Official FMS 1500mm P-47D Razorback Thread

[davegee]

As I go along completiing this model, I do some detail items, when convenient. I just taped and painted the red boxes around the covers for the two fuselage fuel tanks . I have an order in from Callie for another nomenclature sheet that I'll add the placards that went on these covers.

[davegee]

quick question, I thought Robert Johnson served with the 61st, which had red cowls and red rudders. Was Pernod and Sam a borrowed p47 from the 62nd? Or perhaps I’m mistaken 😂

Also, where did you find photos of Pernod and Sam? I’ve looked for them but never found any. That’s why I chose to paint my p47 as lucky instead … lots of good reference photos for that.

Hi Eagle 15. I missed your question until I relooked over the posts. Regarding Bob Johnson and the red rudder, it is true that part of the time while he was flying his combat tours with the 61st FS, they did paint that squadron's rudders Red. The 62nd FS was painted Yellow, and the 63rd was Blue. This was in a very dynamic period where markings were changing rapidly. With Johnson, he was keen to stay in combat as long as possible, but with his being the top-scoring pilot in the 8th USAAF at the time, they weren't going to let him stay very long until they gave him the "hook" and sent him home for a well-deserved rest.

They extended Johnson's combat tour for 10-15 flying hours with the understanding that when he flew that time, regardless of how successful he was shooting down the enemy, he was Going Home! At this time, Johnson was moved from his beloved 61st FS to the 62nd FS as they needed a replacement Operations Officer. That is why he transferred to the 62nd FS, thus his being given a new airplane, which he named PENROD and SAM, in honor of his crew chief and himself. The yellow rudders are what the 62nd FS were using until the end of the war, and that's why you see Penrod and Sam with the yellow tail. Maybe more info than you needed, but brevity has never been my long suit!

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

quick question, I thought Robert Johnson served with the 61st, which had red cowls and red rudders. Was Pernod and Sam a borrowed p47 from the 62nd? Or perhaps I’m mistaken 😂

Also, where did you find photos of Pernod and Sam? I’ve looked for them but never found any. That’s why I chose to paint my p47 as lucky instead … lots of good reference photos for that.

Hi Eagle 15. I missed your question until I relooked over the posts. Regarding Bob Johnson and the red rudder, it is true that part of the time while he was flying his combat tours with the 61st FS, they did paint that squadron's rudders Red. The 62nd FS was painted Yellow, and the 63rd was Blue. This was in a very dynamic period where markings were changing rapidly. With Johnson, he was keen to stay in combat as long as possible, but with his being the top-scoring pilot in the 8th USAAF at the time, they weren't going to let him stay very long until they gave him the "hook" and send him home for a well-deserved rest.

They extended Johnson's combat tour twice for 25 flying hours with the understanding that when he flew that time, regardless of how successful he was shooting down the enemy, he was Going Home! At this time, Johnson was moved from his beloved 61st FS to the 62nd FS as they needed a replacement Operations Officer. That is why he transferred to the 62nd FS, thus his being given a new airplane, which he named PENROD and SAM, in honor of his crew chief and himself. The yellow rudders are what the 62nd FS were using until the end of the war, and that's why you see Penrod and Sam with the yellow tail. Maybe more info than you needed, but brevity has never been my long suit!

Cheers

Davegee

[Eagle15]

Hi Eagle 15. I missed your question until I relooked over the posts. Regarding Bob Johnson and the red rudder, it is true that part of the time while he was flying his combat tours with the 61st FS, they did paint that squadron's rudders Red. The 62nd FS was painted Yellow, and the 63rd was Blue. This was in a very dynamic period where markings were changing rapidly. With Johnson, he was keen to stay in combat as long as possible, but with his being the top-scoring pilot in the 8th USAAF at the time, they weren't going to let him stay very long until they gave him the "hook" and send him home for a well-deserved rest.

