SOME HISTORY:
The Republic P-47D Thunderbolt
was the most numerous US fighter airplane in WW2. Although it
wasn't as succesful as the P-51 Mustang (at least as an escort fighter) it was far more rugged and really came into it's own as a
fighter bomber during the final two years of WW2 in Europe. After the war
it quickly disappeared from USAAF inventory, but numerous surplus
Thunderbolts (renamed as F-47Ds) saw extensive service
with several European and Latin American air forces. France,
Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Greece, Mexico, Peru, to name
a few, all used them as fighter bombers well into 1950s, when they
were finally replaced by jets.
Those who are interested to find
out how a Communist country like Yugoslavia got it's hands on US
military equipment should check my previously published article on
Academy F-84G Thunderjet here on ARC. In short it was a bizzare Cold
War affair which lasted until the early 1960s.
In 1951 a
group of handpicked Yugoslav fighter pilots were sent to USA to train
on F-47s. Some alegedly impressed their American instructors
with their quick learning and spirited flying. So in 1952 a
US Navy cargo ship docked in the Yugoslav port of Rijeka
(previously Italian Fiume) and unloaded the first F-47Ds, disassembled
and stored in wooden crates. Thus the type begun it's long
and succesful service with the Yugoslav Air Force (JRV) which lasted for
10 years. They were a welcome replacement for a rag tag war
weary collection of Spitfire Vc, Hurricane II, Me-109G, Yak-9/3
and domestic S-49 fighters. To quicken the pilot transition to
the F-47D a number of AT-6 Harvard trainers were also acquired from
the USAAF. Yugoslav F-47s serving as fighters were rather quickly
replaced by F-84 Thunderjets and relegated to fighter bomber units
where they lasted until early 1960s. It is estimated that a totall number
of 150 F-47Ds saw service with JRV. The majority of them were ex
USAAF aircraft while some were later received from the French AF.
Several
Yugoslav F-47Ds survive to this day. At least two were fully restored in
JRV repair shops in the 1980s and sold to private collectors in the USA where they
keep on flying in US WW2 markings. There are also two
interesting examples preserved in domestic museums. One is on display in
the Museum of JRV in Belgrade, Serbia. This is a fully restored
aircraft which represents the standard and rather dull JRV
Thunderbolt in overall NMF with black anti glare surfaces. The second
F-47D is displayed in the Technical Museum in Zagreb, Croatia. This is a
leftover from the final years of service with JRV when surviving F-47s were
painted in standard JRV 3 colour camouflage. This example lacks wing
armament and some cockpit equipment. Rumors say that in 1991 this WW2 fighter was
seriously considered for full restoration and rearmament. It was to fly ground
attack missions against Serbian forces in the bloody and savage civil war
which lasted from 1991-1995. Luckily this never happened and it remains
on museum's display to this day. However numerous other Yugoslav WW2
armament was widely used on the battlefields of former Yugoslavia
along with far more advanced equipment from 1970s and 1980s.
I
really hope that it was THE LAST WAR in this part of the world.
Click on
images below to see larger images
THE
KIT:
This lovely
and inexpensive Revell kit dates from the late 1990s. It is widely
available in European toy stores and supermarkets and can be found in the D or
M version (the only differences between the two packages are slightly
different engine and different sets of drop tanks). Also the D is
moulded in silver and M in white plastic. It's only visible
fault are somewhat thick and often badly moulded/fogged clear parts.
The detail for this scale is superb and overall acuracy and
shape is far better than with Academy P-47D kit which has seriously
misshapen canopy, weird engine, too long undercarriage, wrong machine
guns and weird proppellor. Even the old and somewhat basic Hasegawa
kit has better shape than the Academy kit. Of course the Revell kit is now
surpassed by the newest Tamiya kit which, in my opinnion, is waaay too
expensive for it's size and worth.
If one wants
to build a model of a postwar or a very late WW2 P-47D then this is the
definite kit to go for. It even comes with an optional dorsal fin!
BUILDING &
PAINTING:
So far I have built
several of these kits. This build dates from 2004. There is nothing special
about it. One only has to sand off some of the rather prominent
"belly" and maybe a single mm or so off the vertical tail
which is rather high. The cockpit is very detailed as is the engine.
Both are superb
out of the box. Undercarriage detail by far surpasses Academy and even the tiny supercharger
exhaust doors can be displayed open or closed. The only area which requires some
filling is the lower wing to fuselage joint.
Unfortunately I
didn't have much luck with this one since at the time I seriously lacked the
knowledge on NMF effect. It was overall airbrushed with Model Master Aluminium while
some pannels were highlighted with Humbroll Gloss metalizer. I even
managed to grab it by the fuselage with bare fingers wett with thinner and
that really made a mess of the paint job. Cockpit and undercarriage
greens were expertly home mixed by myself.
I chose to represent the
somewhat famous #64 with cirylic inscription "Hajduk" (a
Balcan folk bandit who supposedly robbed only Muslim Turks while
protecting local Christian population). Markings and JRV roundels came
from excellent Czech-Serbian "Lift Here" decals.
All in all not my
finest effort but I hope that you like it.
Josip
Click on
image below to see larger image
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