Jon's 1/32 Hasegawa P-47D

[jbellos1]

Here's the plan.

Hasegawa kit, MDC Cockpit set, Quickboost gun barrels, and a Quickboost Engine set






A lot of plastic!



Cockpit set



Guns




And engine

[Goose]

Hello,

Have it in the stash! Nice bird with lovely goodies?

just an advice don't forget to use a riveter becoz it's very poor on that side

Goose

[jbellos1]

I think it is well overdue for an update to this beast.

The MDC cockpit is fantastic and really pops the interior for sure. I went ahead and got the external PE set for it as well, just to add even more goodies to this aftermarket Jug.

This external PE set, in fact.



But I get ahead of myself. First, let's talk about this cockpit set. Detailed and easy to work with resin for sure. The PE is nice to work with too, not too hard and not too soft.

US Interior green was used and darkened with olive drab washes. I did not attempt to mix the bronze green that was probably actually used. Details were picked out and several dry fittings took place.









I weathered with dark brown/black oil washes. Sealed everything well, and set it aside.



Then it was on to the engine. And a beautiful upgrade it is too.

It did not come with push rods, so I cannibalized the kit's part for them. I used the wire portion of the PE wiring harness for the ignition wires. All in all, I think it looks good.

Tedious, but worth the effort.







All push rods in place and glued.



Then it was on to the wiring. This was quite fiddly, as they say, but the effect is worth it to me, but it is sapping the mojo big time.









To fit the multiple lines in the ring was interesting to say the least. Sometimes only two and other times more. Then they had to be appropriately placed on the cylinders.

But the final effect is quite nice, I think.



A bit different lighting





The entire component was painted in Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal Silver, allowed to dry, then a black artist's oil wash was applied and removed as necessary.





The housing, components, and wiring were painted.



A #2 HB pencil was used to apply wear to the housing.



I think it turned out nice.





Some mods to the fuselage were made above.

And it looks like you'll see a fair amount of the engine all cowled up. Cowlings are removable...supposedly.



But I wasn't finished yet.

Painted the wires a contrasting color to stand out a bit more - Ammo MIG Red Brown Base -913, and applied another oil wash with 502 Abteilung 080, brown wash and 502 Abteilung 160 Engine Grease.

Much better IMO.









This was sealed up properly and set aside with the cockpit. Next update, the Aires resin wheel wells.

[Homerlovesbeer]

Sweet job on the engine. Looks like a very fiddly job

[jbellos1]

OK - as promised...Aires Wheel Well.

This one



A little modeling magic and they look like this.







Not too bad a fit. My cutting leaves a lot to be desired though.





Prior to buttoning up the fuselage, some minor modifications were needed to accommodate the photo etch. Plus the cockpit's instrument panel needs the instruments attended to, but that I will leave for another chapter. For now, I will concentrate on the additional PE.

These were fun...NOT! Two on each side, the last two towards the bottom...little actuator part broke off (I think it's supposed to be an actuator for the cowling).



Those little buggers on both sides. But all's well that ends well.



Then there were some vents and such that got upgrades.









Some test fitting. This step is most important - the test fitting step. I have yet to encounter aftermarket that fits one for one with a kit part.



As I completed the wheel bays, I drew up the courage to do the wee teeny tiny instrument decals that came with the cockpit upgrade set. You can see them already to be started. That funny looking black thing in the lower left corner area, along with the decal sheet.



Still a long way to go...IP decals, assemble the cockpit, put the fuselage together, wings on, final external PE work, then paint...maybe.

[jbellos1]

OK - I am as sick of this kit as the rest of you are. I can tell since no one is looking.

Anyway - made some progress to complete this big bird pain in the ass

It is in black primer and the small bits and pieces are becoming less and less.

Stuffed the cockpit and wheel wells with tissue paper, then...




It all went black...





