1/32 P-47D Norma/Little Bunny/Helen

[David Mooney]

Hello all, Happy New year and thank lordy 2021 has right done one...Lets hope 2022 is a lot, lot better for us all.

 

This was started in 2021 so i cant really claim this to be a 2022 build, but one that rolled over into 2022. 

 

The Trumpeter P-47D kits seem to be a little hit and miss as i've built a few and this one was a real tricky customer which need a fair amount of filler, sanding and re-scribing (replacing panels that was destroyed in the sanding exercise) to look half decent. I'm working on a few more weathering processes to make my aircraft look more realistic, so if there are any comments on the weathering that may need improvement please leave a comment as all comment are welcome. 

 

This aircraft is: P-47D-30-RE Sno 44-20344 #54 ‘Norma/Little Bunny/Helen and flown by Lt. William "Willy" Lyke and shared with Lt. Brad Muhl.

 

The Aircraft is finished in RAF Green upper surfaces and Medium Sea Grey lower surfaces. The aircraft has the Leading edge of the nose cowl finished in red while the tail and wings have yellow identification stripes. the aircraft was an ex-Brazilian aircraft that was turned over to the 57th FG who painted over some of the markings resulting in a patchwork Olive Drab/RAF green finish. The name Norma was added by Lt. Brad Muhl and this was to impress his girlfriend who was a nurse in Pisa, Italy.  

 

Paint: I tend to stick with Gunze as much as i can and went for 303 for the cockpit interior. 27 for the wheel bays, the main paints were 13 (medium grey) and 23 (RAF Drab) with 38 (US tank Drab) for the camo scheme. 

 

Aftermarket: Only added Master 32004 1/32 Gun Barrels, Brassin Wheels and Eagle Cal's EC#104 set. As ever Eagle Cal do a great job on their decals but i wish they included the prop markings in this set. Seat belt are scratch built with tape and spare buckles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As i said, please comment on the weathering is there is anywhere i can improve on this. 

Keep safe folks.

 

 

[David Mooney]

 

 

 

[Mark P]

Frankly, I like the weathering. It is very subtle where as we see many kits overdone in that regard. By the time you have to ask yourself "Have a gone too far in my weathering?", you probably have...

 

So, IMHO, a very nice representation of the subject here! However, as drop tanks didn't hang around for long, they would be less prone to weathering.

 

Mark Proulx

[Rod Bettencourt]

I like how this came out, thanks for sharing.

 

Rod

[Cicciuzzo]

Semplicemente eccezionale

[Jeff T]

That is absolutely gorgeous David!....beautiful work!

 

The weathering looks fine to me, depends on how far you want to go, but this looks superb.

 

Well done!

 

Jeff.

[Uncarina]

Really nice work!

 

Cheers,  Tom

[Out2gtcha]

I like it a lot! The weathering and paint work are very well done indeed. If I had to give one suggestion, it might be to work a bit more soot via either pastels, or Tamiya weathering pallets or airbrush, into the exhaust areas along with a bit of exhaust staining along past where the exhaust exits are. IMHO the Tamiya weathering pallets are excellent for this and you can wipe them off before flat coating if you dont like a particular application. They work especially well for exhaust staining for peeps who dont like to use the airbrush for them. 

Overall, its an excellent effort and a great scheme you dont often see. Well done! 

[Citadelgrad]

That's a nice looking Jug.  I am struggling with a Hasegawa D right now, doesn't seem like I will ever get finished.  tiny and major setbacks aplenty.

This is nicely weathered.  

[Michael931080]

Lovely JUG!  

[Greif8]

Very well built P47 David!  I think your weathering looks just fine.

 

Ernest

[MikeC]

40 minutes ago, MARU5137 said:

 

Heck.... now I want to know why it is called the JUG.

Enquiring minds needs to know.

Thank you. 

It's short for "Juggernaut".

 

And what an impressive model of one. 

Edited January 16, 2022 by MikeC

[David Mooney]

6 hours ago, MARU5137 said:

 

Heck.... now I want to know why it is called the JUG.

Enquiring minds needs to know.

Thank you. 

Thanks for all the kind comments on what was a bit of a tricky build.

