Official FMS 1500mm P-47D Razorback Thread

[davegee]

No sweat, Rex. We have a lot of beautiful horses in the many open pastures that we love to look at up here. Our vet lives in the house where her practice is and there are beautiful and friendly horses in the fields that surround her propety. Horses have always been special to me and my wife, too. We both used to do somewhat competitive English riding and jumping, along with our twin daughters when they were young. I can see how your daoughter and her horse are so close, 8 years later.

Let me know if you have any questions on the armored glass frame. Just having something up front there is more than a lot of guys do.

d

[jetfool]

Davegee,
She slept in the stall the night he was born and her and him have been soul mates since. She is the only one he will let ride him in competition and gives his best every time. His offspring are just like him in temperament, and several owners will be showing them this season. We are proud of her. He does enjoy the shows and lets out a big noise every time they return home so the other horses know his is back. He is funny.
Thanks for going to the trouble of measuring the glass.
Rex

[davegee]

Hi Rex: I got a very rough idea about the armored glass plate you requested. Since it is installed in the windscreen, I couldn't measure it directly except to take a caliper on the outside of the glass and got the best guesstimate of the frame size. You can take these figures, maybe make a template out of paper and see how it fits and trim accordingly. So, I used some plastic sprue about .15 inch wide and pretty thin. I made the frame 1.75 inches long for the side pieces, 1.25 inches for the top piece, and 1.75 inches for the bottom part of the frame. You should be able to glue the corners at the top to the windscreen frame and also at the bottom along the bottom part of the frame. I'll attach a couiple pics of mine. Let me know if you have any questions. The thickness of the glass should be around .15 inch thick or a little more if you make the frame a little more than .15 inches wide. The actual thickness of the real armored glass was 1.5 inches thick, for reference.

[davegee]

I'll try to get a rough measurement of the armor glass. Will post shortly. I get the impression that the horse and rider work almost as a single entity in their common goal for the fastest time. I'm probably reading something into it, but it seems to me the horse just lives for this competition and gives every ounce of effort to to its best, especially with a good rider leading it on! Its a great part of the rodeo each and every time.

d

[jetfool]

Davegee,

She and her husband travel to a lot of shows out west and southern states in the summer. She raised her Stallion from a home-grown baby (now 8yrs old) and breed 20-25 mares yearly. He is fast, 14seconds in the pattern and usually gets in the top 10 or wins. She has her own training stable and clinic and is busy 10-12hr per day. Loves what she is doing.

Do you have a rough measurement of the armor glass in front of the gunsight? Working on little things for the cockpit.
Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Davegee,
Agree on what you said. I like it when some do come up and ask how I did things and see the minute things we do. Especially the younger ones who get ideas on what they can do to their models. Hopefully spark a desire that they will get into the scale hobby.
I will be busy the next 3 days. Daughter is big into barrel horse racing and is running an indoor 3-day event in Danville, IL. As usual mom and dad get volunteered to take the money and I get to be the gofer for everything that needs done. Usually, 100-200 horses show up and runs till after midnight for 2 days, so little sleep. It's nice to know my kids still need me. LOL

Best Regards, Rex

Have fun, and Good Luck! Cody Wyoming is Huge into rodeos during teh summer months, doing a rodeo nightly the entire summer, and sometimes have daytime rodeos, too, which also include girls' barrel racing, which I have always enjoyed watching. It's amazing how the girl riders and their horses work as a very close team to get the best times in the course. All great fun!

Cheers

dave

[jetfool]

Davegee,
Agree on what you said. I like it when some do come up and ask how I did things and see the minute things we do. Especially the younger ones who get ideas on what they can do to their models. Hopefully spark a desire that they will get into the scale hobby.
I will be busy the next 3 days. Daughter is big into barrel horse racing and is running an indoor 3-day event in Danville, IL. As usual mom and dad get volunteered to take the money and I get to be the gofer for everything that needs done. Usually, 100-200 horses show up and runs till after midnight for 2 days, so little sleep. It's nice to know my kids still need me. LOL

Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Thanks Dave,
Why would any of us take a perfectly great flying airplane and take a knife to it. We must all be CRAZY! I did think it through several times before I cut the rail grooves, but it turned out great. Just a little filling to do. Taped out the cut line on canopy but haven't cut.
Since retiring my winter months are mostly spent in the shop. Sold my old JD garden tractor with snowblower, hyd. lift, that I spent years plowing snow out of all my neighbors drives for fun. If it snows that deep, I just look out the window now.
Do believe judges take in all the extra details that modelers do but I just enjoy doing details, enjoying friends at the show and not concerned about who wins.
Best Regards, Rex

I like what you said in a recent post about the fact that few will notice the work you are doing for the corrugated floor boards in the cockpit except you. I have shared that opinion in my modeling for over 50 years or more. I remember once, making a scratchbuilt scale fire extinguisher that goes low in the cabin of a 1/16 scale Apollo Command Module, all totally scratchbuilt. I remember saying to myself when I installed it "no one will ever see this detail piece that I spent time working on (decades before 3D printing for the common man was even a thought!) But I will remember and appreciate that I did it. I still think about that part and the throught behind it.

Maybe we're crazy, but I think it is a good crazy, a passion for something we have in our souls. I think there are many of us out there with the same philosophy, and really appreciate the extra detail that we do in our models and those done by other modelers, too..

