Official FMS 1500mm P-47D Razorback Thread

[jetfool]

vrosi1963,
I purchased from park flier plastics last month. There service was great and about 3 weeks I had my order. They commutated with me on up dates thru the process. Highly recommend. Canopies were very clear and formed perfect.
Best Regards

[jetfool]

Davegee,
Just checked FMS website and the P-47 is in stock, $469. Hopefully it will be around for awhile. Rex

[davegee]

Davegee,
Just checked FMS website and the P-47 is in stock, $469. Hopefully it will be around for awhile. Rex

Well, that's good news! At least I have a complete kit in hand right now if they had discontinued the model altogether. That would be my luck, anyway!

Appreciate the update. Must have been a shortterm problem of shipping from China to the USA.

Cheers

davegee

[davegee]

Hi Rex: got your letter and photo of the P-47 instrument panel in the mail today. I’ll use this as my original copy and make some copies of the picture on photo paper and use the sharpened brass tubes you mentioned to cut out the instruments and put them in the new panel that I’ll use in Hairless Joe.

Thanks for sending it to me, it will really improve the look and accuracy of the instrument panel.

Cheers

Davegee

[jetfool]

Davegee,
Glad it arrived. A little something for your new P-47. Mine show up well with the open canopy. Have you started modding the landing gear? Are you going to put poly acrylic clear on before priming? Makes a smooth canvass for paint. I put the poly over the OEM decals and after 4 coats everything leveled out.

Best Regards, Rex

[davegee]

Davegee,
Glad it arrived. A little something for your new P-47. Mine show up well with the open canopy. Have you started modding the landing gear? Are you going to put poly acrylic clear on before priming? Makes a smooth canvass for paint. I put the poly over the OEM decals and after 4 coats everything leveled out.

Best Regards, Rex

Much appreciated. For the gear, I'll probably do the same with the brake lines and gear shrinker bars. Yes, I plan on using the poly acrylic clear on the whole airplane this time. Fortunately, the fuse I sent James for the cockpit mods was an extra one that I bought a couple of years ago and just had lying in a box. They don't ship those with any decals so that will be easier not having them in place. I might try to paint on the markings with paint masks and using the talcum powder so that they don't pull off any OEM paint fromt he styrofoam. On all my bigger jugs, all my markings, even the nomenclature stencils were indeed stencils and not rub on transfers. I think Callie can do some of those, although there is a limit to the size she can make them. We'll see.

Hairless Joe is one of my favorite subjects and it is quite a challenge if you are trying to be as accurate as possible in the paint scheme. The reason for that is because it suffered dual wing changes, tail change, engine change, and other repairs from battle damage the summer of 1944. So, if you want to be specific, you really have to nail down the time frame within just a few weeks, as things were really changing for this airplane that fast. On one mission, Schilling flew his plane with a completely unpainted left wing as they didn't have time to paint it! There is a rare photo of him in the cockpit taken from the left side of the airplane with a completely unpainted wing, both sides. I will be using a unpainted NMF bottom of the left wing and a painted upper left with in its distinctive camo coloring, which I love.

Cheers

Davegee

[vrosi1963]

turtle deck finalizing to match the hatch sanding ect is a pain but will be worth it and satisfying , the 3d plug will require about 7 more hours of sanding 100 grit 600 grit wet then 800 wet polishing . and mothers polish. the front needs some balsa to bring the front out a bit to be scale and angled to about 110 deg and the back the same so the canopy will let go after the pull . more flaws around the canopy frame but will fill nicely no big , then off to the vac formers for some test pulls in a couple off weeks . qty 4

[davegee]

While we are getting the work done on converting the FMS P-47 fuselage from a razorback to a bubble top, I decided I could make myself useful starting in on some preliminary prep work.

As mentioned before, I did purchase a new FMS 1500mm P-47D razorback kit. I had an extra spare set of wings and fuselage that I bought a couple of years ago but didn't need it so far. So, the fuselage was sent to James in California, and he is busy working on the bubbletop conversion from the bare fuselage that I had purchased back when as a spare..

