1/72 Hasegawa Thunderbolt Mk II

30 Squadron RAF SEAC

by PS

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This is my Thunderbolt Mk II in 30 squadron markings used in South East Asia. The P-47 replaced the Hurricanes on escort and ground attack missions in July 1944. The conversion was difficult with a heavier and more powerful fighter, it became operational three months later on Chittatong air base until march 1946.

In the end, the Thunderbolts were in bad shape due to a lack of maintenance and repairs. They were replaced by the Tempest II.

Check this for further 30 squadron history : http://www.lyneham.raf.mod.uk/30sqn/pages/history13.html

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About the kit, the Hasegawa one is bigger than the Academy one (guess who's right ?) but has a good shape, builds well and overall has good decals!

I enhanced it using an Aires resin cockpit, P&W R2800 resin engine, a Squadron vacuform canopy and some PE parts remaining from my last P-47 build. Everything went well until being displayed on an old Airfix clear stand from the Dassault Super Mystere B2 kit (it will come later...).

The painting : here I encountered problems as I did a silver (Humbrol 11) undercoat to create a chipped paint finish. The coats of the final colors didn't resist to Tamiya masking tape, I had to repaint this several times before obtaining the right result. I don't have much hair on my head, but this time, I'm sure I lost a lot of it... I'm anxious for the next time...

So I mainly used the following Humbrol colors: gray FS36270 126 for the intrados, dark earth 29 & dark green 163 for the camo scheme. White stripes (yeah !) were done with Gunze H1.

I weathered the kit by chipping the over(over)coat(s) with a needle (the result was worth my suffering and my loss of hair), a dark brown juice in the panel lines and a flat finish.

I also added exhaust traces by airbrushing flat black first and tan next.

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My patience was put to test by painting this kit, but isn't that an aspect of modelling ?.. That's what improves experience!

Happy (patient) modelling !

PS

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Photos and text © by PS