"Keep on Truckin," my man!

Cheers

dave

[jetfool]

Thanks Dave,
Why would any of us take a perfectly great flying airplane and take a knife to it. We must all be CRAZY! I did think it through several times before I cut the rail grooves, but it turned out great. Just a little filling to do. Taped out the cut line on canopy but haven't cut.
Since retiring my winter months are mostly spent in the shop. Sold my old JD garden tractor with snowblower, hyd. lift, that I spent years plowing snow out of all my neighbors drives for fun. If it snows that deep, I just look out the window now.
Do believe judges take in all the extra details that modelers do but I just enjoy doing details, enjoying friends at the show and not concerned about who wins.
Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Working on the sliding canopy rails. Used small/thin magnets and saw blades (steel) from my mini hack saw. Canopy slides easily and magnets hold it hard to fuselage. Cut and filed the saw teeth for a smooth install, will add filler where needed and finish sand/paint. Canopy/cockpit details and some landing gear details and this should be finished. Whew!
Best Regards, Rex

Excellent, Rex! Some high anxiety cutting in two a perfectly good canopy, but it is worth it when it comes out. At least they are cheap and plentiful in case there was a booboo, but looks like it came through surgery like a champ, doctor!

I sorta felt that way the first time I cut into the foam tail of my E Flite P-51D to make it scale and an early D model without the vertical fin fairing. I rehearsed it in my mind several times before I cut it out, and the preparation, planning, and some luck worked for a perfect cut.

I think this can be a master stroke at the show provided the judges like cool and accurate details like what you are doing. Besides, beats shoveling snow on a cold day!

Nicely done!

Davegee

[jetfool]

Working on the sliding canopy rails. Used small/thin magnets and saw blades (steel) from my mini hack saw. Canopy slides easily and magnets hold it hard to fuselage. Cut and filed the saw teeth for a smooth install, will add filler where needed and finish sand/paint. Canopy/cockpit details and some landing gear details and this should be finished. Whew!
Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

No one but me will notice but I have spent a few hrs. laying out the floorboard. Tiny plastic half round strips and the foot pads should look nice. Many tiny strips to cut and glue but need to see where seat and stick go to detail on floorboard. Floorboards not glued yet. Cold snowy day outside, what better way to spend the day.
Best Regards, Rex

Looks good, Rex. Early P-47s had a corrugated floor, and later ones had a relatively smooth floor. You'll have to do fit tests to see how the pilot fits to make the floor work best. It's all good stuff!

Package to you looks to arrive to you next Tuesday. I'm tracking it and will let you know of any updates. Good detail project when it's cold and snowy outside!

Cheers

dave

[jetfool]

No one but me will notice but I have spent a few hrs. laying out the floorboard. Tiny plastic half round strips and the foot pads should look nice. Many tiny strips to cut and glue but need to see where seat and stick go to detail on floorboard. Floorboards not glued yet. Cold snowy day outside, what better way to spend the day.
Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Looking great, Rex. Like the extra details!

[jetfool]

Another pic

[jetfool]

vrosi1963,
Great site, I looked at every section and lots of info.
I cut the OEM headrest out sanded former smooth but the foam texture for this aera didn't look scale so I made a new former from .010" plastic sheet, sanded and will add the structural braces and a new headrest before gluing in.
Also added the hand canopy bar that the pilot grabs to close canopy. After cutting canopy apart I will add the black rubber seal around the inside edge of front canopy. I think 22-26ga wire will give the correct effect. I keep finding more details to add!
Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

cool!

d

vrosi1963 gives a good point. From pictures he shows, the razorback jug headrest is more rectangular, rounded edges, with the long edge up and down on the back wall of the cockpit. I've seen period pics of several minor variations of that, with thousands of P-47s manufactured by three plants (Republic, NY, Republic Evansville, and some Curtiss in NY) but you can see the basic idea. Most of the headrest will be covered by the pilot's head, but it is still important to get one in there of the basic shape.

davegee

[vrosi1963]

Correct headrest is a rounder rectangle Dakota Territory Air Museum’s P-47 Update – June/July, 2022

[davegee]

Davegee,
Head rest is exactly what I am doing, also adding the 2 angled structural braces on the former.
Rex

cool!

d

[davegee]

Davegee,
Great news. Looking forward to the package. Please send an e-mail of the cost for you and Dan.
I gutted the cockpit of the OEM panels and cut the floor out, added the 1/2" sq. balsa extensions Will wait for parts before adding new floor.
May use your printed mirror. How long did you make the mirror post from the canopy?
Ready to cut the canopy apart. Need to find some small flat strip steel for the sliding canopy.

Phantom is getting attention also just on a smaller bench. 2 1/2 months till Toledo! May have some sleepless nights coming.

Best Regards, Rex

You can probably remove some of the parts from the OEM cockpit to repaint and glue onto the new sidewalls of the cockpit. They aren't totally bad, but can be improved upon over the OEM parts.

Take a look at the printed rearview mirror when you get it. It looks pretty scale, is already painted and can easily glue onto the top of the windscreen glass. If you use the OEM Spitfire rear view mirror, I cut the mirror post to about 3/8 inch long, or so, beveled at the base for the mirror to angle down to look like photos of it in books. If you use the mirror I am sending, you can simply glue it onto the top of the windscreen, as it is already angled properly.