Little Bunny - Italian Front Thunderbolt

[John1]

Thanks very much guys.   Only have a mini update for today.   I built and painted up the Brassin 1,000 lb GP bombs that are going on Little Bunny.    Before I get into that, a quick sidebar on WW2 bombs (this also applies to some other conflicts as well).   

 

The US stored bombs extremely haphazardly.   Most of the time, they weren't stored inside clean munitions bunkers like the weapons of today, they were just tossed into outdoor bomb dumps, where they got banged up, covered in mud and exposed to the elements.    US bombs were also fitted with woodened collars to allow them to be rolled on flat surfaces.  These colors often left pronounced marks on the weapon.   All that being said, I have to chuckle when I see many WW2 aircraft models with exquisite weathering toting immaculate bombs underwing.   I'm sure that happened but it was very much the exception, not the rule.   Even on navy carriers, the bombs showed some weathering from being stored at stateside facilities before being loaded on the ships. 

 

This picture shows the condition of most bombs and marks left those collars.   They almost look painted on,while in other pictures, it appears to just be scuff marks.  I went with the latter look. 

 

Typical outdoor bomb dump.  Note the wooden shipping collars. 

 

Anyway, enough of my rant.    The Brassin 1,000 pounders are fantastic.   The detailing is exceptional and the tail fins are amazingly thin.    They also provide PE propellers for the front and rear fuses and decals.   A note on the decals though.   I've never seen decals like these.   The stencils literally froze in place the second they hit the surface.   It was absolutely impossible to move them and if you used even a bit of force, they disintegrated.   Even though Eduard gives you a couple of spares, I still managed to screw up the stencils (did a bit better with the yellow bands).  Definitely not my finest hour here.    The good news is that most of the botched work will be hidden by the pylon when the bomb is mounted.   For the part that is visible, I'm going with the story that they were labeled 5 minutes to quitting time on a Friday afternoon at the bomb factory and no one cared if it was done to spec.   That's my story and I'm sticking to it!  Here are a few pics of these bad boys.    I still need to tone down the decals with a wash or pastels. 

 

Note - the tail fins were stored separately and were always in very good condition.   They were typically installed right before mounting on the aircraft.  You couldn't toss the fins around, if you bent a fin, the bomb would go far off course once dropped. 

 

The messed up decals (again, note that I'll be toning these down).  Don't judge me!!

 

 

That's it for today, thanks for looking! 

Edited September 19, 2021 by John1

[John1]

Reposting what got blown up during the Great Hack of 2021.    Short and sweet - dull coated the aircraft (still think nothing works better for a matt finish than Testor's Dull Coat), did some additional weathering to the Brassin 1,000 pound bombs and glued them in place.  Just need to add the safety wires to the fuses and the bombs will be 100%.    Did a bit more weathering on the overall airframe.  Still have some tweaks to make but I'm getting there.   Next order of business will be to add the drop tank.   Despite having options for that weird "double-wide" fuel tank, I think I'll go with a 75 gallon unit I have left over from my Tamiya F-51D build.   Something about having such a small fuel tank hanging from the massive Jug just looks appealing to me.  

 

 

I'll be toning down the wash around the wheel wells...

 

 

[Guest Vincent]

On 9/19/2021 at 5:48 PM, John1 said:

This picture shows the condition of most bombs and marks left those collars.   They almost look painted on,while in other pictures, it appears to just be scuff marks.  I went with the latter look. 

 

 

 

Hi. Depending on the bomb manufacturer, some applied the oxyde primer to the bomb casing, then installed the colars and then painted the whole assembly OD (like on your picture above). So when the colars were removed, there was 2 band of oxyde primer showing.

 

Might be old news to people here but the OD color on bombs was applied for camouflage purposes and so it saved paint to paint the colars on

 

But some manufacturers painted the bomb casings before installing the colars

[John1]

3 hours ago, Vincent said:

 

Hi. Depending on the bomb manufacturer, some applied the oxyde primer to the bomb casing, then installed the colars and then painted the whole assembly OD (like on your picture above). So when the colars were removed, there was 2 band of oxyde primer showing.

 

Might be old news to people here but the OD color on bombs was applied for camouflage purposes and so it saved paint to paint the colars on

 

But some manufacturers painted the bomb casings before installing the colars

Thanks for that bit of info Vincent, I never knew that.   In retrospect, I wish I had done more pronounced stripes of primer but it is what it is.   Filed away for use "next time". 

 

[Out2gtcha]

Wow, the paint work and weathering effects here look awesome John!  

