1/48 Tamiya P-47D Razorback “Gail Ann”

[Wolfman63]

Welcome to week two on the Gail Ann. Starting off with this week’s work, I finished detailing the main landing gear by adding photo etch lines. The tail wheel was installed and the photo etch replacement gear doors were installed. I then spent an evening making the Gail Ann specific decals. On a few of the reference photos it shows the main gear had hub caps. These had a design on them. After some research I found out they were red, white, and blue. I duplicated the pattern and scaled them for the main gear hubs. I also made all the other decals as well. I just need to verify the “Gail Ann” matches the rest of the blue on the aircraft. Since the blue on the aircraft is glossy I coated them with a coat of Vallejo matte finish. This is because the flat tends to change the hue of the color and I needed the slight shift so I can color match the nose decals. I also purchased some resin drop tanks. The drop tanks in the kit were typical of European Theater but the Pacific theater they typically used a 75-gallon vertical seam style drop tank.
I then started working on the bombs. The fins on the kit bomb are too thick and small for the bomb and the photo etch set includes fins. Once they were bent into shape and the kit ones cut off I learned that the back of the bomb is too small for the fins. I used some styrene tubing and made a sleeve for the fins. Once assembled the bomb now looks like the reference photos.
I started painting all the base coats of neutral gray underside with olive drab, NMF, and blue on the aircraft. For this next week I will be adding the decals then working on the canopy. If all goes well, I may have this completed by next weekend.
Check out more photos and details in my build log at https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log ... -gail-ann/

[digger303]

Wow lots done and to a high standard

[BigWall]

Very nice! I really like those wheel decals

[Wolfman63]

The “Gail Ann” is now completed! The final week started off with adding the decals. The aircraft was then weathered slightly with pastel chalk and then sealed with a matte finish. The HUD was then modified by cutting off the thick gun sight and replacing it with a piece of clear acetate. With the sight installed the armored glass for was then added to the windscreen. I assembled the correct propeller, painted, decals added, and installed it. The wingtip lights were installed and the recognition lights under the starboard wing were finished off. EZ-Line was used to add the antenna. The gun barrels were painted with steel. The last detail I did was to cut off the rear navigation light and replace it with a clear lens. This completed the aircraft!
The end of the week I assembled the display case. I used the Scene-A-Rama “sand” sheet for the base. Once it was glued down I sprayed some dark sand to represent the edge of the taxi lane and some black staining on the areas around the aircraft that were high traffic as well as the supercharger exhaust area. I cut out an area for the nickel nameplate. I used nickel instead of brass for this so the nameplate would stand out a little better. I then drilled holes in the bottom of the aircraft wheels and installed metal pins in order to mount the aircraft in the display case.
With the base finished off all that was left to do was add the clear cover completing this project.
This will be packed up and shipped out the client this weekend. Thank you all for following along on this historic build of the Gail Ann as she was on Saipan in 1944.
Check out all the photos and details from start to finish in my build log at https://davidsscalemodels.com/build-log ... -gail-ann/

[digger303]

[Carles]

That´s really a great job !!
Congratulations!