Just about
every serious modeler has built or at least has this beautiful Tamiya kit. Jug
fans probably have both versions. Even a merely competent builder, such as your
correspondent, can do a decent job on this almost faultless
gem; for the average modeler 'straight-from-the-box' is just
fine for this one. The only 'extras' I added was some wiring
at the instrument panel, and some ignition wiring. Eduard belts were
used to enhance the kit seat.
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Alclad
Duraluminum and Dark Aluminum were used for the overall metal surfaces. Tamiya
Khaki Drab covers the upper surface stripe paintovers. The kit decals are neat
and colorful, offering Lt. Col. Ben Mayo's checkerboard-nosed WZ-P,
and Maj.Gen. Bill Kepner's eagle-nosed VM-P. The only kit decals I used
were the Invasion Stripes for the lower surfaces-they lined up and went down
surprisingly well!
I had bought AeroMaster sheet
48-578 'T-Bolts of the 404 th Pt. 3' long before I got the kit. Hal
G. Shook's "RAE' looked interesting, and a bit of a challenge. In fact
it takes a bit of care to get the overpaints lined up correctly to correspond
with the decal placements.
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On the AeroMaster instruction
sheet is a b/w picture of 'Rae' with the wheel coverings off. Also of
note; Tom Cleaver politely informed me that the P-38 style 150 gal. tanks were
seldom if ever seen on European Theatre Jugs. In the attached Adobe
PhotoShop 7 composite images the tanks have been removed .The pictures were
taken with an Olympus C-720 digital camera. It was fun building
'Rae', and just as much fun trying to bring her back to life in pictures.
Bob
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