Official FMS 1500mm P-47D Razorback Thread

[F106DeltaDart]

Excellent work as always Dave! Looks great!

[Elbee]

davegee, Your finish is both excellent and realistic. Could it be.... ? Bravo Zulu, Sir. Best, LB

[davegee]

I just found this one from my I phone. It was taken at the same time as those in the previous post. But I really liked the whole composition of the sky, mountain, and plane together in the photo, this one "clean" without any ordnance stores, unretouched or photoshopped.

Cheers

Davegee

[davegee]

Here is a little obscure detail that is probably over the top for most, but one I found interesting. For the drop tanks on these airplanes, many times they used connectors that had a section of glass tubing connected to the flexible tube that attached the drop tank to the aircraft wing or belly. The purpose of the glass tube was to give a clean breakaway of the tank when jettisoned, usually just prior to entering armed combat with the enemy. Wouldn't make for a very good look if the hose held onto the airplane with that tank banging against it while trying to engage an enemy fighter! This idea worked very well to preclude a problem getting rid of a drop tank when needed.

I have two pics, one where the plane is upside down, and another where it is right-side up showing the clear tubing section. I used black electrical wire and the tube was 1/16" ID vinyl tubing bought on Amazon.

[Elbee]

davegee, We Americans can be quite clever. Nice touch. Best, LB

[jetfool]

Excellent details

[davegee]

davegee, We Americans can be quite clever. Nice touch. Best, LB

Thanks, Elbee. I first added these to a CARF 1/4.5 scale model of a P-51D that was and is part of an exhibit on the Scouting Forces in WWII. The museum is the 8th Air Force Museum in Savanah, GA. The plane was painted up as "Saucy Shirley" which was a girlfriend of a good friend of mine who passed away recently at 99 years. They used 110 gallon wing tanks to make their Scouting missions all the way to Berlin and back with the bombers. I found some pictures of these breakable glass tubes used on the Mustangs, and other fighters. I agree, it was a very clever idea on ensuring clean separation of drop tanks when needed. Due to a shortage of resources back at base, pilots were requested to bring the empty tanks home if they didn't have to jettison them on their missions.

I understand the clever Brits also used something like these on some of their RAF aircraft, too.

I'm attaching a photo I found while building the CARF 1:4.5 scale P-51D Mustang Saucy Shirley that I mentioned above. You can see some detail of the (simulated) glass tube on the fuel feed line. The tank itself was 3D printed, back in 2018 by a friend of mine. I can't find any of the finished pics of the airplane on display in Savannah right now, but will look for some. It was and is a pretty cool interactive display showcasing the Scouting Forces in WWII of which my friend who flew this aircraft was the "last of the Mohicans, the last man standing of about 100 pilots who were in the group in WWII. He was pretty well off so he funded the display for the Savannah museum that we installed in 2018.

Cheers

Davegee

[f4u ausie]

Must have been a long return trip,, berlin n back.. hot and uncomftable. The little tidbits keep us all learning... some of the droptanks in paper mache was the most intresting.... i think daveegee u years ago build big balsa, stuff,, what u do on ya foamies ,, leeds me to the conclusion that they must have been scale heavan(thebig balsa ply) as always great job,, and 4 the info

[davegee]

Must have been a long return trip,, berlin n back.. hot and uncomftable. The little tidbits keep us all learning... some of the droptanks in paper mache was the most intresting.... i think daveegee u years ago build big balsa, stuff,, what u do on ya foamies ,, leeds me to the conclusion that they must have been scale heavan(thebig balsa ply) as always great job,, and 4 the info

Hi f4u aussie: I got into rc flying in 2000. After getting up to speed with some trainers, I bought several Aerotech 1/6 scale carbon fiber P-47s that I entered in Team Scale contests around the USA. The last one I did with a friend of mine in Phoenix was a Yellow aircraft 1/6 scale P-47M that we competed with in Team Scale at several contests, including Top Gun in Florida. All these P-47s survived flying and are now in museums around the USA. It was fun, but expensive, and traveling around the country got old after a while. These days, I'm happy just to spruce up some foamies now that I'm retired, when I'm not busy with other museum projects. They all keep me busy. The larger 1/6 or 1/5 scale airplanes certainly allowed me to do a lot more detailing than I do on the foamies, but foamies are fun, too.

You're right about those long missions with the Scouts to Germany and back. I know even though they were all very young, sitting in those cramped cockpits for several hours, sometimes they had to be pulled out of the cockpits when they got back to base. They were just that exhausted, even being in top physical and mental shape!

[davegee]

Hi f4u aussie: I got into rc flying in 2000. After getting up to speed with some trainers, I bought several Aerotech 1/6 scale carbon fiber P-47s that I entered in Team Scale contests around the USA. The last one I did with a friend of mine in Phoenix was a Yellow aircraft 1/6 scale P-47M that we competed with in Team Scale at several contests, including Top Gun in Florida. All these P-47s survived flying and are now in museums around the USA. It was fun, but expensive, and traveling around the country got old after a while. These days, I'm happy just to spruce up some foamies now that I'm retired, when I'm not busy with other museum projects. They all keep me busy. The larger 1/6 or 1/5 scale airplanes certainly allowed me to do a lot more detailing than I do on the foamies, but foamies are fun, too.

You're right about those long missions with the Scouts to Germany and back. I know even though they were all very young, sitting in those cramped cockpits for several hours, sometimes they had to be pulled out of the cockpits when they got back to base. They were just that exhausted, even being in top physical and mental shape!

Hi f4u aussie: I know this is a little off topic for this thread, but since we got on the subject of Scouting Forces, I thought you and maybe some others might enjoy some pics I just found online from May 2018, when my wife and I drove a big U Haul truck from Denver to Savannah with the entire Scouting Forces display items. One of them was a CARF 1:4.5 (98 inch wingspan) fiberglass model of a P-51D that I repainted, and mounted on top of the display panels on a pole in a climbing, turning, attitude. All the markings on this airplane were painted on, no stickers. Even the small nomenclature were stencils and painted on. The pilot figure we got a photo of the pilot, Bill Getz, taken in 1944 in the cockpit of his plane. There was a service that could do a 3D print of the face and head if you had at least a frontal and side photo that they could use. It was almost eerie how close to the real person it was! I'll attach some pics here of the display which is still going on at the Mighty Eighth Air Museum in Savannah. It's a museum well worth taking in, if you are in the area.