "drill" into the ignition ring? Those holes must have been tiny. And, what did you use for the wires? Part of a PE set or something? Only thing I can think of that would be that small with insulation on it would be copper telephone wires.

Great work,
Hermon

Thank Hermon.
To drill I used a pin vise. I picked mine up at the local hobby shop. Here is a picture of one being sold at micro-mark.com and the link if you want to see more. I don't think mine was quite this expensive at the hobby shop (I probably got a lesser quality or something). The drill bits are tiny. I think the smallest you can get is #80, but don't quote me on that. Anyway, they come in really handy for detail work. Another common place I use it is to drill a hole in the fuselage for the antennae.


pinvise

As for the wire, I picked it up at radio shack. It was labled "30 gauge insulated wrapping wire" and came on a little spool. Maybe a couple of bucks and will last a long, long time.

Anyway, thanks for the comments. I really appreciate it.
Leon

Leon.
This is looking spectacular!
"newtothegame"?,,,what game is that exactly?,,because looking at what your producing I would say that you have been building for decades.
That engine block really is something else,and the cockpit tub is very very nice.
Please tell me that this is NOT 1/72!!!
As with other models of this standard,,,inspiring.
Maybe one day,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Nige

Hi all!

Nigel, it is the 1/48 Tamiya model (it is written in the thread's title) so what Leon did is no big deal! Just kidding of course! :-)
The job is fantastic! The cockpit looks great and that engine just seems to be real! Wow!
Do you plan to build it with some panels open? It would be a shame to hide all that work! Maybe a serviced P-47 diorama?

Jean-Luc

Hi all.
Cant wait to see this finished.
I agree with Jean Luc,,it would be nice to have a few opened panels so all this work isnt hidden from view.
Of course its 1/48,,I noticed as soon as I had submitted the post,,,duuu,,what a muppet I am :-)
Whatever the scale,,its still very impressive!
All I can say in my defence is that my brain was destroyed by just having finished my first freehand luftwaffe camo scheme!

Shhh, the last plane I built was in 1985. But this is too kewl! I may have to give one a go again! Nice job so far!

That cockpit has me in awe. Fantastic work so far and I can't wait to see more as you progress.

Any tricks for ensuring that you drill on-center when using the pin vise? I occassionally end up not quite where I want and I'm sure it's my technique.

Thanks for posting the pics!

- Frank

Well, I'm finally able to get back in to armorama. To do this I had to go through the browsers history. (only discovered this after many failed attempts). Is anyone else having this problem? Just www.armorama.com gives me nothing, and www.modelgeek.com which seemed to work for a short period loads "visit our sponsors" and nothing else. Maybe I need to delete history, cookies, etc. to reset the browser...?

Anyway, thanks guys for the comments. I really appreciate them. To answer some questions...




Actually newtothegame comes from a chess playing site. I was new to that game. Even though I have now been playing for a couple of years, I am still quite bad and the computer absolutely destroys me even when playing on easy level. Anyone want to play a game?




It is actually a great idea, and someday I plan a p-47 diorama, but I'm not sure what I would open up on this one. While building the engine, I worked really hard to make it look pretty good from the front, but from the back and side I left viewable mold lines (figured why do the work when it would be impossible to see). Beyond that I've seen gun panels open...any other possibilities?

My future diorama idea: George Rarey the pilot / artist who did the nose art that I will use for this one and also used on my 1/72 p-47 had a book put together of his sketches by his son after his death. In it is a great picture he drew of him and another pilot while we was working on the nose art for the other pilot's plane. I thought it would be cool to have a diorama with this going on in the foreground while the plane is in the back with that portion of the cowling removed.

Here is a picture: (with link below)
http://www.rareybird.com/cowl.html

Also, here is a picture of the nose art this one is going to have: (also from the rareybird site)





What I do, and it works most of the time, but definately not all, is put a starter hole with a sewing needle. Just a little push gives a slight indentation and seems to keep the pin vise more or less under control.


Again, thanks everyone for the comments. I really appreciate it! and would love to hear any more - I really have high hopes for this one. I love the p-47 and love rarey's artwork, so hoping it turns out well...

Leon

Leon,

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to try that. I've been using a fine felt tip pen to mark the area and give a better contrast the surface. It seems to work ok, but I like your starter mark/hole idea better.

- Frank

Leon, superb stuff, the ignition harness on the engine looks great. What green have you used for the cockpit? I know that a dark green was used for P-47 cockpits but I'm not sure of the proper shade.

Frank, another tip when drilling with a pin vice (this is mainly for gun barrels) is to lightly file the mussel flat, then use a pointy tool to indent in the centre. Start the drilling, with a light twist, then check alignment. If it's off centre you can angle the drill to get to centre, check again, when on centre drill carefully.
Mal

Mal - thanks for the tip on drilling out gun barrels. I've done it a couple of times and I'm getting better at it, but the indent idea that you and Leon suggested sound like a winner!

Leon - thanks for letting me hijack your thread to get some tips. Looking forward to seeing the next pics!

- Frank

If you are "new to the game" I'll be highly interested in what you produce when your "old to the game". I'll also be rather intimidated.

I'm going to ask a question but only with the understanding that it's from someone who has yet to approach your level of craftsmanship - Shouldn't the cylinder barrels on the engine be black?

I'm asking cause I happen to have this model in my stash (so many kits - so little time!) and I want to get things right before I build it.

Hey Steve,
I have a picture of a radial engine installed on a WWII aircraft with the cowl off but Kitmaker is down so I can't download it here yet. But, it looks as if the cylinder walls are a natural color. I'm guessing that they left the production line painted black, but being an old engine builder myself, I can say that once the engine is at full throttle and gets heated up a few times all that paint eventually comes off. My suggestion for this would be to paint them silver and then do a black oil wash over them.

My 2cents
Hermon

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the comments. Again, I'll respond with quotes (that is to what I know...)




1st) Thanks for your tip too. It is always good to hear how everyone does things.
2nd) I believe the official color is supposed to be Dull Dark Green, but taken some advice from the Osprey Modeling Manual #11 [u]Modelling the P-47 Thunderbolt[/u] (great book btw), I used Tamiya XF-58 Olive Green lightly steaked with some lighter colors.




I think the greatest thing about this site is the sharing of technique. I can only imagine how hard modeling would be if sites like this weren't readily available. It really makes me have great respect for those who were modelers before the internet and more or less on their own...So, thank you for your question which led to the sharing .




First, thanks for the compliment. I appreciate it. I hope that some day I am old to the game, and I hope with that comes great skill, but in reality, I am still waiting for the build where everything goes right. Heck, I'd be happy even if almost everything went right. I kind of wonder if that day ever comes...

Anyway, about the cylinder barrels - I'm not 100% sure. I've actually seem them both ways (as long as I'm thinking of the same part as you). So I went with a picture I had in a book and I'm not 100% happy with it and very likely could have it wrong. Anyway, here is a picture I found on the internet...


Again, thanks all. Because of this site and others, I think I am growing, but still have a long way to go. As stated above I love the sharing of ideas and really appreciate when that happens. "I love you man..." :-) :-)

Leon

Well, I have to say, honestly, I've never seen an engine that looks like that. I think Herman was probably right about the natural metal and a wash. But, it's all a little irrelevant cause that is one nice job. I want to see the finished airplane.