Revell 1/72nd P-47, beware...

[The Rat]

Picked this up yesterday, just wanted to quickly get something done in the 'real world' instead of wondering what to do next with various whiffs. Nice little kit, but there is a problem for those who may wish to tackle it. Photos 1 and 2 show that the wing root gap is the same top and bottom, photo 3 shows the problem; the starboard wing seems to have too much dihedral. Thought it might have been me, but I just checked the empennage with a ruler and the horizontal stabilisers are at right angles to the rudder, so it seems to be the engineering. As I said, nice kit, but if you build one, correct this before the glue dries.[/lesson_learned]

[The Rat]

Hmmm... This doesn't look right



It's caused by these bits getting in each other's way




You can't easily see the oil cooler intakes once the engine and cowling are on, so I'll just cut them off. This one might be my fault, but I don't think so.

[NARSES2]

I've a couple of these in the stash Ratty, so thanks for the pointers 

[Dizzyfugu]

Interesting! 

[The Wooksta!]

The dihedral is an easy fix - jam some plastic card spacers in until it comes into line.  Something you have to do with the Fujimi Spitfires.  Yes, Spits have dihedral, but they shouldn't look like Stuka!

[The Rat]

Well, she's done. Forgot to add the pitot before taking the pictures, I'll do it later. Looking around the net at reviews it seems that the unsymmetrical wing dihedral is either a 'one off' with my boxing, or something I actually did get wrong, because nobody else had complaints. Ditto for the engine bay innards. Oh well, my fault for not doing more dry-fitting. The surface detail on this kit is superb, very fine, but not fine enough to get lost under paint. Perfect, I would say. The molding seems to be showing some age, the dorsal fillet to modify it into an M model was very poorly molded in my box, didn't bother with it. The real purpose of building this was because A) I had never built a Jug, and B) I wanted to really test out my airbrush and spray booth. Didn't want get too buried things, so there was no clear coat afterward, didn't really need it anyway, no weathering, no panel line wash. The decals went on very well, snuggled down well with Micro Set/Sol, no silvering on the matte finish. Camo outlines were done with blue-tak, a bit labourious but worked fairly well, still learning. Didn't bother with the tiny little stencils and such, eyes are feeling a bit weary. But cut them some slack, I've been using and abusing them for nigh on 70 years! 

Overall I'm very pleased with what I was able to accomplish, perhaps the best finish I've ever managed, although the canopy masking could have come out better. I'll continue to experiment with other stash items, the Airfix deHavilland Heron is currently on the bench, and other techniques will be added to what was done on the T-Bolt.

[Rick Lowe]

Nicely done. 

Your model & you're happy = the best result!

[DogfighterZen]

That looks good! 
Reading about the issues you had with your your kit, i actually had none of those issues with my kit and it was a smooth build, mostly... The problem i had with mine was the amount of flash on the aft edge of the canopy itself. I probably cut out a bit too much or the flash was just too much and the canopy wouldn't sit straight and wouldn't match the windscreen so i had to sand off a bunch of material from the canopy frames on the inside to get it looking acceptable. That doesn't seem to have been a problem for you so, i'm guessing we both did something wrong.

[Vulcan7]

Great looking build           

[NARSES2]

Come out really well Ratty 

[Old Wombat]

 

Buffing down the edges of your masking is critical when airbrush painting! (Don't ask me how I know this! ^{© zenrat industries})

[The Rat]

Buffing down the edges of your masking is critical when airbrush painting! (Don't ask me how I know this! ^{© zenrat industries})

I presume that you mean the canopy. I used Microscale Micro Mask, not the best decision. 

[Old Wombat]

Buffing down the edges of your masking is critical when airbrush painting! (Don't ask me how I know this! ^{© zenrat industries})

I presume that you mean the canopy. I used Microscale Micro Mask, not the best decision. 

I meant "In general & on canopies, especially."

Liquid mask is not the best on canopies but I have used it, when it's the only option, on small, oddly shaped spaces. A toothpick, with the point sliced to form a small edge, can be used to cut/crack the paint around the edges of the liquid mask prior to removal & a soft-bristled paint brush usually removes the flakes pretty well.

[zenrat]

Simple bubble canopy like that i'd brush paint the frames.

Great looking aircraft Ratty.    

[The Rat]

Simple bubble canopy like that i'd brush paint the frames.

Great looking aircraft Ratty.    

Thanks! As I said, it was really just a test article, but it came out rather good. And I have brush painted frames before, well, nearly always, but I make just as much mess doing that as any other method.