P-47D Thunderbolt | Força Aérea Portuguesa (FAP)

Mark
👀

Gary Kitchen
Following along. wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/f/350/11/0#3

Łukasz Gliński
Me 3 😉

Moreno Baruffini
Me 4 👍🏻😜

Rui
Thanks for taking an interest and following the project 😁
@Gary Kitchen a big THANKS for the link; really helpful. 👍

Dietmar Bogatzki
Interessting Projekt, following 🙂

Mark K
Watching avidly.

Rui
I still have a lot of work ahead before closing up the fuselage and preparing for paint but I can't help thinking about what to use for the natural bare metal finish. I have been studying many online images and sometimes the metal looks bright like a silver and other times it looks darker like a metallic grey. Anyone have any advice on which way I should go…?

Łukasz Gliński
My proposal would be the preshading and very thin silver layer on top. That's my plan for my Thunderjet.

Rui S
Interessante 😎

Rui
Nope… didn't know that history behind the changes behind the the brand change nor about the document destruction. These stories are always so fascinating and add depth to the rich history of aviation. Thanks.

As for the paint I think I'm am going with a brighter metallic. I tested all my metals last night and the Vallejo Aluminium seems to come out nice and bright, but more importantly it's smoooooth.

Another thing I was thinking about the base primer colour. I noted that many builders do a black primer then the metallic. Oddly enough the few resources I have read/watched do not go into the significance of using black.

Łukasz Gliński
Black pirmer is tricky. I'm not convinced by this idea, tried it once and it came out too dark (take a look at the close-ups):
Polish MiG-15bis "346" | Album by Woody (1:72)

Rui
Thanks Lukasz. Nice MiG 👍

Łukasz Gliński
Thanks, though too dark. I think the black primer might work for bright and solid paints, Alclads being too translucent.

Rui
We are our own worst critics; I didn't find it too dark 😊

Murad ÖZER
for the record:

alclad or any other similar metallizer do NOT need black primer, they need GLOSS black primer. higher the gloss the better end result would be.

there is a very clear distinction here: the surface being as smooth as possible for the upcoming NMF and that's really the whole point, not the color. black pigmented enamel based gloss paints were the only suitable one for eons (since they took noticeably longer to completely/properly cure compared to flat enamels = lot more time to self level), and it stuck as a legend. not that it's wrong but there are other alternatives/options nowadays.

IF you are so inclined, you could also use a plain clear gloss thinned with some kind of a retarder/levelling thinner for max effect.
OR simply take up fine sanding/polishing pads.
OR use some sort of polishing compound (if you are using automotive products make sure it is NONE silicone!) with a electric mini motor to polish the bare plastic, then apply the nmf.
OR do a combo with these options, you have the plastic in front of you, you decide what it needs and how much. led lamp on your cell phone would usually reveal any imperfection of the plastic itself (due to subpar quality/ not polished enough metal molds especially visible around compound curves) quite easily.

NMF is all about surface prep. if the plastic is *hitty to begin with, no amount of gloss paint would help, modeller has to go in gung-ho style with abrasives and compounds and ensure the surface is smooth. hope it makes sense. 🙂

Rui
Wow…thanks for that Murad. Great feedback. I was reluctant to put a primer on because my first NMF project had a terrible texture from the primer, even after I sanded. I never thought of a gloss to smooth thinks out.

I have the main components cemented tighter now and finished sanding and moved on to polishing. I greeting a nice smooth finish with super fine grit paper and finishing with a coffee filter of all things. I's looking smoooooooooooth 👍

Pierre-Christian Baudru
Boa montagem Rui !

Ricardo Reis
Following...

John Thomas
Nice work

Rui
Thanks John. It's coming along slooowly. Not enough time in the day for life and the important stuff, like modeling 😄

Rui
I was reviewing the comments to see if I had missed anyone's and I read my own! I have to stop using my iPhone to post comments. They are terribly written. Almost don't make sense either.

Łukasz Gliński
Wasn't it you, who wrote about us being our own loudest critics? 😉

Rui
Yes, that was indeed me 😄

Bruce Huxtable
Looking very respectable IMHO, Rui. Perhaps when decals are added that will add contrast and emphasise the metallic more?

Rui
Thanks Bruce. I'm thinking of polishing the paint be fore glass and decals to smooth it out and hopefully bring out a more metallic shine. Should help the decals sit too.

Rui
I have started to apply the after market decals and they are as I suspected a little thick. In fact, they have to soak more than a minute before they will come loose from the paper. Also, the natal flag colours for the tail have to be trimmed because they are out of register. Other than that, the colours are good.