[John Stambaugh]

Great information. Good to know the where from & why fors. Thanks Vincent 

11 hours ago, Vincent said:

 

Hi. Depending on the bomb manufacturer, some applied the oxyde primer to the bomb casing, then installed the colars and then painted the whole assembly OD (like on your picture above). So when the colars were removed, there was 2 band of oxyde primer showing.

 

Might be old news to people here but the OD color on bombs was applied for camouflage purposes and so it saved paint to paint the colars on

 

But some manufacturers painted the bomb casings before installing the colars

[John Stambaugh]

19 hours ago, John1 said:

Reposting what got blown up during the Great Hack of 2021.    Short and sweet - dull coated the aircraft (still think nothing works better for a matt finish than Testor's Dull Coat), did some additional weathering to the Brassin 1,000 pound bombs and glued them in place.  Just need to add the safety wires to the fuses and the bombs will be 100%.    Did a bit more weathering on the overall airframe.  Still have some tweaks to make but I'm getting there.   Next order of business will be to add the drop tank.   Despite having options for that weird "double-wide" fuel tank, I think I'll go with a 75 gallon unit I have left over from my Tamiya F-51D build.   Something about having such a small fuel tank hanging from the massive Jug just looks appealing to me.  

 

 

I'll be toning down the wash around the wheel wells...

 

 

Hey John, check the ground clearance on the 75gal tank. Think they had to use the low profile tank for that reason.

[John1]

17 hours ago, John Stambaugh said:

Hey John, check the ground clearance on the 75gal tank. Think they had to use the low profile tank for that reason.

Thanks for the tip John!    I’ll check it tonight.  

[Paramedic]

Yeah those decals can be tricky.. But I think it looks good and I like the story.. Fantastic job overall!

[Citadelgrad]

Looking great, John!  Thunderbolts all over the first page.  Very nice weathering.  

[John1]

On 9/22/2021 at 4:04 PM, John Stambaugh said:

Hey John, check the ground clearance on the 75gal tank. Think they had to use the low profile tank for that reason.

 

Thanks for the suggestion John.   I went back through my notes and found this:

 

It appears to be a standard 75 gal tank but even if it's the "double-wide" version, it would still have the same side profile and ground clearance as the 75-gal unit.   As such, I poached a 75 from some leftover Tamiya bits and installed it.    Of course, I neglected to drill the holes in the lower fuselage for the 4 mounting brackets (and then I promptly managed to lose one of the brackets), so the fuselage is a bit of a mess.   I'll be going back with some filler and re-painting / weathering some spots.   One step forward, one step back today.   Anyway, I'm getting there I suppose.  Once I'm done with the cleanup in that area, I plan on doing some final weathering on the lower fuselage, adding the underwing landing and ID lights, add the safety wires on the bombs and I think I'll be 100% on the undersides.    

 

 

 

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That's it for now, thanks for checking in!

[Gazzas]

Looks awesome!

[John1]

Thanks guys!    I'm getting to the home stretch now.    First order of business is the propeller.   Nothing fancy here, painted and decaled per the instructions.    On the front side I added some restrained weathering (very easy to over do this area).   I think the hub is too immaculate, I'll add a wash to it to tone things down a bit. 

 

However, on the backside of the props, it's a different story.   Many aircraft operating out of dirt strips show very heavy weathering of the back side of the props.   The dirt and fine rocks, etc, pretty much scoured the paint off.   This was very common while operating in the Pacific from coral airstrips but I see no reason why the same thing wouldn't happen on dusty, dirt strips in Italy.   If I'm wrong, so be it.

 

Next up is the canopy.   Like most models, Hase provides absolutely no features on the interior.   I struck out on references to show what was in this area but thanks to the awesome help of LSP's own Mike Maben, JayW and TAG, they provided the info needed to add a bit to this area.   In reality, there was some pretty complex cables, linkages and hardware for the emergency jettison apparatus (fun P-47 fact, unlike pretty much every WW2 fighter, the P-47 used an electric motor to open and shut the canopy).

I replicated this hardware using bits of sprue, scrap PE and resin bits.   Nothing special and it's actually pretty crude but it's better than seeing nothing (I think).  Sorry for the extra bad pictures, my camera has a hard time focusing in certain situations. 

 

 

 

Also, note that P-47 canopies had a rubber weather strip fixed to their lower side.  When closed, this would act as a rain / wind seal for the cockpit.   Obviously I've still got some small touch ups to do on the paint work. 

 

 

 

That's it for now, thanks for looking.

Edited October 1, 2021 by John1

[Out2gtcha]

Lovely!  I might have said it before, but the paint work and weathering are right up my ally. Well done! 

[Citadelgrad]

Very nice touch on the canopy mechanism!