building the hasegawa 1/32 scale p-47d - mike ashey productions ...

BUILDING THE HASEGAWA
1/32 SCALE
P-47D THUNDERBOLT
BY
MIKE ASHEY
The Hasegawa 1/32 scale P-47D is an easy to assemble kit and it accurately represents a
Republic Bubbletop P-47D Thunderbolt commonly called the “JUG”.
There are several fit issues that you will run into as you build this kit and the
challenge is to figure out how to fix them. The individual wing panels and gun covers on the
leading edges of the wings need some work to get them to fit correctly. The wing-to-fuselage
fit on both the upper side and the under side will require some work. There is a step between
the underside of the engine cowling where it meets the underside of the fuselage. The front of
the fuselage is either too wide from top to bottom or the cowling is too shallow. There are also
sink marks along the lengths of the wings. The decal sheet has lots of small instruction labels,
but the instructions don’t tell you where they go. I used Testors model master enamel paints for
this project. There are two other project articles associated with building this kit. The first
article presents techniques on using the Eduard self adhesive prepainted photoetch detail set for
this model. The second article shows you how I painted this kit and it is titled “Mike Ashey’s
Paint Layering Technique for Aircraft”. Also, check out the aircraft gallery for finished photos
of this model.
If you take your time and follow the three articles you can achieve a good looking scale replica
of the Bubble Top Jug.

The step between the cowling and the fuselage will be too
noticeable if it is not fixed. The solution is to slightly extend
the depth of the cowling.
The sink marks are on all four wings sections and will need
to be sanded out and then the plastic will need to be polished
with 0000 steel wool.
There is a gap between the canopy windscreen and the
fuselage and it can easily be filled with a strip of
.010 inch plastic.
The cockpit is well detailed, but I used the Eduard prepainted
self adhesive photoetch detail set. There is a separate article
on building up the cockpit with this detail set.
Here is the prepainted photoetch sheet. The second photoetch sheet contains lots of small detail
parts to further enhance the cockpit. I like to use these parts
in combination with kit parts to achieve better results.

The photoetch seat is pretty good, but I used the kits seat . I thinned the back and sides of the plastic and I used a figure
eight motion to help ensure that the plastic
was thinned evenly
I attached the photoetch detail parts to the kits seat. The
kits seat is a bit stronger than the photoetch seat.
The prepainted photoetch placards require that some surface
details in the cockpit be sanded off.
Next I added the photoetch details to the cockpit floor.
The photoetch set had a gun sight, but I modified the kit’s
part instead. I drilled out the holes in the framing and I also
drilled out a base for the gun sight reflective lens. I used my
Waldron punch tool to make a lens.

The interior parts are painted with Testors green zinc
chromate. The metal edges were dry brushed with silver and
the canvas and leather were drybrushed with flat white. I
used several different shades of the interior color.
To protect photoetch parts that need to be bent I attached
small strips of masking tape to the faces of the flat nosed
pliers. I use a round toothpick with a flat end and a tiny
piece of masking tape attached to pick up small parts.
The seat belts are draped over the frame and the seats. Attach
them with super glue and any overflow or smeared glue can
be hidden by applying a coat of Testors clear flat.
I used small strips of masking tape to detail paint parts on the
side panels of the cockpit. Careful paint mixing and thinning
will give you great results when airbrushing these
small parts.
Note how the combination of painting and the
photoetch parts greatly enhance the appearance of
the cockpit.
Note how the reflective lens enhances the appearance of the
gun sight. Eduard’s prepainted console’s are outstanding
and there is no way to achieve this level of detail with paint.

One last detail that I added was console wiring. I used brass
beading wire and nylon sewing thread colored with
indelible markers.
To prevent the wings from flexing I laminated .020 inch
strips to the inside areas using super glue.
To get the wings to fit correctly against the fuselage you
have to remove this raised surface on the ends of the landing
gear wells.
I had to add strips of plastic to the sides of the wing panel to
get a tight fit.
I assembled the landing gear wells with masking tape and
then I ran beads of super glue along the seam lines.
The gun covers did not fit well on the leading edges of the
wings and it took several coats of super glue and iterations of
scraping and sanding to get them to contour into the
wings surface.

I like to attach the elevators to the fuselage and work on the
seams before I glue the fuselage together so I will not
crack a seam.
I laminated .010 inch strips to the left and right sides. I
then carefully trimmed the plastic and then sanded the seam
lines smooth.
While one side fits flush the other side sticks out and will
require careful sanding to get it to contour into the surface of
the fuselage.
I use masking tape to protect surface detail while sanding
and polishing.
The fit of the separate fuselage part which covers the engine
super charger needs attention.
This step on the aft wing area where it attached to the
fuselage was a problem. Something was causing the wings
to do this.

There is a slight void along the seam line, sink marks and a
slight step which will require some scarping to reduce the
height of the plastic.
Now that the step is gone. I added several layers of super
glue along the seam line.
The plastic was scraped to reduce its height which also got
rid of the sink marks. The seam line is getting its last coat of
super glue.
I discovered that the tab on the inside area of the wing where
it connects to the fuselage was too high. I removed a section
of it and the step on the upper aft surface of the wing
connection point disappeared.
By modifying the wing connection areas I was able to get a
tight fit. After several coats of super glue and careful wet
sanding the upper wing areas were finished
I used a sanding stick to work on the seam lines on the tires.
Wet sanding helps reduce abrasion on the plastic
as you sand.

