Guillow's kit #1001 P-47D

[heywooood]

The Republic P-47 was a massive fighter aircraft, designed specifically as a bomber escort. It was also used as a daylight air superiority and ground attack aircraft with unparalleled success.
The top 10 P-47 fighter aces survived the war. No other aircraft can make that claim. It was ROBUST.

here are some images of my current project

[heywooood]

because a lot of the iconic look of this airplane is centered on the massive R2800 twin Wasp radial engine and its super-charger, getting the engine and cowling detail enhanced is critical.

The kit provided vacu-formed and molded-in engine detail were insufficient and not what I wanted to see at the front of my Jug - so I cut away the Guillow motor and made my own..


I also had to redo the lower air intake and strakes..


to get to something more like this...

[heywooood]

this detail would also work for the Guillow 1000 series Hellcat I suppose..

[Chris A]

When finished, the sanded and painted balsa between the fuselage formers and stringers will look just like riveted skins. It is interesting that the Grumann, Republic and Chance-Vought factories, all users of the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engines, were all within 60 miles of each other. Does the kit come with any of the Li'l Abner markings? I'm looking forward to seeing how your P 47 turns out.

[heywooood]

Hi Chris.
The decal sheet that Guillow provides is for only Hub Zemke's plane. I can order any set I like from Callie's Graphics however and just might decide to go that way. It all
depends on how the model comes together. I'm leaning toward the Zemke finish though..

[Oldyzracer1]

Very enjoyable to see this model getting the Heywood build treatment! I built one years ago; does it come with a separate vacuum-formed R2800 engine like the Hellcat and Corsair? I assumed it did, but I can’t remember if I used it. Your version is way better, anyhow.

[heywooood]

This kit has the engine face and intake area molded into the cowling - all in one.
The engine detail is nonexistent and the intake is completely inaccurate.
I cut it out of the cowl just inside the cowling rim. If the Guillow motor had been molded separately I might have used
it. Interesting to hear that the Guillow Corsair and Hellcat have separate R2800’s - I assumed they would have been the same as this kit.

[Oldyzracer1]

I wondered why I couldn’t remember the engine; so there was none! Thanks for the quick update. It seems so easy to include the engine when it’s in the other kits.

[flying_termite]

Started this kit today. What did you use for a propellor?

[42swing]

My Dad was a Thunderbolt pilot during the war. Always love seeing a new build going on.

[heywooood]

Flying-termite, I have not fabricated the prop yet but plan to use sheet balsa for the blades and the kit provided prop hub.

42Swing - I hope to do the P-47 in proper homage to the people at Republic who designed her and to the courageous pilots who flew her to victory in WWII

[42swing]

Thanks so much Heywoooood! Can’t wait to see the end product. Have you picked a scheme yet?

[heywooood]

Leaning still toward the Gabreski box art version - but I’m still having trouble getting back to work on the project.
I seem to be in one of those lulls in motivation / inspiration that come and go.
I think I completed four straight projects in a row before this one and now I guess I need to reload.
Hopefully this slump will end soon but I never know when the urge will strike.

[Bill Gaylord]

I generally like the box versions, and you get the decals. I used it when I built the model, back in my early days. Could have done a better job in more recent times, as I wasn't a detailer back then and completely missed the camo detail.

[heywooood]

that is a very nice Jug, Bill !
I am still looking forward to finishing my model - I just don't know when that might be.