They extended Johnson's combat tour for 10-15 flying hours with the understanding that when he flew that time, regardless of how successful he was shooting down the enemy, he was Going Home! At this time, Johnson was moved from his beloved 61st FS to the 62nd FS as they needed a replacement Operations Officer. That is why he transferred to the 62nd FS, thus his being given a new airplane, which he named PENROD and SAM, in honor of his crew chief and himself. The yellow rudders are what the 62nd FS were using until the end of the war, and that's why you see Penrod and Sam with the yellow tail. Maybe more info than you needed, but brevity has never been my long suit!

Cheers

Davegee

That explains it- thank you! I never knew he transferred to the 62nd; you learn something new every day! Thanks for clearing it up.
Good luck on your bubbletop conversion- it looks amazing!

[Elbee]

I have or had a few "pinching" issues in that I had a small divergence from parallel due to the curve of the fuselage. It doesn't bind, but it puts the servo under a bit of a load in a few areas.

DG,

The taper of a fuselage was the issue and reason for a simple mechanism.

Keeping everything as square as possible was my goal, while designing something both simple and sturdy.

The carriage idea kept it all square and sturdy, though was never really a simple design.

I'd do it a bit differently next time, though dissecting the fuselage for best access would still be my method.

Locating the servo driven rack and pinion in the battery hatch cover kept the weight forward of CoG.

Aesthetically, that made no difference and gave me opportunity to check the mechanism each time I changed the battery.

Well, at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Best, LB

[davegee]

That explains it- thank you! I never knew he transferred to the 62nd; you learn something new every day! Thanks for clearing it up.
Good luck on your bubbletop conversion- it looks amazing!

You bet! If Johnson had left when he was due and his tour considered completed, he would have left still serving with the 61st FS with the red tails. But when he requested the short extension of service, the needs of the service come first, and the 62nd really needed a replacement Ops Officer. So, he was ordered to fill the gap and complete his last combat flying time with the 62nd FS.

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

DG,

The taper of a fuselage was the issue and reason for a simple mechanism.

Keeping everything as square as possible was my goal, while designing something both simple and sturdy.

The carriage idea kept it all square and sturdy, though was never really a simple design.

I'd do it a bit differently next time, though dissecting the fuselage for best access would still be my method.

Locating the servo driven rack and pinion in the battery hatch cover kept the weight forward of CoG.

Aesthetically, that made no difference and gave me opportunity to check the mechanism each time I changed the battery.

Well, at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Best, LB

That was a brilliant idea, Steve! I borrowed a bit on my plane with a "U" shaped carriage where the crosspiece in the front would attach to the linear servo. My plan all along was to use brass, but I was having problems soldering it together. I had decent soldering guns, but it was like trying to solder using water! I then made one out of K&S plastic tubing, but it wasn't up to the stress of the movement. So, I finally used my wife's high power soldering iron she uses for stained glass work, and that got the job done. So far, so good. The "acid test" of course is when I attach the canopy to the rail system and hopefully it will slide smoothly open and closed when operating. We'll see, but I'm somewhat encouraged so far.

Cheers

Dave

[davegee]

Been busy working on the cockpit and details the past couple of days. Most of it is done, I think the pilot will fit in ok when the parts I just glued in are dried and ready to install it. Will send pics with the pilot installed and then I'll start working on the powered canopy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that that will work out as I am hoping.

Most of the cockpit parts are 3D printed, some are just old fashioned modeling like the pilot seat that is adjustable on its aluminum tubes and the control stick is attached to the floor with a small piece of surgical tubing so it is moveable and will be placed in the pilot's hand for display and flying. The placards inside the cockpit are cut out from photos of real P-47s.

A couple pics:

[davegee]

Just installed the pilot. He's glued into position, ready for action!

[Elbee]

davegee,

Looks real good, Dave.

Best, LB

[davegee]

davegee,

Looks real good, Dave.

Best, LB

Thanks, Steve. I successfully separated the windscreen from the canopy with my handy razor saw, and am now going to figure out how to connect the canopy to the rail so it will move smoothly on the tracks but also be not difficult to remove the canopy when needed. The Actuonix linear servo is working like a champ. pretty much dialed in on the close/open limits. The brass carriage that I made that slides in the tracks is holding up well so far.

