1/18 Scale P-47D (21st Century Toys) Mod Project

[JayW]

Well I have been hammering away at this project since December of 2016, and finally (FINALLY!!) it is done.  

 

 

Here is a link to the long build if interested:

 

 

Here are the pictures, warts and all.  Apologies for the amateurish lack of good background and other professional picture taking skills.  Aside from that, let me know what you think:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will post this now, as I don't know what limits there are on pictures per post.  More next post.

Edited May 14, 2019 by JayW

[JayW]

More pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JayW]

And still some more:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am not sure where to start with this adventure.  The following were entirely scratch built:

 

Cockpit

Engine

Cowl flaps

Tires, wheels

Main landing gear

Tail gear

Wheel wells

Flaps, flap linkages

Bomb pylons

Gear doors

All outlet duct doors

Guns

Tip lights

Pitot mast

 

By far the longest scratch build project was the engine - it took more than six months.  For all that building, I made extensive use of Aircorps Library drawings and manuals.  I cannot thank those folks enough!  The rest came compliments of the long defunct 21st Century Toys.  That includes the oversized canopy and some other poorly done details that I just could not correct.

 

My aim here was to take what looked like a complex toy, and turn it into a shrink ray Thunderbolt.  Will let you all be the judge of that.  Thank you for looking in. 

 

Edited May 14, 2019 by JayW

[Out2gtcha]

Brilliant work Jay!    All that work really did pay dividends for SURE.    What a stunner

[chuck540z3]

Super Job Jay!  What a Beast!

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[dodgem37]

I think this is a Tremendous T-Bolt!  Great effort.  Great Show!  Many thanks for sharing.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[LSP_Kevin]

Just awesome work, Jay! Congrats on finally getting it across the line. It looks amazing.

 

Kev

[Gazzas]

Jay,

     I must tell you that I have been totally impressed by all of your efforts and results.    Everything looks top notch.  That engine looks something special.

 

congratulations on going the distance and building one of the best!

 

gaz

[MikeMaben]

Man that's alotta nice work. Looks great Jay 

 

 

[brahman104]

Soooo good Jay!

 

That engine and those bomb braces are epic!

 

Craig

[Shoggz]

I have really enjoyed watching your progress on this one and the result is stunning.

 

Look forward to you next project.

[A-10LOADER]

Nicely done and so worth it !! While WWII subjects are not my cup of tea, I can appreciate all your efforts since it took me 5 years to redo my 1/18th scale JSI Tomcat.

 

Steve

[JayW]

The cockpit pictures did not come out well - too much shadow.  So I include a couple of work in progress pictures (mostly because I was very pleased with how the cockpit turned out and want to show it off to those who haven't seen it):

 

 

[JayW]

Lastly - this is the example that I modeled:  P-47D-30RE serial number 44-20473, flown by Major Glenn Eagleston of 354th FG, 353rd FS while on the European continent after the June 44 invasion.  He was the squadron commander at that time.  21st Century Toys chose that scheme for one of their P-47 series so I used it as is.

 

  

 

This unit was 9th AF, but was "on loan" to the 8th AF for most of the war.  It was the first group to be equipped with the P-51 Mustang (called the "Pioneer Mustang Group") in late 1943, and that was their only aircraft used except for a several month period in early 1945 where they were replaced by P-47 Thunderbolts to provide ground support for the continuance of the invasion into Germany.  

 

My late uncle, Henry Rudolph, was a pilot in this group, and Eagleston was his commanding officer.  And that's the reason I stayed with this paint scheme.  He (my uncle) was credited with 5 1/2 victories, making him an "ace" - all either BF-109's or FW190's, and all while flying the P-51D.  Before he died he told me stories of his experiences and I will never forget.  For some reason he kept those memories to himself largely, until near the end of his life (PTSD?).  He also told me of the transition from the P-51 to the P-47, done in only days with insufficient training, in awful weather and awful conditions (as can be seen in the picture).  He nearly lost his life in his P-47, mostly because of poor training.  They never got the chance to really learn the P-47, before they went back to the P-51 prior to the end of the war - an aircraft they excelled with.

Edited May 15, 2019 by JayW

[tomprobert]

Tasty. That engine alone looks like a superb model in itself. It looks like you could hop in, fire her up, and off she’d go. Wonderful. 

 

Tom