Rui
@Bruce Huxtable - you are right. As soon as the first couple of decals went on the dull metallic paint contrasted well, especially with the yellow and the reds.

Rui
@Bruce Huxtable - you are right. As soon as the first couple of decals went on the dull metallic paint contrasted well, especially with the yellow and the reds.

Maxim Malparte
Ah, The notorious non-sticking-stickers from Academy. Would you mind me asking how does this one go Mr. Da silva?

P.S. About the metal finish:
If 'mirror finish' is what you've been looking for, Mr. Hobby's 'Super Metallic2' series could be a good choice (lacquer only, however, sadly). Very fine particles. Very few airbrush malfunctions. Easy to use. Works fine on me.
SM206 was applied on my little Vamp as the base coat, too shiny, I even had to give it another layer of Xtreme Metal AK aluminum later to dull it down.

Rui
@MaxtheTinwoodman - thanks for the pointers. I find Mr Hobby or any Mr products hard to get locally, but I have started to see some. starting to come in at one of my LHS.For a NMF I'm not necessarily looking for mirror finish but I would at least like it to look metallic.

I switched from Tamiya Aluminium and other metallics to Vallejo because I saw some impressive results with the Aluminium and Dark Aluminium. I really want to stick with acrylics for most paint work and resort to oil, etc for details.

What I think is the problem may be my Air Brush choice. I have been using a 0.5 Badger for larger areas, a 0.3 Iwata for smaller areas, and a cheap 0.3 nonane knock-off that came with the compressor for details (it performs as well as the Iwata and the trigger control is really nice - I get nice thin lines with it.).

What I have been noticing is the 0.3 don't leave a heavy texture like the 0.5, so on my next project I'm. going to try using the 0.3 exclusively. Fingers crossed.

BTW - I found the Academy decals to be relatively thin with good colour and registration. I thought they were relatively good at sticking for the larger decals, but the tiny stencils needed help. 🙂

Murad ÖZER
Rui regarding the shot with the prop, it looks like the gloss is acting there with the texture, right? if i'm correct next time about double the psi if your compressor can handle, use a smaller airbrush and most importantly NEVER go wet with vallejos.

open the airbrush trigger barely and go in misty coats in very fast moves, this is the reason why you need to double the psi, vallejo type paints can bead up very easily on the surface if there is no sufficient pressure, downside is that you have to keep the aperture very tight and movement fast so that you don't flood the surface with the gloss clear.
besides, i do have a badger 175 and the amount of air it needs to properly atomize the paint is very high compared to any other airbrush i own. it's very useful for laying down lacquer type paints since they are best applied wet and can be operated with high pressure if you get what i mean. i don't know about your model but compare the body of your badger to your other airbrushes, you'll probably notice that the badger is more thick = needs more air volume passing inside.

also depending on the humidity of your environment you might wanna use their flow improver or something similar in terms of paint retarder (~5% of the total mix), really helps with avoiding these kinda results.

Maxim Malparte
@Rui Point taken, no problem. Metallic paints are always a bit tricky to use. I usually get that kind of finish with Tamiya paints sprayed over-pressure, which is why I tried to recommend another kind of paint. But I hope that you're right. (Btw, I had been trying to switch to all-acrylic too, but ended up kind of like quitting smoking. Always been trying, never succeeded. )

And please forgive my offense against Acadamy, Just to double-check that they are ready to use OOB. I had issues using them to build an Apache A when I was a kiddo. I saw the base has been changed, but still 'made in Korea'. I am having my chin in hand towards some of their kits that lack the Italian lux. Think I can press the 'Purchase' button now thanks to your positive reply.

Saeed Jamali
very clean 😍😍

Charlie Spitfire
very nice looks good

Pierre-Christian Baudru
Bom trabalho Rui !

Bruce Huxtable
She's coming together really nicely, Rui - the decals and metallic paint look great 🙂

Rui
A big THANKS to @Murad ÖZER and @MaxtheTinwoodman for the tips. I did some over pressure spray testes last night and the results were good. It's too late with this project overall, but I have decided to do the other propeller so I'm hoping the tips provided will net better results (I prepared the wrong propeller so the opportunity presented itself)

Rui
Making good progress tonight on the correct propellor andshould have the landing gear detailed as well. If time permits I will be cleaning up the black wash and hope to see improvments in the NMF look.

Erik De Smet
Poor t-bolt. Where did it deserve such as treat?

