SPA Modeler

I happened to come across a YouTube video of WW2 photos. One of them was the propeller damaged photo. The pilot is 19 yr old Lt. Edwin Wright. The damage was caused by flak. What's even amazing, he was hit 6 other times, survived every single one of them. I did a Google search and this is what I found more info.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Warthunder/com ... he_damage/

Thanks guys!

SteveSki wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 11:49 am That's a pretty slick trick! The build is incredible, shame the cowling covers all that awesome work.

Slick trick extends to engine cowling too! Engine is connected to fuselage via magnets. Cowling to engine and prop to prop shaft are tight friction fits. So... it's all removable and I can pose the model with cowling off.

Here are the 500 pound bombs painted but not yet weathered. Bomb racks have a primer coat but not yet painted.




The seams around the center rack have been cleaned up.



There is a bump on the fuselage spine just aft of the canopy. I assume it is a light but I can't seem to verify its presence for my machine (P-47D-11-RE). I'm removing it for now.



The horizontal stabilizers have been glued into place since it looks like there is going to be some putty work required.

Engineering drawings and the official parts catalog indicate that the light on the fuselage spine was present on the P-47D-11-RE. I was prepared either way and figured that the solid bump of plastic needed to be removed or replaced. I actually saved the little bump after it was sawed off. I glued that back on but filed it flat to serve as a base for a future light enclosure. I added a small sphere as a bulb.


It will remain this way until after all of the painting is finished. At that point, I'll paint the base and bulb and form the light enclosure with UV-activated clear epoxy. I did something similar on my Corsair build.


I took some time to fill in the ejector pin marks on the landing gear covers. Since the covers are held away from the legs, I thought they might be visible.


I also started mapping out the connection between the drop tank and fuselage. There will be two lines: air and fuel and I'm going to try and incorporate some clear parts to represent the glass break-away portions of the lines. The copper wiring gives me an idea of the length of the lines and where the bends might be.


I'm still procrastinating on adding wiring to landing gear wells. The situation is made more cumbersome in that the aft and inboard walls of the wells are built into the wing spar and fuselage, while the fore and outboard walls are on the wing top parts. Luckily, there is not too much plumbing in the wells and some of it already represented so maybe it is not as much work as I think it is.

Stunning work as ever John, I really do like the use you've made of the magnets, those bombs look very nice indeed.

I'll be interested to see what you do with the plumbing for the drop tank.

Thanks Stuart! A bout of pink-eye ran through our household last week and I'm just getting over it. So not much to report. The ailerons and flaps were slapped together. I'm not going to add detail to the ends of these parts but I thought the least I could do was cap them off neatly and add some rivets.


I've fabricated the air and fuel lines from the drop tank. The drop tank itself is not positioned securely at this point so some adjustments to the lines will have to be made after the tank is glued into final position.


The brake lines have been added to the landing gear legs using a combination of lead and copper wire.



I had to make sure that the added lines didn't interfere with the fit of the gear covers.

The glass breakaway lines look amazing is it stretched clear sprue?

Exquisite work on the brake lines! Do you use bits of brass tubing as the anchor point mounts on the struts for the wire line to feed thru?

Very nice!

Thanks guys!

Floki wrote: ↑Wed Jan 11, 2023 2:03 am The glass breakaway lines look amazing is it stretched clear sprue?

Yes, the clear sections are stretched clear sprue. Always a challenge in getting a specific diameter when stretching sprue... it took me quite a few attempts to get those usable little sections.

Stikpusher wrote: ↑Wed Jan 11, 2023 10:42 am Exquisite work on the brake lines! Do you use bits of brass tubing as the anchor point mounts on the struts for the wire line to feed thru?

Yes, the thicker section of brake line next to the wheel has three attachment points so I used little sections of brass tubing to establish those three points and went from there.