Worked on the PE for the landing gear doors too





Those EPMs will not be seen





Taped off the ammunition bays, thinking I'm going to do a NMF - but this plan has changed and I will paint the Gabreski scheme instead.





Juuust a bit fiddly.





Got the cowling put together temporarily, painted the inside XF-4 and the rest...black














MDC cockpit survived and looks great! Canopy to go on soon, then base coat of XF-83.











This is what remains to be completed and added, once painting and some initial weathering is completed.




Just a bit more to do is all...31 Dec, here I come!

[Lego]

Ha ha ya mad thing.


My eyes hurt looking at all the pe

[Nige201980]

Brilliant job on the engine mate.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Not sick of the build, just didn't see it
I know that feeling when you look at the same darn kit every day over and over and you just want to finish or smash it
Everything you have done looks awesome...interior details, engine details, painting and weathering let alone all the PE and detail parts
Keep on plugging away at it, she will be a big beautiful bird when complete

[jbellos1]

So, some more progress on this big bird.

The canopies were masked and painted. First, in an undercoat of olive drab and then the metal finish. There are two canopies, one that's one-piece, and the other that are two-pieces - open or closed. The closed one fit so nicely I thought, why not use it to mask the cockpit for the next steps, keeping it safe and sound.

So, the one-piece is on temporarily attached with Testors Clear Parts Cement & Window Maker, yes...Testors. I really like the stuff. The applicator is precise, it dries relatively quickly, odorless, and can be completely removed.

Anyway, I also found that the mounts for the fuselage external fuel tank needed some attention. As in, marking, center punching, drilling, cutting, reaming, gluing, and finally painting. And mind, this was on a primed, ready for other paint, model. I think I did a fair enough job. You take a look and let me know what you think.

The ordinance was fun to trick out too. The external PE set comes with bomb enhancements that really make them look great. I scuffed up the bomb casing just a bit too, as it was a rougher surface in most examples. We'll see if it translates under paint.

I also masked and painted the two-piece canopy set, so the amped up cockpit can be seen as displayed with the canopy open or closed (to keep dust out).

The gunsight was put together, painted and weathered. Absolutely beautiful resin and fine PE combination, included with the MDC kit, even the clear part.

The prop was put together and painted. Not weathered yet, but that will get there.

And of course, I primed the beast in flat black. I use a readily available rattle can variety, an enamel, which takes a couple days to dry, but that OK, there's so much to do , it could sit unmolested for two or three days no problem. Included with getting ready to prime the monster was the engine cowling to take care of - it is four-pieces, meant to be removable or attachable, had to paint the inside surfaces XF-4 and the rest flat black. I found it preferable to prime it while attached to the fuselage, so, inside surfaces first. Then fiddle with the pieces and some yellow tape. Prior to temporarily attaching the canopy to the fuselage, the cockpit was protected from over spray and OD was used surrounding the cockpit area. The canopy track was dry-brushed to give it some contrast. Sufficient time was given to dry completely. Then the canopy was masked using the Tamiya curvy tape, yellow tape, and sharp #11 and #23 blades at hand. Oh, and clear eyes too. Then it was glued and clamped. Allowed it to dry for 48+ hours. Then, primed it - couple of light coats. Then I came back and picked out some areas with XF-4. And gave some areas on the topside a metallic coating, thinking of chipping of some kind.

It was at this point I thought, How am I supposed to attach that external fuel tank?