I always check my seam lines with Testors silver paint. To restore the tread on the tires I use a jewelers saw. Since
the right and left sides of the tread were still there, I simple
ran the saw across the surface of the tire to connect the
treads. It took some time, but the results were great!
The landing gear needed to be cleaned up. I carefully
scraped off the mold lines and trimmed and sanded smooth
the tree connection points. I used a Flex-I-File to restore the
round appearance of the landing gear.
To add strength to the assembly I also added super glue to
the inside seam areas at the connection points of the panels.
I assembled the cowling and then I glued the upper panels by
running tiny beads of super glue along the seam lines. It took
me several tries before I got the panels to line up correctly
before taping and gluing.
To fix the step between the cowling and the fuselage I
added .030 inch strips to the gluing surface of the lower
cowling part. This will make the cowling slightly longer
from top to bottom.

The lower section was super glued and then the surface was
sanded smooth. I also added some strips to the step in the
cowling to close up a small gap created by my modification.
I had to do a little sanding along the edges of the cowling
and I form fitted it into place. Adding the extra plastic solved
the step problem between the cowling and the fuselage.
I marked the flap hinges so I would not mix them up, glued
them into place, taped the flaps together and then
fixed the seams.
I slipped a section of .020 inch sheet into the inside area of
the cowling to close the gap between the air intake sleeves
and the inside bottom of the lower cowling.
I cleaned up the flap parts and taped them together to check
the fit.
I restored the panel lines on the fuselage and the wings and
then masked the cockpit for painting. I primed the model and
checked for flaws in my seam work.

Check out the article on my paint layering technique to see
how I painted the model. I should have used more green on
the upper surface, but I like the way it looks.
I masked around the areas that needed painting and then I
applied large sections of masking tape to the wings and
fuselage to protect the surfaces from over spray.
The flaps were painted using my paint layering technique.
There are sharp demarcation lines between the colors.
The invasion stripes look crisp, clean and straight especially
the fuselage stripes. The landing gear wells and the flap
areas still need painting.
Careful masking in combination with good paint mixing and
airbrush technique gives you great results. Check out my
aircraft books for tips and techniques on painting.
The landing gear parts were painted and then assembled. I
added some flat white to the flat black for the tires so they
would look more like a rubber color. Note how clean the
assembled landing gear look.

The fuselage, cowling and propeller all got two coats of
Minwax clear gloss polyurethane. Now its time to
start decaling.
I used my Waldron punch tool to make a hole in one of the
wing decals for the wing light.
Each letter on the fuselage was carefully positioned to make
sure it was straight and level. Having a gloss surface
allowed me to slide the decal around without damaging it.
To help minimize decal silvering I cut out the letters
separately and I also removed as much of the clear carrier
film as possible.
The kit decals wrinkled up really bad when I applied decal
set solution. They did finally lay down although I had to
press out some of the wrinkles. I then applied more
setting solution.
Once all the decals were applied I gave the model a coat of
Testors clear flat. The paint colors showed through the white
areas of the insignia decals.

Although the clear parts had wing lights, the wings were
molded with outlines for the lights. I masked off these areas
and then painted them.
The canopy parts were masked with small sections of
masking tape.
I airbrushed the interior color first on both sides of the
clear parts.
When you mask over Testors clear flat it can peel up.
Carefully airbrush a few coats onto the effected area and then
give the surface around the damaged area a few coats to
blend everything in.
I carefully masked the inside of the canopy windscreen. I
masked the entire inside area of the canopy except for the
frame area where it connects to the windscreen.
I then masked off the interior area and then painted the
exterior with primer.

The windscreen had a wide gap in the front and tiny ones on
the sides. I filled the gaps with several coats of white glue
and then touched up the areas with a detail brush.
I drilled a tiny hole in the tail for the antenna wire. I used
nylon sewing thread colored with a black indelible marker
for the antenna.
The kit is assembled except for the engine. The landing gear
had some fit problems that required some careful trimming
and fitting.
The sway braces for the drop tank needed to be adjusted
several times before they sat correctly with the tank installed.
I also had to drill larger holes in the fuselage for the
positioning pins on the parts.
I drilled a tiny hole through a length of .030 inch rod and
slipped the thread through it to represent the insulator. I
should have made this part smaller.
There were not enough spark plug wire attachment points on
the engine’s collector ring so I added some more with .035
inch diameter rod.

I drilled out the locations for the spark plug wires. I used
soft brass beading wire for the spark plug wires. I was a bit
disappointed with the kits engine.
The guns were made from .080
inch rod and then drilled out.
The engine parts were all airbrushed and the engine was
assembled. I then added the spark plug wires. I then
attached the engine to the cowling, glued the cowling onto
the fuselage and added the propeller.
Proper planning, good assembly, painting and decaling technique combined with patience
can make all the difference when you are building a kit with as many challenges as this
model had. The addition of Eduard’s prepainted photoetch set really enhanced the models
appearance and I am hooked on these detail sets! I should have also
purchased aftermarket decals.