John1

I'm flattered, feel free to Ray!

Very nice stuff. I have to ask - any update on the F-4C set that you said was in the works? I'm starting my Phantom build and would really prefer to use your set vrs the other one that's out there.

I don't have a pic handy but in the same squadron, another AC-119 had a painting of two "joined" geese flying with big smiles. Name of the ship - "Fly United".

Great pictures, those are some fantastic models, thanks for posting.

Ten F-15 silhouettes? If so, this crew must be the badest Phantom drivers who ever walked the planet. Nice looking (and uncommon) aircraft. Good work Jennings!

Some kind folks on this site provided great info on this. I can’t seem to link or add pics from my phone but if you are interested, my WIP build has those pics posted towards the end. Never knew the Jug had a strip of rubber weather sealant around the base of the canopy either. Learned a lot on this build.

Subject is a very dirty and weathered P-47, based in Italy late in the war. She was originally flown by the Brazilians and then transferred back to the USAAC. At that point, her OD paint was heavily faded and had multiple touch-ups of varying shades of OD. Fresh OD was used to overpaint the Brazilian insignia and markings, leading to a very unique looking Jug. Here's a nice shot of her in action: And another that shows the upper wing surfaces in more detail. The kit is the oldish Hasegawa one. Still nicely detailed and quite easy to build. I added the MDC cockpit set (simply amazing and priced very reasonably), Quickboost resin R2800 engine to replace the someone clunky kit engine, Barracuda's fantastic resin wheels and EagleCal decals. I also added multiple hydraulic / electrical lines in the wheel bays, brake lines on the landing gear. For ordinance I used Brassin 1,000 lb bombs and a 75 gal drop tank from the Tamiya P-51 kit. The cockpit. I figured the cockpit would be a beaten up and weathered as the exterior: The Quickboost engine. Nothing is visible aft of the first row of cylinders so I didn't spend much time painting that area. The wheelwells are typically the dirtiest part of any aircraft. Also added the canopy jettison hardware. You don't see this replicated on too may P-47 builds. And some "glamour" shots: Can't forget the arming wires for the bombs! One noticeable bit of weathering on all Jugs was the scorched area inside the inner landing gear door from being in close proximity to the exhaust. Thanks for looking and thanks to all the LSP'ers who took time to provide advice, pictures and words of encouragement. This site is truly something specia! John

So I took JayW's advice on the prop being too extended and the need for the "brush housing" around the propeller shaft. I built it up from some bits of scrap plastic/resin and styrene rod for the electrical line. Too say it's "rough" is an understatement but actually, with the prop in place, you really can't see it very well anyway. Better than where I was before. Thanks again for the info! And I just realized that the one picture I took of this area doesn't show in in very good detail. If I remember, I'll try to get a better shot, if not, you'll have to trust me on this one. Aside from that, I added the wingtip navigation lights and did some additional touch ups around the canopy. Also added the very nice resin gunsight from the MDC cockpit set. lastly, I hit the clear parts with some Novis plastic polish (this stuff is so much better than Future). I've a few small items to add / tweak but I think I'm wrapping up this WIP. I'll post some addition RFI shots but I just wanted to thank everyone who chipped in with advice, pictures and patiently answered my hundred or so questions about the P-47D. This started off slow, I really wasn't feeling it for this project but thanks to all the good folks here on LSP, it ended up being quite enjoyable. As always, thanks for looking! John

What a great job. Nice work on the extra details and the weathering. Good timing, I happened to be at an aviation museum a few weeks back and saw one up close (it's flyable). Quite the pugnacious little beast.

That UH-60 rotor head looks amazing (and is priced accordingly). Do they have a US retailer?

Holy crud, I had no idea any Harriers were flying in civilian hands. Hope the seat is hot on that thing! Nice find Maru.

Best Sci-Fi out there in any genre is the Expanse series of books. Amazing stuff, can't wait until the next (and final) one comes out next month.

Only issue is that the two pilots are dressed in one-piece nomex flight suits which (to the best of my knowledge) are more suitable to an 80’s Army pilot. Later war Nam-era pilots wore a pretty distinctive two piece flight suit.

I was thinking the same thing. Might as well mount torpedoes on those F-15E's. I'd think if you are going up against a modern warship, you'd want a weapon with very long stand-off range, stealthy and fast. None of those apply to the JDAM.

Please don’t feel that advice / critiquing is not welcome. It’s the only way a noob like me can learn! I appreciate you taking the time to answer all of my silly questions. I think I should be able to replicate that brush assembly, just not sure how to remove the existing shaft housing without knocking loose that fragile engine. Gotta ponder this for a bit.