Cheers

davegee

[jetfool]

Davegee,
cockpit and pilot looks fantastic. Dans painting of the pilot makes the whole illusion look real. Hoping for pics of the sliding mechansim.
Best Regards, Rex

[vrosi1963]

Is this depiction accurate or just a guess for the right side P-47D Thunderbolt 56th FG, Col. David Schilling, Hairless Joe, England, June 1944

[davegee]

Is this depiction accurate or just a guess for the right side P-47D Thunderbolt 56th FG, Col. David Schilling, Hairless Joe, England, June 1944

James, there are only two or so photos that I have ever come across that showed any of the right side of Hairless Joe. Having said that, there was enough to make an educated guess, at least as far as the front half of the right side of this aircraft. Regarding the tail area, we can only do our best to continue with similar camo patterns that were on the left side ad are well documented with photos. I think mine is as good as I or most anyone could get with such limited photo references for the whole airplane.

Regarding that diecast steel model, it is quite a good model (I have one), but a lot of those camo patterns are inaccurate. I started using that on the green camo bands using the model as a reference, but then started to change them going directly from period photos from that time period. Due to tremendous battle damage that summer, this airplane changed a whole lot as they changed out wings, tail, engine, etc. Even so, in December of 1944, Schilling shot down 5 enemy fighters over Germany making his total kills up to 22.5. Those were the last recorded kills in this aircraft or by Schilling himself.

See below photo of Hairless Joe after crash landing at Boxted Air Base, Essex, after taking heavy AA fire in the Netherlands on the first day of Operation Market Garden, September 17, 1944.

Regards,

Dave

[davegee]

I got a lot done on the cockpit canopy and servo driven movement open/closed. I have it all glued and taped down until I check it out tomorrow to see how it came out. The movement of the canopy works pretty well, and I'm hoping that when I remove the tape the canopy will make a good tight fit to the windscreen.

After that is all worked out, I still have a lot of small details to add to the cockpit, like the emergency release handle for the canopy, and more camo details using photos of the real aircraft as a guide.

Cheers

Davegee

[Elbee]

davegee

From over here, it looks perfect.

Trust all will work as planned.

Best, LB

[davegee]

davegee

From over here, it looks perfect.

Trust all will work as planned.

Best, LB

Thanks, Elbee. I have it all working now, did some tests and very minor tweaks to geta smooth opening and closing.

I'd like to post a short video of the opening/closing sequence, but that probably takes about 10 seconds and I can't post it because it says it is too long. Do you have any ideas what I can do to upload a video file from my phone that is acceptable to Hobbysquawk?

Thanks!

Davegee

[Elbee]

Thanks, Elbee. I have it all working now, did some tests and very minor tweaks to geta smooth opening and closing.

I'd like to post a short video of the opening/closing sequence, but that probably takes about 10 seconds and I can't post it because it says it is too long. Do you have any ideas what I can do to upload a video file from my phone that is acceptable to Hobbysquawk?

Thanks!

Davegee

Dave,

Well above my pay grade, sir.

I have no clue what video formats work directly in this forum.

Most use their own personal "U" toob accounts.

Might try finding someone who has an existing "U"toob account and post through that person and then link that here at HS.

Not much help, I'm afraid.

Best, LB

[f4u ausie]

Dave I can't do vids with my fone either I use ,,, my . I call it a tablet.. mini computer its about 4 times the size of a. Fone. Old blokes that's me,, r hopeless. Don't no what else to call it wana C that canopy sliding

[davegee]

Dave,

Well above my pay grade, sir.

I have no clue what video formats work directly in this forum.

Most use their own personal "U" toob accounts.

Might try finding someone who has an existing "U"toob account and post through that person and then link that here at HS.

Not much help, I'm afraid.

Best, LB

Good idea. I'll look into it. I have had a little success posting from my I Phone to Hobby Squawk before, but only for about 10 seconds max, or so. I'll figure something out.

Cheers

Davegee