This is a story you'll see in pictures below, but basically, the call out to drill out the holes for the rigid guide posts and bumpers AND open up a slot for the tank's attachment point was completely missed. This was just another hurdle to get over and I just went at it. First, I took care of installing the posts and bumpers. I cleaned up the alignment pin on one of the four pieces and coated just the tip of it in red XF-7, and nervously touched it to where I "eyeballed" it should go. I repeated this three more times. I center-punched - kinda - with a large T-pin point each of the four red dots. It was just deep enough to start a cutting bit and not damage the plastic. I used a series of three different size drills, gradually getting larger, plus a reamer to clean the four holes out and create the correct angle - this allows the parts to sit correctly as you'll see below. Now it was time to open up the attachment point for the tank itself. At first, I thought I merely had to open up two holes corresponding to the two posts on the tank. No problem..a little XF-7 to locate the holes (which is why I needed to install the posts and bumpers first - to correctly place these holes). Set the tank in the holes, nice tight fit, but it sat about 4 mm too high. What the f%$@? Looking deeper now, the instructions were very poor, I had to infer that a slot to fit the piece the two posts are on needed to be cut. OK, at least I had two pilot holes in the right places. Anyway...take a look at what happened in the pictures below.

Prop's up first - and it was a big one in real life. The technique is simple, and Paul has a video about painting props that explains it well. I primed the entire prop in light grey. With white primer, I coated just the tips - inside and out. Then, yellow was applied. There were raised lines on each blade, inside and outside where the yellow was to be, so these were taped off accordingly, once thoroughly dry and then the remainder was painted flat black.



And here' that highly detailed gun-sight. Two pieces of resin make the main assembly. The PE cross-hairs were attached and allowed to fully dry. Then, primed in metallic black (it was what was at hand), painted lightly with OD, dry brushed with flat aluminum, and chipped. Then the clear resin was installed.









OK - here are the two canopies.





Berna clamps to the rescue! Just the right amount of pressure for this job. You can see the scheme I am shooting for, in the picture in the background. Incidentally, you can also see the Testors glue I mentioned above, in this application.



This shows the four areas to address for the external fuel tank issue.





If you look closely, you can just see the one I used to locate the holes...there's just a touch of red showing.



The fuel tank. Here you can see the two posts I originally drilled holes for. It's almost that entire rectangular shaped portion that needs to be sunk into the fuselage! The tank, btw, is pictured in raw styrene, no paint.



Right - get 'er done!



Very tricky work..High level of concentration



One more drill size up and a reaming to the correct angle - you can see the angular relationship that needed to be maintained, seeing the parts.



Some serious angles were correctly accounted for in my book! Phew!



And then - two neat holes...becomes a roughly cut slot. Ugly, but it will never be seen directly. I can live with that, after all, this is way after the time to be doing this anyway.



It actually fits pretty nicely for such a rough cut.





And Success! Properly seated.





OK now - fuel tank is looking good. Those are the kit bombs, not too bad, but wait...





The bombs get THE treatment. But first a little surgery, removing the kit fins and surface smoothing.



Three pieces of PE per bomb, and they make all the difference in the world.



One goes here



And the other two back here.



And here you have it, clamped, not glued.



Side-by-side, there is just no doubt how the PE enhances these mundane ordinance pieces.





Both finished and looking wonderful.



From the wonderful, to the ugly.

The tank attachment reworked area was re-primed and is now drying. Since it is an enamel, these dry differently than most other paints and takes longer to completely cure.





All in all, I'm pretty happy the way things turned out. I get to use the cool fuselage mounted fuel tank AND my bombs got pimped out!

On to painting the base colors next. I'm using Tamiya XF-81 RAF Dark Green 2, XF-82 RAF Ocean Gray 2, and XF-83 RAF Medium Sea Gray 2. It should be a lot of fun to see it come to life.

Thanks for looking and commenting.

[Tangles]

Great work Jon, the engine looks fantastic. Very nice build so far mate. That was some decent improvising for the external fuel tank too. Nice Job.

[jbellos1]

Thanks.

Updates coming more quickly towards the end date, as would be expected.

Got some paint on the beast and a bit of work on the munitions and the prop.

Weathering the landing gear - done. They are ready and waiting to be put in place, when the time is right.

Ultimate Light Dirt wash on the tires, 502 Abteilung Abt 160 Engine Grease and odorless mineral spirits wash on the struts and wheel bay covers. Picked out the brake lines.

Before weathering...




And after...





