P-47D Thunderbolt
61st Fighter Squadron , 56th Fighter Group, 8AF
July 5 1944

Col. Francis "Gabby" Gabreski

Col. Francis "Gabby" Gabreski of the 56th Fighter Group,61st Fighter Squadron in his P-47D-25-RE serial number 42-226418, code HV-A. He became a POW on July 20,1944 after his planes prop hit the ground during a strafing run on a German airfield, he evaded capture for five days before being caught by the Germans. Pictured in the photo with Col. Gabreski is his crew chief S/Sgt. Ralph Safford and assistant crew chief Cpl. Felix Schacki.

Hello,
I will enter with this Hasegawa Jug and I will replace the cockpit
with a resin set from MDC and also new gun barrels from Quickboost,
but they have not arrived yet but are on their way in the mail.

Here is the kit pics



I will do this Gabreski bird


The sprues
















Decals


The nice MDC Cockpit set


and the Quickboost gun barrels

I have now got under way with the build, and started with the cockpit.
It's a resin kit from MDC, and as usual with resin, you have to
start with some resin surgery.


and it's also a lot of PE parts to take care of


The side walls ready for paint


and also the floor, seat, back wall and back of the instrument panel


Painting starting with a primer coat of Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black


followed by a coat of Vallejo Model Air # 010 Interior Green


A funny thing is this PE template for painting the stenciling
on the front and back Armour walls


I fixed the template with Tamiya tape and masked off the rest of
the walls


and airbrushed it with Vallejo Model Air #057 Black


and how it turn out, the only sad thing is that not much of it will
be visible when the seat and instrument panel are in place , but
now you and I know it is there .


The instrument panel is painted with Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black
and dry brushed with Tamiya XF-20 Medium Grey.
The instrument decals were put in place one by one and got a
drop of Klear on top to get some glass effect.


And after the various details were painted I put on a wash of
Burnt Umber oil paint and after a dry brush in different colors.
The finished cockpit.

To fit the resin cockpit to the airframe have I cut this off
on the wing support strut piece




After that surgery the fit of the cockpit is really good.


After I have glued the fuselage halves together, I started to take care
of the two sink marks that sits on each side, this is as I have been told
a general fault with this kit but they are not really to hard to deal with.
First I put on a strip of Tamiay tape to reduce the damage and sanded
the area, just to rough it up so the filler has a better grip.


Stage two is the filler, I have used Squadron Green Putty for this.


When it has dry I went over it with a sanding sponge


And the final result, no more sink mark


I must say that this kit, so far, has a great fit. On the fuselage
have I just sanded the joint, and after that done some re-scribing and
put back the rivets that have been lost.


The wings are also finished and the wheel bays are painted and put in place.

Drilling out the holes in the cylinder heads so the wiring
can be put in place


The engine with paint and wiring


Engine and the cowling is ready


The sink marks on the wing, two on the upper side and one on the
under side is taken care of and the wing are glued in place. A strip
of Tamiya tape is placed to get the right angle until the glue have dried.

Masked off the wheel bays with soft paper and put Humbrol
Maskol around the edges to make a good seal.


The kit comes with two sets of canopy, one to have it in the
open position and one closed. This is great as I will do the
cockpit in the open position, i could then use the closed one to
mask off the cockpit.


I have give the model a primer coat off Tamiya Fine Surface Primer.
I like this paint as it guves a really smooth and satin surface.
The only down side of this paint is that you cannot use it indoors
because it will leave a big amount of white dust just everywhere, you
don't see it when you use it but believe me you will see it after
a while . I have learn this lesson for a couple of years ago when
I use it for the first time so now is it outside use only


After the primer coat has dry have I done the pre shading with
Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black

I have starting to paint the P-47 now so here is some progress pics.

Start with the red on the rudder and the front of cowling.
It's painted with Tamiya XF-7 Flat Red but on the pictures it looks
more like some tomato red but it looks much darker in real life and will be even darker after the wash and flat varnish.




Then I mask it off.




Next was to paint the invasion stripes, first I use a pencil to mark where the outer white stripe ends.




After that i airbrushed the white using Tamiya XF-2 Flat White,
Not too heavy coats, just so the pre shading can show through.




To determine the width of the stripes i have used the kit decals, I just
wonder what Hasegawa were thinking here, as if I wanted to use the decals, I would have least expected to have the black parts.


For the masking of the stripes have I use 3mm Jammydog tape and
use the kit paint guide as reference.


Checking the width


All masked up and ready for some black paint




The black paint is Tamiya XF-1


Finished, just for you to get an idea where the outer white stripe ends
so have I marked it out with jammydog tape. On the bench behind the
plane can you see the flaps and some of the doors for the wheel wells.

The build has progressed with the painting of the main colors so here
are some pictures.

All masking is finally done, sometimes it feels that you spend more time
on all masking that on real painting .


I will use the decals for the fuselage invasion stripes but I have to paint the black area.


There was also black stripes on the upper and lower side of the tail so
they had to be masked and painted




The canopy slide gear comes in the MDC cockpit set and it is made up
from a resin bit in the middle where the tooth track is and the rest is in PE


Painted with Vallejo Model Air #010 Interior green and also got a little
wash of ProModeller Black


All painting is done and for the upper side have I use Tamiya XF-83 Ocean Gray and XF-81 Dark Green, both has been mixed with a little XF-2 White
for a second coat, just to create a tonal difference


On the lower side have I use Xtracrylix XA1140 Gray FS 16622

The decals are in place and I have give it a wash
of ProModeller Dark Dirt and finally a coat of flat varnish.

The build has come to the last steps so I have pull all the small bit
and pieces together.


I have drill out a hole in the clear parts for the wing tip navigation light

and then paint it with Tamiya Clear Red and Green paint


The clear part in place on the wing tip


To do the weathering have I use dry pastels, they are a great alternative
for MIG pigments. They come in a multiple colors so you can blend any
color you want.



To grind the pastels use I a strainer


To apply the pastel on the model I use the same technique as with pigments, put it on with a small brush and slowly build up the amount of stain you want.

 

This was a really nice kit to work with. Great fit but there was a few nasty sink marks particularly on the wings but it's not so hard to take care off. The MDC cockpit has some very nice details and the right type off floor for this version. The decals went on without any problems with help of Micro Set and Sol.


So on to the pictures.





































Thanks for all the kind comments under the build, much appreciated

Thanks for looking and see you soon with some other build.


Stefan