Meanwhile, I'm digging in on details that I can get started on. All the contents of the kit I bought will eventually be transferred to the fuselage that James is working on. Today, I pulled the tail wheel assembly, doors, etc., out of the kit fuselage and have been painting them first in primer, and then yellow zinc chromate finish. The kit comes with two springs that attach the tail wheel doors to the tail wheel strut, so that when you turn the tailwheel, the doors sway back and forth. That has been a silly idea to me, so the remedy is getting about a 1 1/2 inch long extension spring attached to each door and then looped around the strut so the gear door operate in a realistic fashion, both when the doors are open and when the gear is retracted, they close smartly using the spring idea.

I'm also starting the minwax process with the first coat of preparation on the rudder. With all the trim tabs on the plane, I use an exacto to make them slightly moveable for a more realistic look. The final look of the rudder will be yellow, per the paint scheme of the day for this unit: Red, 61st FS, Yelow, 62nd FS, and Blue, 63rd FS. Attached is a photo of the real Hairless Joe during WWII, about ready to launch for a mission.

[davegee]

turtle deck finalizing to match the hatch sanding ect is a pain but will be worth it and satisfying , the 3d plug will require about 7 more hours of sanding 100 grit 600 grit wet then 800 wet polishing . and mothers polish. the front needs some balsa to bring the front out a bit to be scale and angled to about 110 deg and the back the same so the canopy will let go after the pull . more flaws around the canopy frame but will fill nicely no big , then off to the vac formers for some test pulls in a couple off weeks . qty 4

That's really coming along, James. Nice Work!

Davegee

[jetfool]

Davegee,
Ordering my popcorn so I can watch this phoenix rise up. Almost forgot what the OEM rudder paint looked like.
Rex

[vrosi1963]

vrosi1963,
I purchased from park flier plastics last month. There service was great and about 3 weeks I had my order. They commutated with me on up dates thru the process. Highly recommend. Canopies were very clear and formed perfect.
Best Regards

Do you have a link or Number to contact , all the links i see go no where . I have it Parkflyer Plastics Archives - We make flying fun!!!

[jetfool]

vrosi1963,
Seems there web is down. The phone # is 866-457-3777. I left a message my first time then they got back with me.
Best of Luck, Rex

[Grossman56]

Thought these might be of interest

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

[davegee]

Thought these might be of interest

Grossman56
(Dangerous Dan)

Thanks, Dan. I think that is the P-47 out of Chino, CA. A beautiful restoration and I think they fitted it with a jump seat so that they can take passengers up in it. It is loosely painted in the marking of the 56th Fighter Group. but they still need some other details to make it accurate. But I'd take it if they gave it to me! Ha!

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

I've been busy painting up some of the control surfaces with acrylic minwax, priming, and in some cases painting parts. I just pretty much finished the yellow rudder for Hairless Joe that is an ongoing build. I added a LED clear light for the tail light on the rudder, although it won't be operable, just for show.

Starting in on the wings with light sanding and min waxing. Some details to the right wing will be a fresh air port on the leading edge and the small window for the gun camera and hatch for getting the camera in and out of the wing.

Cheers

Davegee

[jetfool]

Rudder looks great. What do you think of the poly acrylic process?
Rex

[davegee]

I like it. It definitely smoothes out the foam finish and provides some strength to the foam for dents and nicks.

[f4u ausie]

Dave even ya weathering looks accurate awesome

[vrosi1963]

I have seen all the P-47 fly at chino ,2,5 hours away and now they have the yearly airshow at Santa Maria , one hour away with there new wing being built to relocate all of it there in the years to come 4 P-47 Thunderbolt's Missing Man flight, Planes of Fame airshow 2019

[davegee]

Dave even ya weathering looks accurate awesome

Thanks, Craig. Lots of work to do on this one, but I look forward to finishing it and flying it someday. My first rc P-47 I did back in 2002, so I've had a lot of practice. Always working to improve, though...

davegee