ACADEMY 1:72 REPUBLIC P-47D THUNDERBOLT

Reviewer: Gavin Reed  (rec.models.scale)

The P-47 Thunderbolt is a large and rugged World War II fighter that proved its worth on a number of occasions during the Pacific and European air wars.   Affectionately known as the 'Jug' - given due to its outline if stood on its nose - the P-47 had a renowned reputation for returning home after absorbing more punishment that would generally down most of the other aircraft.  The P-47D was one of the more common and definitive variants of this classic aircraft.

This Academy kit depicts the 'bubble-top' canopy variant of the Thunderbolt.  It should be noted that the other variety, known as the 'Razorback' is also available from Academy.  About 50 plastic parts and a one-piece canopy are included in the kit with a double-sided sheet of instructions.  Construction on this model starts with an adequately detailed cockpit that includes main panels, stick, seat and sidewall moldings.  Internally I painted everything in interior green and used semi-gloss black for panels.  Everything fits nice and snuggly inside the cockpit housing.

Fit of the major components such as fuselage and wings sections are excellent and I only needed a tiny spot of filler for gaps.  The join lines did need a touch of sanding, however, but nothing that required much attention at all.  The engine cowling encases a nicely rendered Pratt & Whitney engine that is viewable inside the nose.  It needs to be given a dark aluminium finish - perhaps a gunmetal colour - with small black streaks to highlight a worked engine.  I chose a dark metallic grey wash I have prepared myself especially for this component and it looks the part perfectly.  The propellors are large but you do get the option of attaching either the wide or standard variety.

The undercarriage went nicely together and the non-weighted tyres even had tread on them.  I carefully filed the bottom of the tyres to flatten them and using my skills smoothed on some tiny bits of putty to give it a bulged and weighted appeal. Of course the treads aren't visible on these makeshift components and the trained eye can tell the difference - but it looks good all the same. 

The rest of the construction process went basically without a hitch.   Weapon options in the kit include choices for two types of drop tanks and rocket launcher tubes.  I chose the fabled round drop tank variety on inner fuselage/wing pylons and left the rocket launchers off completely.  The belly supercharger is a little far back according to my reference materials and there is something just not quite right about the gun barrel positioning which I couldn't put my finger on.  These are my only real complaints with the kit.

Two colour options are provided in the kit with one being a USAAF example flown by Lt Duane Budholz of 409th Fighter Squadron in the 405th European Fighter Group. This features an overall natural metal finish with gold upper wings and fuselage and red highlights/bands on nose, tailfin, tailplanes, canopy frame and spine.  Decals also feature large star and bar stripes and Indian insignia.  The white decal, however, tends to bleed through the red nose tip underneath so it may require exquisite hand-painting techniques, either white overpaint or an indent in the red.  The other example is an RAF Mk.II example flown by NR Campbell of 615th Squadron in India.   This features Dark Green and Sea Camouflage colour scheme with light coloured markings on the decal sheet.  Given my experience with the white Indian over the red paint, be wary of these light decals over dark colours if you choose the RAF example.   The decal sheet also has a fair amount of stencilling to be included and overall were very receptive when applied with Decalfix onto the aircraft.

The kit is very accurate to scale as far as dimensions are concerned and in my opinion is about the best example of this aircraft you can pick up in this scale. It even beats the Hasegawan varieties both in finish and price!  In all this was an excellent kit and comes very highly recommended.

Related Reviews:  Academy 1/72 P-47D "Razorback" Thunderbolt

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While not having the markings as the kit provides this is a side-view shot of a P-47D 'bubble-top'
With the right decal sheet, and providing you want to depict an appropriate example, there is
nothing stopping you from using the kit as a base to depict several schemes of the bubble-top P-47D
- Another example suggestion could be this one below depicted as a warbird
(Photo Credit "Keebird" who regularly posts pictures in binaries group)