Completed Plastic Models-Hasegawa 1/72 Republic P-47D Thunderbolt (Razorback)

     Next to the North American P-51 Mustang, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a great workhorse for the Army Air Corps during WWII. The Thunderbolt was a great attacking aircraft for the United States, sporting a powerful Prat and Whitney R2800 radial it has the muscle power and with 8 M2 Browning .50 Caliber machine guns, it also had the fire power up front to attack ground targets as well as enemy aircraft. It was an important weapon to have in the United States arsenal in the European theater as well as the Pacific theater.

     This model represents Lieutenant F McCauley of the 61^st Fighter Squadron 56^th Fighter Group stationed in Halesworth, England in October 1943. The kit was built straight from the box and I used decals from Skymodels to represent Lt. McCauley’s aircraft. It was a quick built for me, I started on a Friday night and finished it on the following Monday night.

     I found nothing out of the ordinary as far as fit issues with any of the parts, as expected with most Hasegawa kits. The Hasegawa kit that I used was part of a dual combo kit that included a very extensive stencil set of decals for this aircraft along with a bubble top version of the P-47. The plane was spray painted with Tamiya olive drab 2 and Tamiya primer gray for the underside. Also, the white stripes on the cowl in the front and on the tip of the tail are done in Tamiya white primer, the stripe on the middle of the tail is a decal from the kits decal sheet. It was then clear coated with Tamiya, as usual, once dried the decals were applied, the aircraft received a flat clear coat and then it was weathered with Tamiya weathering powders and sealed once more with a flat coat. Enjoy the photos. TRWBM.