The bombs got some color - OD on both. One was stippled with a sponge and NATO Green XF-67, the other left OD. They still need weathering.









Now for the aircraft itself. It has been a long road to get to this point. Flat black primer and some metal highlights, then a coating of AMMO Mig Chipping Fluid - and allowed to dry sufficiently.

Hanging it from the rear wheel bay just seemed convenient and easy, so...



The underside was coated in XF-83, Medium Sea Gray 2 (RAF). After some careful masking, the upper surfaces were coated with XF-82, Ocean Gray 2 (RAF), with the camo green being XF-81, Dark Green 2 (RAF). I choose this set of colors thinking that they were delivered to the airfield in factory colors and would have been painted unit colors in the field. The field in this case is in England, in 1944. The RAF paint was readily available and it is highly likely it was used.

Blue tac was used to outline the green areas on the wings and horizontal stabilizers. One note about using the blue sticky stuff or the similar stuff out there, I highly recommended that it be removed as soon as possible from the surface to avoid staining. There is an oil component that will eventually stain your paint work.

Ultimate Thinner was used in approximately a 1/1 ratio, until a skim milk type coating was left on the stirrer.







I think I like it. In the raw - no weathering or any work at all...I'm happy.









And - overall, I like it a lot. This was the easy part. The fuselage will be much more complicated to paint.









And I masked off the center hub of the prop and gave it a nice silver metallic color.



And that where it will be left for this night...2:45 AM, good grief!

[Skullfish]

am diggin the build and feelin your vibe, after just completing the revell mossy in 1:32 i can empathise, and i didnt even have any aftermarket shennanigans going on! She'll be lookin good when alls said and done.
Jase

[Paul]

Looking good Jon, would be great to do a 1/24 one of these

[MarkVerploeg]

Very nice build
It looks better then the Trumpeter kit i made for this buddy build
Keep up the good work

[Kingdan]

It's coming on now Jon looks great

Dan

[jbellos1]

Flying along now. The main colors are on the model. I need to soften the edges of the green camo on the wings and tail.

But the fuselage was all free-handed and I think it came out pretty well. The Iwata Custom Micron was brilliant and I was able to get what I wanted it to look like with ease.





Then I masked off for the red paint on the nose and tail, went at them with XF-7 and here it is:









Took some opportunity to work on the propeller blades with a little XF-16 and a fine mesh spongy applicator thing.







And the bombs got some more attention, this time with a stippling sponge and XF-21.



I am looking forward to marrying up all the different assemblies, like the engine and prop.









Wow...getting very close to completion now. Landing gear - done. Engine & prop - done. Ordnance - done. Painting main airframe - done.

It's all coming together now. Stay tuned and thanks for taking a look. Comments welcome.

[Paul]

Looking great jon, really like that chipping to the prop

[jbellos1]

A bit more done - I can almost start to see the light at the end of this tunnel.

I did some chipping on the cowling, some of the fuselage forward of the cockpit, and the port wing leading edge. I also added some more weathering effects to the propeller blades, as well as some grease effects on the hub.

I used highly diluted XF-63 and a straight, synthetic bristle brush, in multiple light coats on the propeller blades, for a weather worn look. I added AK Track Wash, diluted with odorless mineral spirits on the hub halves mating joint bolting and flanges.

With a fairly hard Ammo Mig Chipping coating under the camo scheme along the areas under-coated with a metal-steel coat, I could wet the Tamiya acrylic top coat to the underlying metal. I actually chipped to the black primer layer in a number of areas. I think it adds some depth and contrast to the bright metal areas.

A nice side-affect of the wetting and chipping with stiff brushes, not too stiffly, is a weathered paint layer, replicating bleaching by the sun. I used brushes, toothpicks, and angle-cut cotton bud sticks, to actually do the chipping. I have quite a bit yet to finish before the next clear coat to protect it all.

I have to tell y'all, the mojo is diving deep into the credit chest on this one. I am both excited to be getting to this point seeing how it's coming to life before my eyes and exhausted by the entire build already with the end in sight, perhaps.

