Trumpeter 1/32 P-47D Thunderbolt

Even though it was designed from the beginning as a high-altitude interceptor, Republic’s P-47 Thunderbolt really came into its element as a ground attack weapon in the European, Mediterranean, and Pacific theaters of operation during World War II. Armed with eight .50 caliber machine guns and the ability to deliver bombs and rockets, the P-47 became a fearsome instrument in the close air support role. Attacks on the transportation network conducted by the 9th Air Force were instrumental in the successful invasion of the European continent and continued as forces moved eastward into Germany.

The long production run of the D model Thunderbolt can be divided into the initial “razorback” versions and then the later “bubbletop” versions beginning with the -25 production block. The bubbletop P-47 was originally going to be referred to as the P-47K, but the War Production Board elected to introduce the cut-down rear spine and blown canopy in the middle of the D manufacturing run instead in order to minimize any disruption to the delivery schedule. Modelers therefore have to differentiate the two types of D models based on their canopy configuration.

THE KIT

A complete engine and internal plumbing all the way back to the turbo-supercharger in the rear fuselage is provided. You can inspect some of it by leaving the clear cowling unpainted, but the center and rear portions of the power train is buried forever inside the fuselage once the halves are glued together. The cockpit is good enough with sufficient detail to satisfy most, although an aftermarket replacement would be an improvement in depicting the overall busyness of the P-47D’s cockpit. Three different propellers, two from Curtiss Electric and one Hamilton Standard are included, and a very nice set of bombs, bazooka launchers, and several drop tanks come with the kit as well. The traditional bugaboo of Trumpeter’s kit designers has been the canopy pieces, and fortunately for us they nailed the subtle shape of the razorback Thunderbolt’s greenhouse and windscreen. The gun bays are detailed with individual machine guns and soft plastic ammo belts. Synthetic rubber tires are provided with no styrene alternative. Photo-etch parts are incorporated for the seat harness, air intake screens, and under-wing strakes.

• Propellers. Trumpeter copied Tamiya’s goof found on their 1/48 scale P-47s in which the Hamilton Standard prob hub boss is much too large. The two Curtiss Electric props are just fine. D-23 and D-25 P-47s came from the factory with the Hamilton Standard propeller, but there was a bunch of swapping done in operational units so the modeler needs to check reference photos to determine which was used on the model that they are building. Hasegawa provides an excellent Hamilton Standard prop in their bubbletop kit so one can utilize that to complete their project.
• Cockpit. As stated previously the cockpit has a reasonable level of detail, although it certainly could use more in this scale. I found the control stick to be a bit too skinny, and the canvas boot at the floor isn’t depicted. The reflecting portion of the early gun sight (a later sight for the P-47N is included) is molded as an inelegant blob of clear plastic. The oval double-glazed sight is best reproduced with a sandwich of two thin sheets of clear plastic or acetate. The kit does not provide a ring and bead fixed sight.
• Ordnance. The bazookas and drop tanks are nicely done. The big P-38 drop tanks will need some rear anti-sway bars. The bombs are not too bad, although Trumpeter molds each with a couple of circumferential raised bands that are not present on the real thing. This is easy enough to sand off. The kit is engineered such that if you don’t use the flat belly tank, you will have to fill a large trench between the front and rear stanchions.
• Tail wheel well. Normally, the tail wheel mechanism is covered with a canvas shroud, which is not reproduced in the kit. I don’t know where the design of the block-like retraction piece came from, but it doesn’t match any drawings or photographs of any P-47D mechanism that I have seen. Trumpeter seems to have used the tail wheel part on the Tamiya 1/48 scale P-47 as their guide, which has a similar questionable design.
• Rivets. The Trumpeter Mad Riveter is in fine form on this model, with hundreds of small recessed divots representing the flush rivets used on the actual aircraft. Filling them would be an ugly task, so I left mine alone and did not highlight them in any way.
• R-2800 Engine. The engine pieces include two different types of magnetos and two different crankcases in order to cover the D, M, and N variants of the P-47. There are no ignition wires, so the modeler will have to furnish those, two for each cylinder. There were several series of R-2800s used across the P-47 range, so an exact match in configuration will require some research and possible modification of the kit’s parts, particularly with the magnetos.
• Wheels. Trumpeter provides both solid and spoked wheels. A minor issue is that the rear face of the wheel should be solid no matter if the front face is solid or spoked. Instead, Trumpeter erroneously gives you a wheel whose rear face has spokes.
• Decals. The quality of the decals is excellent, as I used a few markings on my model and they performed beautifully. The problem, as ever with Trumpeter, is the artwork. They continue to make US national insignia that have blue outlines that are too thin. The markings for the two aircraft options also have some errors so it is best to find an aftermarket solution.

The first order of business was to close the gun bay doors, as I prefer my models to be built in a clean configuration. The doors didn’t fit too well, being smaller than the surrounding openings, so I had to fill those gaps with CA glue and Mr. Surfacer and then restore the lost rivet detail with a new pounce wheel tool I purchased just for this purpose. The guns themselves were glued inside the wings and the barrels were left off until the final assembly process. Trumpeter provides both smooth blast tubes (correct) and bare ventilated barrels (incorrect) for each gun for reasons that escape me. I drilled out the opening of the blast tubes with a twist drill.

I assembled all the internal plumbing from the rear of the engine back to the turbosupercharger, as it is required in order to mount the cockpit tub and the engine in the fuselage. It went together reasonably well, although some of the piping is a little tricky to get aligned properly. I left out the big oil tank as that will never be seen. The fuselage halves were glued together, trapping inside the engine, cockpit, and turbosupercharger plumbing. I used CA glue for this instead of plastic cement as I wanted to eliminate any possibility of ghost seams appearing under the natural metal finish.

The aircraft I wanted to do, “Kansas Tornado II” from the 510^th Fighter Squadron, 405^th Fighter Group, had a complete set of D-Day stripes for the invasion. As photographed in France in September 1944, the topside stripes had been removed from the fuselage and wings, leaving a faint trace. To replicate this, I masked off the stripes and painted them using full strength paint on the undersides, but used only an exceptionally thin mixture for the top that was misted on as delicately as possible. The anti-glare panel was painted with Polly Scale Olive Drab.

The dry transfers were used for the aircraft serial number, mission markings, pilot name, data plate, and airplane name. These transferred to the model fairly well, but the very smallest stencils simply would not come off the backing. I tried burnishing them as hard as I dared without success. Therefore there are no stencils on my model, which is a minor disappointment, because I really wanted to avoid having to apply a clear coat over the natural metal finish, which would diminish the metallic effect very noticeably in this scale. Using decal stencils from the kit sheet would have required that a clear coat to blend them into the surrounding finish, so I chose to leave them off. I did spray clear flat over the national insignia and the squadron codes using masks I cut out from a 3x5 index card.

The landing gear and doors all snapped smartly into place. The wheels were much more temperamental and I spent a lot of time getting them aligned properly. Because of the weight of the model, you have to slightly overcompensate with the camber angle of the wheels because they will settle when you place the model down. The tail wheel strut simply is not robust enough to withstand the model’s weight and bends under the load. Other than replacing it with a metal piece, there is not much that can be done about it.

Lee Kolosna