1/72 P47D "Bubble top" Academy + kit review - Printable Version

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1/72 P47D "Bubble top" Academy + kit review - Serpiko - 05.02.2011

Hi gents! Here I am with another 1/72 bird from Academy, this time a bubble-top "Jug".



IN THE BOX

This kit comes with the usual two grey sprues (dating 1998) plus the transparent one. The first impression is very positive: no flash, solid plastic, recessed lines and overall high detail. Optional parts are 2 bombs (probably 250 lbs), 2 "bazooka-like" triple rocket launchers, two alternative centerline droptanks and, noticeably, two alternative propellers. Decals (dating 2001) are for two planes: WZ-S "Eileen" (84th FS, 78th FW) and Nr. 88 "Rabbit" (527th FS, 86th FW), with plenty of maintenance markings.



BUILDING

The cockpit is classic but well detailed, including side panels on the interior of fuselage halves. Strangely, the instrument panel doesn't fit the fuselage, but "floats freely" being attached only to the floor. Not a problem, though, since it looks nice anyway.

The gunsight is probably the only real disappointing part of the model: it's molded with the grey sprue (why? The transparent sprue even has rearview mirror and landing light!) and is way too big, so that it will almost fill the windshield. If you have saved a spare one, you might consider using it.

The overall fitting among parts is very good, so that I actually used no filler with this one.

While building the engine, it turns out that the pin which fixes the movable propeller has a lot of space behind it, so it tends to fall back. So, before attaching the engine to the fuselage, you sould insert something 3-4 mm thick into its back to keep the pin pushed forward (unless you want a fixed prop, in that case just glue it).

Gear bays and legs have a good detail level, as the kit is molded to be built wheels down. If you want to build the gear retracted, there's a little surgery work to do: first you have to slice off some of the internal details to make the panels fit in depth, then you will need to shorten the main legs by removing about a pair of mms in their central section. Although it may seem strange, this is accurate to the real thing: in fact, the main gear of P-47 was designed to shorten by a few inches when retracting, to save wing space for fuel and ammo.

No other real building issues are present. Maybe tailplanes tend to fix in a slightly "twisted" way, but you can easily "cheat" and get them horizontal.



PAINTING AND DECALS

I wanted a "metal" Thunderbolt and therefore I painted the Nr. 88 "Rabbit" livery. Unfortunately, i broke one of the striped tail decals, so I had no choice but to paint the stripes on the whole tail (I'm not lucky with white-red stripes!) So, if you paint the "Eileen" livery, take great care when handling the checkered nose decal: If you break it up, you'll end up crying.
I later realized that decals seem to need a longer "bath" than usual to detach, the bigger the longer, but apart from that, they are very well printed and stick pretty OK.



CONCLUSIONS

So far I've found Academy kits to have the best quality/price ratio IMO and this one absolutely confirmed my impression. Highly recommended!

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Re: 1/72 P47D "Bubble top" Academy + kit review - Planemad - 26.03.2011

Another great Serpiko!

Very nice painting techniques as well

Planemad

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Re: 1/72 P47D "Bubble top" Academy + kit review - Deutschmark - 26.03.2011

Cool review nicely done model.

Deutschmark

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