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Little Bunny - Italian Front Thunderbolt


John1

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17 hours ago, Juggernut said:

Nice job on the engine and cowl.  I’ll need to remember that the cowl interior was anodized aluminum and forego the paint for my next P-47 project.  
 

Just one small point if I may.  The dual magneto between the turtle back magnetos shouldn’t be there.  The GE ignition system contained the magnetos and distributors in each self-contained unit.  The engine would have a blanking plate installed over the drive pad where that dual magneto currently sits. The prop governor should be the only thing remotely in that area.  Don’t know if it’s molded to the gear case or you had to glue it in place.  If it’s glued, it would be a lot easier to remove if you chose to do so.  Not many will know that it shouldn’t be there so it’s not a huge issue.

Good catch, thank you!   It’s an easy fix, can’t believe I missed that.   

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Guest Vincent
On 7/31/2021 at 7:25 AM, Juggernut said:

Nice job on the engine and cowl.  I’ll need to remember that the cowl interior was anodized aluminum and forego the paint for my next P-47 project.  
 

Just one small point if I may.  The dual magneto between the turtle back magnetos shouldn’t be there.  The GE ignition system contained the magnetos and distributors in each self-contained unit.  The engine would have a blanking plate installed over the drive pad where that dual magneto currently sits. The prop governor should be the only thing remotely in that area.  Don’t know if it’s molded to the gear case or you had to glue it in place.  If it’s glued, it would be a lot easier to remove if you chose to do so.  Not many will know that it shouldn’t be there so it’s not a huge issue.

Also : that prop governor was only present on planes with Hamilton Standard props. The planes with Curtiss Electric props has an electric motor around the prop shaft with a shielded loom going inside the engine compartment

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20 hours ago, Vincent said:

Also : that prop governor was only present on planes with Hamilton Standard props. The planes with Curtiss Electric props has an electric motor around the prop shaft with a shielded loom going inside the engine compartment

 

Here's the housing for the CE prop governor/motor.

DSDXkhU.jpg

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On 8/1/2021 at 8:33 AM, Vincent said:

Also : that prop governor was only present on planes with Hamilton Standard props. The planes with Curtiss Electric props has an electric motor around the prop shaft with a shielded loom going inside the engine compartment

 

 

This is not true.... a Curtiss Electric prop on the P-47D has a governor too.  How else would these propellors operate in "constant speed" mode?

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally have a small update to share (I warned you that this build was going to be slow).   Wheel wells are 90% completed (just need to add inner door retraction struts and their hydraulic lines).   Here's a couple shots of the real thing:

Ksokorq.jpg

 

TYICevC.jpg

 

Compared to the Mustang, the T-Bolt's wheel wells are pretty barren.  That's fine with me, less work involved.   Where I did go heavy was on the weathering.    On normal aircraft, the wheel wells are usually pretty grimy.   Add in the fact that Little Bunny was operating from a dirt field in all weather conditions, at a high operational frequency and I doubt the overworked crew chief would have the time to take a avgas soaked rag and clean this area between missions.    

ZAhI6PV.jpg

 

aGBXgC7.jpg

 

t3RlfVP.jpg

 

Sorry for the less than clear pics, lighting conditions were not very favorable.    Thanks for looking though! 

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Got the wheel wells installed and the wings put together.   After that, I glued the wings onto the fuselage and started a few rounds of putty>sand>sand again.   Hase gives you options for both the D-25 and D-30 in this kit, so that entails inserts in the lower wing for dive brakes and a relocated landing light.   Not the best fit in the world, same with the wing to fuselage area.    Nothing major but a bit different from the Tamiya LSP's I've been building for the last few years.    Also did some touch up to the MLG bays.

 

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That's it for now.  Getting closer to the painting stage.   I'm pretty excited about trying to replicated that faded / touched up OD paint scheme.    Thanks for looking!

 

 

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I've started the painting.   As noted in the color pics I posted on Page 1, Little Bunny had a pretty unique scheme of very faded OD with patches of varying shades of fresher OD.    I've started with the base coat of faded OD over Neutral Grey.    Under the elements (especially in southern Italy), OD quickly faded to a lighter, brownish shade.   I applied a base coat of my custom mix faded OD, followed by a slghtly mottle coat of "Lightened Faded OD".    All the paint is just "roughed on".    I'll be doing many touchups before this over   The cowling is still detached to make it easier to paint the red nose on it.    

 

Next up is some additional weathering to the base coat, followed by the fresh OD.    

UIdvvAO.jpg

 

6Vef5YX.jpg

 

7ZA3Erl.jpg

 

AuTb4jx.jpg

 

XMP8aBx.jpg

 

That's it for now, as always, thanks for looking. 

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Guest Vincent
6 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

Just curious , how come you painted the canopy ??   :shrug:

the kit comes with a closed canopy and a open canopy. I think he used the closed one as a mask basically

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1 hour ago, Vincent said:

the kit comes with a closed canopy and a open canopy. I think he used the closed one as a mask basically

You are correct.   In retrospect, I should have taped up the separate bits and glued the windscreen in place and tack-glued the canopy.    Hopefully the windscreen fits and I don't have to do a lot of sanding / puttying on top of the new paint job. 

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48 minutes ago, John1 said:

You are correct.   In retrospect, I should have taped up the separate bits and glued the windscreen in place and tack-glued the canopy.    Hopefully the windscreen fits and I don't have to do a lot of sanding / puttying on top of the new paint job. 

You should be fine.  I did the same as you on mone, but checked the fit first.  On my kit, the one and two piece windscreens fit like a glove.  

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