Yet another Tamiya P-47 build. Having built several of these, I'm used to the construction and did not run into any difficulties. I did remember to sand the wing spars a bit to help them fit better. I did have to putty the gap between the area behind the cockpit (where the dorsal fin would go if there was one).

I decidedd to do a subject from Aeromaster 48-788 The Wolf Pack Part XI. There are two razorbacks and one bubbletop on the sheet. The drawing on the decal instructions shows invasion stripes on the bottom of the fuselage, but the instructions also mention that there is a photo of this plane taken in early 1945 without them. Since I did not relish the idea of painting the stripes - and relished the idea of using decals even less - I went without them.

I primed with Mr. Surfacer 1200. The rudder was painted Tamiya XF-3 Flat Yellow, and the cowling ring was painted Model Color Flat Red, thinned with Quick Shine. After masking the cowling, the bottom was painted with Nicpro Silver, an acrylic paint I bought off Amazon. It was very thick, like artist acrylics from a tube. I tried thinning it with Quick Shine and a bit of Testor's Universal Acrylic Thinner. Unfortunately, the results were terrible - it was very rough. I almost tossed the kit at that point, but I decided to give the bottom a light sanding and then try something else. The something else was Polly Scale Flat Aluminum, which, although not exactly good, was acceptable. The bottom was masked and the top was painted with AMMO 0246 Medium Sea Grey and AMMO 0206 RLM 81 - FS34079 - BS041.

The gloss coat was Quick Shine. The stencils on the prop blades were from the kit; all other decals were from the Aermoaster sheet. I used the wrong insignia on the fuselage - the one I used was intended for the razorbacks. Another coat of Quick Shine was followed by AMMO Lucky Matt varnish. I used the Montex mask (SM 48027) as a template and cut out masks for the windscreen and side windows. I masked the main canopy by hand.

Page last updated June 25, 2026.