Trumpeter 1/32 P-47D Razorback "Eileen"

[JayW]

John - by my measure I think the LG will be good!  Wheels should be perpendicular to the ground of course, and the lower edge of the gear doors should be roughly parallel with the ground.   Everything else - OMG what a beauty!

[Thunnus]

Thanks for the comments!

 

3 hours ago, scvrobeson said:

So close to done! Go John! Can't wait to see it down on its wheels. Must be rare to see a Thunderbolt with Olive Drab gear legs

 

How'd you make the little bead for the top of the sight?

 

I broke open a Brita water filter and there are a bunch of little spheres of different sizes mixed in with the charcoal... the large ones are perfect for 1/32 cockpit knobs and I used a smaller one for the bead on top of the sight.

 

 

2 hours ago, JayW said:

John - by my measure I think the LG will be good!  Wheels should be perpendicular to the ground of course, and the lower edge of the gear doors should be roughly parallel with the ground.   Everything else - OMG what a beauty!

All I can say is... WHEW!  I was dreading disappointing you Jay because I was not going to modify the landing gear if it looked reasonably ok!

 

The wheels have been glued into place.  I used 2-part epoxy to give me some time to orient the flattened tires to a flat surface.  And the last bits have been added including the spine antenna, tail light, pitot tube, mirror on top of the windscreen, bead sight.  So Eileen is finished!  I'll try and get some glamour shots of the completed Eileen soon.  But here's a sneak look at her...

 

[JayW]

6 hours ago, Thunnus said:

I broke open a Brita water filter and there are a bunch of little spheres of different sizes

 

Really?  I don't know how imaginative folks like you make the connection between an object of some kind totally unrelated to modeling, and to the object for a model.  Ingenious.  

 

That sneak peak is cruel!  Cannot wait for the RFI. 

[LSP_Kevin]

41 minutes ago, JayW said:

Really?  I don't know how imaginative folks like you make the connection between an object of some kind totally unrelated to modeling, and to the object for a model.  Ingenious.

 

That's an old trick, actually. I've nearly gone out and bought a couple of these filters just to try it, but never bothered in the end.

 

Kev

[ARay87]

Amazing work John. Inspiring me to dust off the supplies and crack open a kit for the first time in over year. 

[scvrobeson]

What a beauty John.  And it's good for your German planes to get an adversary to hunt in the skies over your modeling desk.

 

 

 

Matt 

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!

 

I woke up early to set up the finished build shots but it is a drizzly day so I'll have to pick another time.  Here are some more pics of Eileen to show some of the posing options.  As you recall, the engine is attached via magnets so I can pose with the engine cowling off if desired.

 

 

No glue on the sliding canopy so it can be popped off and posed in the open position.  Just noticed that one of the blast tubes has worked itself loose!

 

 

A view from the undersides.  I'm choosing to leave the bomb racks detachable from the wings and also the bombs detachable from the racks.

 

[monthebiff]

Absolutely stunning as ever John, not to often you see these built and she looks so good.

 

Regards. Andy 

[JayW]

The P-47 is one of my all-time favorite subjects.  I have spent way too many hours studying it.  It is a thrill to have one of the most accomplished modelers on LSP model it in 1/32.  P-47's were the workhorse fighter of the USAAF.  It was big, burly and mean.  It looked it too.  I know that look when I see it.  In addition to the virtual perfection of so many details - engine, cockpit, exterior finish, gear bays, etc - your model has successfully captured that look IMO.  It looks big, burly and mean.  I cannot wait to see a multi-picture RFI.

 

Now - what is going on with that belly tank?  It is practically dragging the ground.   I did some checking around and I have found a couple things.  

 

First, there is a drawing that describes aux tank installations - a few of them (drawing 93X10101).  Only thing is, it doesn't describe the flat tank you have.  Don't know why.  There is a picture however of the 108 gallon "paper" tank belly mounted, shown here:

 

 

 

 

 

Given the tight clearance of any large tank mounted on the belly to the ground, you would expect the sway braces to be turned in as much as possible regardless of whether its a paper tank or the flat tank.  The picture above shows the tank pretty tight against the belly.  Not touching of course but tight.  Yours is not - there is a good bit of clearance on yours.  There must be pictures out there that show in good detail that belly tank on an aircraft.  Perhaps check into that?  Fixing that would be a PITA, but very doable. 

 

Also note the tank above is nose down just a bit.  I wonder if the flat tank is supposed to be that way too, to improve ground clearance....

