The
Kit
The
kit is a Revell-Monogram P-47D Thunderbolt “Razorback". It is very nicely
detailed, comes with 2 types of decals and includes 500lb bombs and bazooka
rocket launches. It can be modeled as Pt Capt Charles Mohrle’s “Touch of
Texas” or as Pt Major Herschel H Green flying in Italy, I chose to model
Green’s machine.
History
The
thunderbolt was made by the Republic Aircraft Company and came into service in
January 1943.It was huge and housed a massive R-2800 Part & Witney radial
engine which was the most powerful engine of its time. With 15,683 being built
it was to be the largest ever production run for a US fighter in history. With a
top speed of 429 m/ph and 8 .50-calibre machine guns it was the fastest and most
heavily armed fighter at that time, it could also carry 500lb bombs and rockets,
its performance and acceleration where not quite up to standards. Designed for
escort bomber raids into Germany, it didn’t despite its large fuel capacity,
have the range to escort the bombers all the way to Germany and back, but still
escorted bombers and turned back and meet the bombers their return. The
thunderbolt served in Europe, Italy and the Pacific theatres in many roles from
intercepting aircraft to machine gunning ships.
Instructions
The
kit came with a 4 page instructions with pictures, history and references.
Showing what the plane looks like.
Construction
of the Kit
The
kit fitted together well and I only need to fill in a couple of areas. The
cockpit was very nicely detailed and so was the instrument panel. I painted the
cockpit interior green and the instrument panel black, then I dry brushed the
details black and the instrument panel silver. The pilots armour was the same as
the cockpit with a black headrest. Putting the fuselage halves together was no
problem, everything fitting perfectly. After sanding, I went on to the wings,
there was a bit of trouble when putting them together because the guns were off
to the holes but I managed to fix it by sanding the holes out then gluing the
wings together then filled it. Because it isn’t a low wing plane the wings
were in 2 pieces instead of the 1,so I had to set the dihedral, but when I went
to put the wings in, the top of the wing wasn’t at an angle for the dihedral's
I had to sand it to the dihedral, something Revell-Monogram will have to fix.
After the wings were set it I stuck the horizontal stabilizers, I almost
didn’t have to set the angle right it was so precise. Now to the cowling and
the engine. The engine piece was very finely detailed and looked good, I painted
the cylinders and rods black and the middle section gray and the the inside of
the cowling chromate yellow and a band around the front red. The prop was panted
with a red spinner and the normal black and yellow tipped blades. Sticking on
the cowling (without the engine) onto the plane with white glue for later
retrieval then went to spray paint my plane in the standard paint scheme for the
Italy theatre which was olive drab for the top and neutral gray for the
underside, giving about 3-4 coats each side. The tail was different having to
paint yellow for the checks. The wheel wells and the insides of the wheel doors
were painted chromate yellow and the outsides being painted neutral gray. I now
gave the whole plane a coat of clear gloss for the decals. I now took of the
cowling stuck the engine in, stuck the cowling on again, painted the guns silver
and the section in front of the cockpit black and put the decals on. After the
decals dried, I then gave the kit another coat of clear gloss and then a coat of
dull gloss. Unfortunately the check decals shattered so I masked the tail with
squares and sprayed the tail black. Not as good as the decals but effective. I
then went about sticking the wheels on, putting the prop on and gluing on the
canopy.
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Accuracy
The
finished model compared to pictures look almost to dead on line.
Colour
Options
There
was no real colour option for this kit except for one had invasion stripes.
Decals
The
decals are made by pro-modeler and I rate them very highly, the colour was sharp
and the film was strong for the exception of the checks
Rating=9/10
Conclusion
and Recommendation
I
liked this kit from the start and I enjoyed building it and admiring the
results. I look forward to building more Revell-Monogram kits because of their
quality. I got this kit for around $20 (Aus). You will find this model anywhere
in model shops even in toy shops!
I
would recommend this kit to amateur modellers.
Andrew
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