# P-47D The Bug



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

This is the recent 1:48 Revell reissue of the P-47D Razorback. It is a pretty old kit, it was stamped 1967 inside the kit.








I am not sure how accurate it is, but it was a nice kit to build. I only had to use a little putty and the kit decals worked very well.
















I like the other two schemes that were in the box so I might pick up a couple more of these.
Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.
Els


----------



## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Excellent job!
Yeah, that's a good ol' vintage Monogram kit, and it's pretty darn accurate, considering its age. It was the gold standard 1/48 Jug kit until Hasegawa and Tamiya did theirs.


----------



## JamesInNC (Sep 17, 2011)

Els,
I think you plane looks great. I've never gotten into accurizing military kits (or much else) before. Seems like you almost have to be an historian and purchase 2-3 books on each subject to get it just nearly right. I just read an article in FSM where the builder actually researched and accurized a plane for a specific pilot!


----------



## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Well, since each plane was flown by a specific pilot, it makes sense.


----------



## JamesInNC (Sep 17, 2011)

John P said:


> Well, since each plane was flown by a specific pilot, it makes sense.


Really? I didn't know that. Never having been in/around the military, I just figured planes were shared amongst rotating crews or pilots just hopped in one first-come, first-serve.

In any case, it was the first time I had seen mention of a plane being accurized that specifically.


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Monogram's old Razorback kit is not bad at all. Their older bubble top P-47 is pretty poor - Monogram has the location of the wing and cockpit wrong on the fusilage, but the razorback corrected all of that. One issue still is the wing guns are made to rise with the dihedral of the wings but in real life the guns are horizontal so the outermost gun is not higher than the inside one.

Pilots did have assigned planes but also rotated out some. Pilots also may have had more than one plane marked the same way or with similar markings at different points in their career. 

A classic example of the this is "White 27" the plane flown by Russian ace Ivan Kozedub. His actual plane was one of the few genuine ace's aircraft to have survived the war yet its actual coloring an fate have stirred a huge debate.

http://vvs.hobbyvista.com/Markings/Kozhedubs_White27/index.php


----------



## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

JamesInNC said:


> Really? I didn't know that. Never having been in/around the military, I just figured planes were shared amongst rotating crews or pilots just hopped in one first-come, first-serve.
> 
> In any case, it was the first time I had seen mention of a plane being accurized that specifically.


Sharing was normal, i think, because every pilot didn't always fly every day. But any time you see a WWII plane with a name and nose art, the regular pilot is the one who named it and did the art (or had it done). 

My father named his first assigned P-47 "Jack the Ripper" (his name was Jack) and flew it regularly. His second P-47 was "Big Squaw," and he didn't name that one. He tells me he flew it every other day, and Squaw's regular pilot flew her the other days. His final Jug was a P-47N that he named "Icky and Me" because when he first saw it, it was sitting in a mud puddle, and when he started the engine the propwash got the plane all "icky."

I've also seen cases of nose art and names being swapped between planes. This happens when one plane's engine cowling gets damaged and the mechanics swap cowls with another plane that might be in for repair. For example, Dad crashed Big squaw on Saipan, and I recently found a picture of a P-47 from a completely different fighter group with Big Squaw's name on the cowling!


----------



## JamesInNC (Sep 17, 2011)

John,
Thanks for sharing that. I truly find information like that extremely interested. Should have just been a professional student.

The review I read was for a P-51B flown by Captain John Brown Jr. He named his plane "Big Mac Junior." He must have been well know, as the kit builder purchased decals with the plane's name and the pilot's kill markings, sortie marks, and artwork. I believe the review aslso stated that Captain Brown tranferred the names and artwork to two subsequent planes he flew. The uilder located pictures of the plane and copied the paint job, including replicating all the nicks/blemishes and weathering! Real extreme IMO.

Now that we've hijacked Els' thread guess I'll move on. My apologies Els!


----------



## Ace Airspeed (May 16, 2010)

Your Jug looks great, Els! :thumbsup:


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks everybody.
I agree that some people really go crazy with making the kits as accurate as possible. Some people spend more time researching kits than building them. Thats fine, its a hobby, there are different aspects of it that are fun for different people. Sometimes I add extras to kits (Usually if it is an aircraft that I have some personal attachment) but most of the time, straight out the box is good enough for me. Don't worry about the hijack. It was worth it to hear John P's stories about his Dad.
Els


----------



## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

JamesInNC said:


> John,
> Thanks for sharing that. I truly find information like that extremely interested. Should have just been a professional student.
> 
> The review I read was for a P-51B flown by Captain John Brown Jr. He named his plane "Big Mac Junior." He must have been well know, as the kit builder purchased decals with the plane's name and the pilot's kill markings, sortie marks, and artwork. I believe the review aslso stated that Captain Brown tranferred the names and artwork to two subsequent planes he flew. The uilder located pictures of the plane and copied the paint job, including replicating all the nicks/blemishes and weathering! Real extreme IMO.
> !


That's actually pretty standard procedure for most airplane modelers I know. Sometimes tank modelers are even MORE thorough!


----------



## harristotle (Aug 7, 2008)

The model looks great! Love the background info in the thread too.


----------



## Parts Pit Mike (Jan 3, 2001)

Nicely done jug!


----------



## Jafo (Apr 22, 2005)

very nice. love the fresh decals!


----------



## 58chevy (Jan 22, 2011)

great kit, no waiting for rerelease of Corsair and crusader, love it.


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The old Monogram Crusader is back out now. The F4U Corsair is also out. I doubt the old ex-Aurora A-7 will ever be reissued as its a dog.


----------



## Els (Mar 13, 2011)

I had the Crusader in my hands at the LHS last weekend but ended up putting it back on the shelf. I will probably go back and get it though. $19 for a 1:48 jet can't be beat. That is also one of those planes that looks like it is going fast even when it is sitting still.
Was that the A-7 that had the functioning ejection seat? There was a rubber band attached to it and a hole in the bottom of the plane that a portion of the ejection set hooked on. You simply pushed the piece through the hole and the seat and pilot shot out of the plane. I don't remember much about the plane, it was just fun as a kid to eject the seat/pilot.
Els


----------



## Full Flaps! (Sep 26, 2010)

That P-47 looks pretty accurate from here, and very well done!

Anyone here would probably be very interested in checking out the long out of print book, _Wings of the Luftwaffe_ by former RAF test pilot Captain Eric Brown. It features his assessment of various German machines that he had the opportunity to fly while ferrying them during the war. Also featuring highly detailed cutaway drawings of every plane with descriptions for the parts. My favorite book on the subject!


----------



## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Els said:


> I had the Crusader in my hands at the LHS last weekend but ended up putting it back on the shelf. I will probably go back and get it though. $19 for a 1:48 jet can't be beat. That is also one of those planes that looks like it is going fast even when it is sitting still.
> Was that the A-7 that had the functioning ejection seat? There was a rubber band attached to it and a hole in the bottom of the plane that a portion of the ejection set hooked on. You simply pushed the piece through the hole and the seat and pilot shot out of the plane. I don't remember much about the plane, it was just fun as a kid to eject the seat/pilot.
> Els


No that was the Lindberg Crusader. You can get a variation of the kit these days but Lindberg took out the ejector seat and some of the other working parts.


----------