 

Also, I rechecked that side view you provided us that shows quite well the landing gear rake.  Some things to know:

 

1.  The angle between the horizontal ref line of the fuselage and the gear strut should be between 78 and 78.5 deg.  That is that 12 deg rake I was talking about (or actually 11.5 to 12 deg).  Full disclosure - that value is not called out directly on a drawing.  It was arrived at indirectly by yours truly.  But every view I have seen on every drawing, if measured, is consistent with that value. 

2.  The main skin joint on the fuselage is coincident with the horizontal ref line, which is 90 deg to vertical.  That is a for sure.  I have every reason to believe Trumpeter got that detail right.

3.  The LG strut centerline is parallel with the forward edge of the upper gear doors.  Not the aft edge.  That is also a for sure.  Those doors are kind of trapezoidal (not rectangles).  I am not sure if Trumpeter got that right.  

 

Your view shows the gear doors, not the strut itself.  So to measure strut rake angle, all I can do is measure the gear door forward edge, something I didn't do when I checked yesterday (I measured the aft edge).  When I measure, I get about 14 deg from vertical, or 76 deg to the fuselage skin joint.  If that is a good measurement (please check me), then the gear are raked about 2 deg too far forward.  Your latest pictures of the model on its legs and feet back that observation up - the bottom edge of the lower gear door is not quite parallel with the ground, suggesting a slightly too severe rake angle.  Ordinarily that would be sorta OK.  But this is contributing somewhat to the belly tank ground clearance issue.  I did a quick layout, and I think it puts the belly tank about .02 inch closer to the ground.  I wonder if those gear struts can be persuaded to be deflected about 2 deg more upright.....       

 

Of course, measuring a photograph is not an exact way to do it.  So error or distortion might have crept in there despite your efforts to show a true side view.   I doubt it though.

 

So, if you feel that belly tank clearance is a big issue, then I would check out those two things - redo the sway braces to get the tank closer to the belly (and perhaps a bit nose down?), and try pushing those struts back a bit (a nail-biting thing to attempt, I recognize).  Or - the belly tank doesn't need to be there - but it is a such an excellent detail.

 

 

Edited May 29, 2023 by JayW

[TAG]

5 hours ago, Thunnus said:

 

 

 

I am in love with this build and have but one nit to pick, John: I think your (beautifully and ingeniously fabricated) bead sight post is a bit too tall, at least compared to the real deal. Here's Eileen herself, along with Lt. Oiler:

 

Some more examples:

 

Couple of period color shots:

 

This isn't a Razorback (the location of the sight was slightly different on the Bubbletop) but I believe the actual dimensions of the bead post never changed.

 

Again, hope this isn't too much of a hassle if you decide to fix it. It is a bittersweet goodbye to Eileen, like Jay my favorite plane of all time is the Jug and seeing it built by one of the most talented model makers I have ever seen has been a real privilege, but right now I'm a bit sad because the journey has nearly come to an end. Still, thanks for letting us come along on yet another magnificently executed build, John!

 

- Thomaz

 

 

 

[scvrobeson]

5 hours ago, JayW said:

The P-47 is one of my all-time favorite subjects.  I have spent way too many hours studying it.

 

So an 1/18 one is next on the block after the Corsair?

 

 

 

Matt 

[JayW]

10 hours ago, scvrobeson said:

So an 1/18 one is next on the block after the Corsair?

 

 

Matt - did one already.  Here is the RFI:

 

 

I included a link to the build thread.

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by JayW

[LSP_Kevin]

On 5/30/2023 at 1:30 PM, JayW said:

I haven't figured out how to copy/paste the link.  

 

Just copy it out of your browser's address bar, and paste it directly into the post edit window. If you give it a few seconds, it'll even load a preview of the topic.

 

Kev

[Woody V]

I'm embarrassed that I'm even commenting about this considering I'll never have a model turn out as excellent as this but.... there's a little detail that hardly anyone ever includes on bombs. There's a cable, or wire, that secures the fuse arming "fan" from turning until the bomb is released, and it should be easy to add even now. Seem a simple contraption with one end secured to the rack and the other end on the "fan".

Here's my attempt on my SBD:

Edited May 30, 2023 by Woody V

[JayW]

Hey look what I just found.  First a picture John has provided in a previous post:

 

 

Note here that the tank has little rings that attach to the centerline bomb shackle, as they should.  Note that the bomb shackle is completely proud of the belly.  That is NOT as it should be.  I am sorry I did not pick this up earlier.

 

This drawing (93F78218 - "Sway Brace Install. - Belly Tank & Bomb") shows that the bomb shackle is buried almost entirely inside the belly contour:

 

 

Making this correction alone may solve the drop tank to ground clearance issue.  Might be a tough thing to do, but that would do it.