Anyone have any decent photos of P47 flat belly tank plumbing?

[MikeMaben]

I don't see any clear parts on the wartime photos.  It doesn't seem practical to use glass

parts that are going to be lost.  On Gabby's a/c they look metal with rubber ends. I've

never seen sight glass used on drop tanks.

But that's just me 

[TAG]

5 hours ago, MikeMaben said:

I don't see any clear parts on the wartime photos.  It doesn't seem practical to use glass

parts that are going to be lost.  On Gabby's a/c they look metal with rubber ends. I've

never seen sight glass used on drop tanks.

But that's just me 

Courtesy of @JayW, hope that helps.

 

[TAG]

6 hours ago, nmayhew said:

Very informative thread, but interesting still no plan overhead / underneath view for the precise location.

 

when building my P-47 last year (2020??) I even paid for access to factory blueprints and could not find this info.

 

 

Not a plan view, but the stations are numbered, which should be helpful.

 

I posted this a few months ago, there is the location of the entry point for the drop tank fuel line, clear as day.

[Juggernut]

I know for a fact that glass tubes are also used on P-51 drop tanks as well.

[Citadelgrad]

1 hour ago, TAG said:

Not a plan view, but the stations are numbered, which should be helpful.

 

I posted this a few months ago, there is the location of the entry point for the drop tank fuel line, clear as day.

That support rod I installed on my build used that spot, i had to invert the photo and hold my breath when i drilled the hole.  Any idea where the air lines entered?   The diagrams seem to show a location forward of the fuel opening, at least the lines seem to indicate that.  

[TAG]

Here's where I'd put them, this restored Jug seems to have had its pressure line hole plugged, but looking at the diagram Jay posted, it makes sense for it to be there.

[Citadelgrad]

10 minutes ago, TAG said:

Here's where I'd put them, this restored Jug seems to have had its pressure line hole plugged, but looking at the diagram Jay posted, it makes sense for it to be there.

So you are telling me i need to drill another hole in the best paint job I ever did?

 

And it looks like this is another line with a sight glass elbow, am I reading that correctly?  I am no draftsman or engineer.  Just a monkey with tools...

[JayW]

Give me til the end of the day and I will help sort this out, as to which penetrations are what, and where in relation to some other features on the model.  After looking at this entire thread, I think I have it.  Just need to put the story and pics together.  Later.

[JayW]

On 1/24/2022 at 5:31 AM, MikeMaben said:

 

Hi Bill, it depended on which tank was used.

 

 

 

Very good stuff from Mike.  

 

I have embellished my side view picture of drawing 93F65228:

 

 

Note I have added the sway braces in with station values.  You can scale down to 1/32 to get the penetration hole locations fore/aft (located relative to your sway braces).  Note they are both aft of the sway braces, which is consistent with the photos Mike provided.  The large penetration just forward of the sway braces is not used for the flat belly tank (it is used for the standard USAAF 75 gallon tank).  Also I gave you inbd/outbd values for those penetrations.  Note they are both considerably left of center.

 

That forward penetration (the one not used for the flat tank) is a big prominent detail, with a large bottom panel cutout, and a couple of lines sticking out - see Mike's middle pic:

 

 

Also this pic I provided last post:

 

 

 Would be quite a bonus to include that on your model, even though it is unused (sure wish I had included it on my big jug).  If interested, I can post the appropriate drawing views.

 

I hope this helps.       

Edited April 30, 2022 by JayW

[TAG]

Great stuff, Jay!

 

Here's another view of the forward fuel line for the standard tanks (as Jay pointed out, unused for the flat belly config) with a bonus look at the sway braces:

That tiny stencil says "DROP TANK LOCK SIGHTING HOLE", yet another conundrum to be solved...

[MikeMaben]

Just now, TAG said:

                 That tiny stencil says "DROP TANK LOCK SIGHTING HOLE", yet another conundrum to be solved...

 Likely a hole thru to the cockpit floor for the pilot to verify that the tank had dropped or not.

[Citadelgrad]

Version 2.0

 

 

man, that macro setting is unforgiving.  Anyway i like the scale of this version better and will touch it up before installing, obviously. 

[Citadelgrad]

On 4/30/2022 at 4:52 PM, TAG said:

Great stuff, Jay!

 

Here's another view of the forward fuel line for the standard tanks (as Jay pointed out, unused for the flat belly config) with a bonus look at the sway braces:

That tiny stencil says "DROP TANK LOCK SIGHTING HOLE", yet another conundrum to be solved...

Played with this tonight, minus the modern blue anodizing. How did i do?

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Citadelgrad