 

As others have said MARU5137, the P-47 took the nickname of 'the jug' as it was such a large and bulky aircraft, certainly if you compare it to the P-51 sleeker lines. To me, the RAF had the same with two of there fighters namely the Spitfire and the Hurricane (and the Typhoon later on)....its in the eye of the beholder as to what one is better but i'd always take chunky and rough an ready looking aircraft. 

[Cor]

I like it. The oil stains underside are great, the highlight of your weathering. Really nice, and the silver plane look realistic too. Nice beauty light for the pics too, those things are unbeatable.

 

You asked for comments, and as I'm going through a similar mindset re weathering, I thought I'd drop in with what I've been thinking about lately.

 

Weathering is a funny thing. These planes went from one-time freshly-painted showroom pieces, to being covered in scratches and dirt and scarred from repairs and combat, so as others have said, its how far you want to take it - there is no wrong approach re heavy or light. Your weathering is extremely light. You've got the panel lines filled with some black and a few bits of aluminium showing through here and there, but overall it still looks quite new to me... especially the white markings - my car is white, and after I wash it, then drive around for a few days on city streets, its no longer a fresh bright white thanks to the grime and dust.

 

I've nearly finished my first heavily weathered model plane and compared to yours, it looks like it's rolled onto the scrap heap, but that's the look I was going for - I knew that from the start. Work out in your head what you want the finished plane to look like, and get as many photos of similar looking weathered planes and try and copy what they look like. Weathering is simply another phase of the build /technique that you build up in skill, its no different to applying decals or glueing small bits together - just another skill to be used, or not, as you decide. So I guess Im saying practice makes perfect, and if you want to build that skill, you need to study and practice on some more models - which is the fun of it.

 

For a bit of practical advise - use your imagination to look at what parts of the plane are going to be handled by the crew, such as access panels, cowlings, areas on wings and fuselage where the pilot climbs in. These areas are where the paint is chipped, worn down to metal, paint scuffed, dirtied with mud, scratched by boots etc. When the mechanic takes the cowling off, he is not trying to keep it clean and unscratched - he might have chucked it down onto the ground so he could hurry up and get the plane airworthy after a mission. Removing cowlings might also scratch the paint from the edges of the adjacent panels, so look at these areas for extra detailing. And learn how to make tool scratches look different to scuffed and worn paint from walking on a wing root etc. If one layer of paint is worn away, what's under that layer - metal, or a different coloured paint, like a primer? Think about that stuff. That's realism.

 

I use a heavily thinned dark brown or black, a different type of paint to whats on the plane - acrylic or enamel etc, and liberally dab it on with a cotton but, then use another clean bud to wipe it off in the direction of air flow, and this can be heavy or light streaking for a subtle way to take the fresh clean look from the paint. I rub it with my finger, or wipe it with some tissue, and maybe some thinner on a bud to remove it a bit more. Stuff like that adds realism. Large clean areas of uniform colour dont exist a lot in real life, there's always dirt or something patching it up.

 

I think weathering is a big subject, as it affects the look of the model - the finish of the model - very much - it can define the model. So however hard you go with weathering, work snd study at creating realism and your models will take on more depth. I think it is a very artistic skill and is actually quite difficult to make it look real, but it will take your models to the next level.

 

I just want to show you 2 pics of what I'm working on now - and the reference pics from some books - as an unfinished example of what i've just said.

If not appropriate on your thread please remove them. I plan to make a thread of this when I finish...

 

 

 

D-Day stripes obliterated on the leading edge. Heavy scratching on the black stripe. What might have caused that, and if someone saw it on your model, what would they say about that not an area that would be scratched liked that? Some of these ww2 planes took a massive beating by friend and foe alike. You could weather in some doggy doo doo on the wing if you wanted - there are  heaps of photos of dogs on these planes. 

 

Look at how random the scratches are on the fuselage left of the guy in the cockpit. Some liquid spillage out of the cowling, beaten up cowling far right of photo. Random scratch far left of pilot.

 

And then there's this photo, battle of briton Hurricane. Gum boots and mud and scratches galore. There is no end to how far you want to go with weathering - 50 year old wreck - weather that. Straight off the factory floor, also great subject.

 

Hope my rant helps you somewhat. Good luck.

[David Mooney]

Thats some great information, I'm trying to build my skills up to a point where I can do a very battered aircraft but the worry is...how much is too much, or should is say 'looks stupid and poorly done. So, you information is very welcome, thank you