Anyway - I am still on pace to make it in under the finish line for this Buddy Build.

Oh yea, I also added the underside identification markings on each wing - aka invasion stripes.



And to give my concentration a break, I had to see how she would sit on her gear, with a bomb load and the external central fuel tank. I should have known better, of course, and as luck would have it, one strut lost its' PE scissor mechanism and one of the bay covers - so I removed them and put them to the side for later repair. Anyhoo...looked pretty cool though, hehe.



I wanted some of the markings on and dry prior to chipping - the stars and bars on the the wings, for instance.



I like the effect the diluted German gray has on each blade. It was about three coats to get it to this point and I stopped to see it as cured, and I think it looks like I wanted.



I added some lubrication effects to the hub area mating surfaces and bolting, again, this was with the diluted track wash. You can also see the subtle effect the diluted gray gives each blade. Done on both sides of each blade, by the way.

[jbellos1]

A bit more done - I can almost start to see the light at the end of this tunnel.

I did some chipping on the cowling, some of the fuselage forward of the cockpit, and the port wing leading edge. I also added some more weathering effects to the propeller blades, as well as some grease effects on the hub.

I used highly diluted XF-63 and a straight, synthetic bristle brush, in multiple light coats on the propeller blades, for a weather worn look. I added AK Track Wash, diluted with odorless mineral spirits on the hub halves mating joint bolting and flanges.

With a fairly hard Ammo Mig Chipping coating under the camo scheme along the areas under-coated with a metal-steel coat, I could wet the Tamiya acrylic top coat to the underlying metal. I actually chipped to the black primer layer in a number of areas. I think it adds some depth and contrast to the bright metal areas.

A nice side-affect of the wetting and chipping with stiff brushes, not too stiffly, is a weathered paint layer, replicating bleaching by the sun. I used brushes, toothpicks, and angle-cut cotton bud sticks, to actually do the chipping. I have quite a bit yet to finish before the next clear coat to protect it all.

I have to tell y'all, the mojo is diving deep into the credit chest on this one. I am both excited to be getting to this point seeing how it's coming to life before my eyes and exhausted by the entire build already with the end in sight, perhaps.

Anyway - I am still on pace to make it in under the finish line for this Buddy Build.

Oh yea, I also added the underside identification markings on each wing - aka invasion stripes.



And to give my concentration a break, I had to see how she would sit on her gear, with a bomb load and the external central fuel tank. I should have known better, of course, and as luck would have it, one strut lost its' PE scissor mechanism and one of the bay covers - so I removed them and put them to the side for later repair. Anyhoo...looked pretty cool though, hehe.



I wanted some of the markings on and dry prior to chipping - the stars and bars on the the wings, for instance.





I like the effect the diluted German gray has on each blade. It was about three coats to get it to this point and I stopped to see it as cured, and I think it looks like I wanted.



I added some lubrication effects to the hub area mating surfaces and bolting, again, this was with the diluted track wash. You can also see the subtle effect the diluted gray gives each blade. Done on both sides of each blade, by the way.



I attached the engine assembly temporarily using Elmer's, allowing it to cure overnight. Here you can see some of the chipping effects on the cowl flaps and forward fuselage.





Then I could place the cowling on and have access to the whole thing at once. And then? Proceeded to have some fun, well, what I call fun anyway, bringing it to life.





I also did some initial port wing root chipping.



SO, that's it for now. I still have a lot to do, but I am still having some fun. Mojo bank account is being used up fast, but I usually recover quickly.

Thanks for looking and keep modeling. I hope you like and comments are welcome.

[Kingdan]

It's going to be a stunner Jon

Dan

[Stokesy44]

She's looking a beauty Sir Big, Bold and Beautiful.

Excellent work

[jbellos1]

UPDATE Time.

