The
aircraft: the Thunderbolt was the heaviest fighter-bomber used by Allies during
WW2; with a top speed of 400m.p.h. and a service ceiling of about 40,000 feet
the P.47 could out-perform some of its contemporaries but few people believed
that it would ever become a satisfactory combat aircraft. The Thunderbolt went
into service in 1943 and this was the major production version, almost 14,000 of
which were produced.
Click on
images below to see larger images
The
model: as often happens to me, I bought this series 2 kit in the far 1978
and I built it OOB. I brush painted it in the quite poor standard of
that era and I realized the box suggested version, "Penrod &
Sam". This was an overall natural metal finished machine of 62°FS,
56°FG based in England. Some thirteen years later, in October 1991
I
decided to rescue and restore the subject, for the sake of my youth
remembering. So I totally dismantled and rebuilt it. This kit is very
important to me because I tried new modelling techniques with it, firstly
the use of the display stand.
A
dear friend of mine introduced me to the use of this precious option thus giving
me a "new", fun and very useful idea to finish some of my models.
This P.47 has a completely scratchbuilt cockpit with a decal-dashboard, the
cloche, the figure-pilot, etc. The engine and its interior was carefully painted
altogether. It was finished as a 319°FS, 325°FG, 15^ AF "Dallas
Blonde", flown over Italy in 1944. A Superscale decals sheet was used.
Colours were O.D. 41 (no-faded) FS.34088, O.D. (faded) FS. 34086 and Neutral
Grey 43 FS. 36173 which became, in the Humbrol range, respectively: H.108, H.155
and H.64.
Many
greetings from Italy!
Paolo
De Sanctis
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