Rui
@Erik De Smet - yes, this kit is not very good. I picked it because it had a good level of detail overall. The fit is good and required little filling but did require lots of sanding because of alignment issues. Also a few of the parts do not have any guide holes or points, eg. you have to estimate how to align the cowling with the fuselage, or how the gear doors should sit, etc. finally there are some accuracy issues here and there, which are not a concern for me, but my biggest issue is the the antenna mast hole on the dorsal spin is too far forward and does not allow the canopy to be posed in a fully open position. Makes me wonder if they even test built the kit.

Bruce Huxtable
The pastel wash has added lots to the final appearance. great job well done 👍🙂

Guy Rump
Looking very impressive 👍

Charlie Spitfire
love the detail so far looks like has been through the whole second world war

Daniel Klink
Lovely version and great progress Rui 👍

Moreno Baruffini
Hi Rui, could you explain how to do a pastel wash like yours? What products do you use? Really a great job!!!!!

Bruce Huxtable
What a difference between the two props' paint texture. You must be delighted with your new knowledge and positive experience. I've really enjoyed looking through your album again - great work Rui 🙂👍👍

Rui
@Moreno Baruffini - The pastel wash is also called a sludge wash. I remind myself its a [soft] pastel wash because using oil pastel would bea disater LOL.

Anyway, I bought a small pack of grayscale soft pastels (black through to white) and I shave off about half a teaspoon of very fine powder into a small cup, add distilled water (the water is very hard where I live), and a tiny drop of dish detergent). Give it a really good mix with a brush and it turns to a thin blackish sludge.

Application is easy, just brush it on a previously varnished model, letting the back sludge get into the all the panel lines and such. Let it dry and then wipe with a damp papper towel. It's messy and it takes a while to clean up, but the results are impressive.

I got the idea and learned the technique from watching a few YouTube videos...
Youtube Video

Thanks for the compliment and good luck with your projects 👍

Rui
@Bruce Huxtable - Yes, I am very delight with the result. In fact, I am really happy with the community on scalemates. Everyone is so supportive and provides great advice. I thank you and everyone who has supported the few projects I have done so far. With the tips and tricks I have learned from everyone I have seen a significant increase in the quality of my projects. I'm going to post A side by side comparison...
P-47D Thunderbolt | Força Aérea Portuguesa (FAP) | Album by GrenadeBait (1:72)

Charlie Spitfire
very nice pity about the canopy

Rui
@charlie whitten - it is a pity. I haven't taken pictures yet, but I have drilled new antenna mast hole a few millimetres further back on the spine and filled the old hole. Hopefully I will be able to blend the paint adequately enough to hide blemish. After this is done, the canopy will fully retract enough so that even fat pilots can get into the cockpit 🙂

Charlie Spitfire
good on you for not giveing up lovely model

Robert Podkoński
Looking really good already, Rui! Keep it up!

Maxim Malparte
The last one reminds me of pictures showing T-bolts over the cloud doing escort. Looks pretty. Congrats in advance. (PS. Didn't know that they were in RAF service too.)

Rui
Thanks. I also didn't know too much about the Thunderbolts service record other than they built a heck of a lot of them and it was a big bird. Once I started researching it in Portuguese service I started too see that it was widely exported and the Academy kit I chose just happened to have parts and markings for an RAF variant.

What I was fascinated by was a story about it the lend-lease program to Russia included P-47s. It seems the Russians felt it was not a fighter, but appreciated the spacious cockpit, which I now understand is one the most cavernous fight cockpits for the war. In fact they way they described it makes me think you could get out of the seat and walk around LOL 😃

Guy Rump
The decals were worth the painstaking work Rui, they look brilliant. 👍

Maxim Malparte
The cockpit was also suspiciously roomy in the Airfix Sabre I started years ago. Must be a trait heritable. P.S. With that description. I can't help imagining soviet doge pilots squat dancing in the cockpit while shooting down Dorniers one by one, so darn hilarious. XDD (Probably heavily influenced by this. Youtube Video)

Charlie Spitfire
what are the tubes on the wings

Łukasz Gliński
Bazookas?

Charlie Spitfire
still working on it i have a friend that has this kit but i think you beat him hands down i salute you sir

Rui
Thanks Charlie. Much appreciated. I have a few finishing touches to put on it and still waiting for some Mig Ammo Rigging line to finish the antenna mast. Will be posting some fish glamour pics of the Jug on the 'runway' and 'in various poses. Just need free time. Cheers!