It is getting very close to the final reveal. Just a few bits to add like the pitot tube, nav lights, and antenna. I also have to done some panel fading and some pigments for gun traces, ammo-shoots, and exhaust. Then I need to remove the one-piece canopy and install the two-piece, well at least the front portion, I want to be able to open and close the sliding part.

Let's see, anything else after that stuff? I don't think so, but you sometimes cannot anticipate what else might need to be done.

So up to this point I have finished the paint work. I've chipped various areas on the upper and lower surfaces. I weathered the shipped areas, attempting to get some tonal variation in the blindingly bright chipped areas. To tone them done I applied a different shipping technique, one more appropriate on armor perhaps, but found it useful in this case too. So, lesson learned.

Now where was I? Oh yes, the light at the end of the tunnel. Where last we met, I had just done the identification markings on the wings, and I had had some fun weathering the prop.

Now I did some chipping. I had used Ammo Mig Chipping earlier and now it was time to see what comes from it. This is a typical result.




It seemed to me to be too shiny, which detracted from the effect I was hoping for. I had seen a technique to add tonal variation to these rather bright and shining areas, and decided to try my hand at it. So with this



And a chipping sponge, I did this



Can you see it?



Yep - inside those shining areas, I dabbed the grey paint.



I did this over the entire model.

Then it was time to finish up the decals.











Aqua-gloss - couple overlapping coats - allowed to completely dry (about 2-hours). Then, Ultimate Earth on the grey and Ultimate Light Dirt on the green - to begin the weathering with these washes.



Washed and ready to e put on its own three feet.





Tail wheel needs attention. In fact, I had to pin the darn thing to help support the bracket that just kept breaking at the same place.



But I got it done right.







So, that's where it is now. Although, not seen, I have completed the dullcote process and adding pigments and other small details, to be seen how I did it, in the next and last update before the final reveal.

I hope you like. Comments welcome, as always.

[P51dplt]

Looks great Jon Can't wait to see the final reveal.

[MarkVerploeg]

Some very nice work Jon
I like the weathering so far and the contrast the gunbarrel sleves give with the metal look next to the camouflaged wings
Good luck finishing this big bird

[Kingdan]

Wow Jon love the chipping it coming out great mate top job


Dan

[jbellos1]

So now, the FINAL REVEAL. This is a great kit. I think it would have made a very nice Jug right out of the box. The amount of aftermarket I put into this bird is more than I have done on any other, and I think it turned out good. I am pleased with the result and hope you like it too. Thanks for looking.





















Thanks for taking the time to look. Keep modeling!

[MarkVerploeg]

Awesome work Jon
I like the weathering a lot

[Dopplershift]

Great thread and a great result.

You really remove a lot of the frustration for inexperienced modellers like myself with massively informative, step by step threads like this.

Thank you very much.

[jbellos1]

Great thread and a great result.

You really remove a lot of the frustration for inexperienced modellers like myself with massively informative, step by step threads like this.

Thank you very much.

You are most welcome. All I try to do is tell you what I have done. Sometimes I am not as thorough as I could be, tbh. Thank you for the kind words.

Keep Modeling!

[jbellos1]

Awesome work Jon
I like the weathering a lot

Thanks Mark. I like your big Thunderbolt also. In fact, this may have become my favorite bird now. But I have lots of favorites too...lol

[Coen]

Very cool work Jon!!!
I love that chipping and that weathering on the underbelly.
A real veteran.

[jbellos1]

Very cool work Jon!!!
I love that chipping and that weathering on the underbelly.
A real veteran.

Thank Mike. The chipping fluid thing works quite well. The exhaust, oil staining and build up happened on a regular basis. Ground crews, when they had the chance would power wash their plane and remove much of it, if not all of it. Just to have it happen all over again on the next mission. Working from grass fields and dirt taxi-ways in many cases, they'd get all muddy just getting to the field for take-off. Oops, sorry got off on a tangent.

Thank you for your kind words.

Keep modeling!