Revell P-47M Thunderbolt By Dale Slight IPMS QLD

Technical Data.

With the parts out of the box, first impressions are very positive with a complete three piece engine and a cowling that when assembled will give an impression of a correct -flow through look complete with open cooling gills.

But something is not quite right. Your eye is drawn to the belly of the Fuselage. To say belly is really being polite as this is rather on the porcine side, a bit rotund, could do with six months in a "Jenny Craig" boot camp. -Ok, so it looks fat, no deep? On comparison with the Academy P-47 Kit and 1/72 scale plans from the Aircraft Archives, drawn by G.R-Duval and plans from Aerodata International, drawn by A. Granger, it is in fact 6 scale inches too deep and 12 scale inches too long in the tail. Not much you say, but it shows. Both are very hard to cure faults but with this level of detail PR live with it.

The cowling looks very accurate although I’ll probably sand the intake lip down a bit to open it out.

The tail planes are accurate but could be a bit too pointed. 

The wings are very accurate and match both plans in size and panel lines, especially those curved Ailerons and the under-carriage bays.

The Fin and Rudder are spot on and conies with a separate Fin Fillet of the correct shape for this model.

The many fuselage vents and exhaust exits are correctly placed and well defined but the Super-Charger Hood under the rear fuselage does appear to be a bit large.

Internally, this kit is furnished with a beautiful cockpit, floor, side consol, moulded instrument panel with rudder pedals, a seat with harness and a joystick with linkages, Just Marvellous!

The canopy looks more accurate than many other P-47 Kits and has some lovely rivet detail around its base. The canopy and windscreen have a few blemishes on them but nothing that cannot be buffed out.

Other ancillary bits include terrific landing gear with weighted Oleo's, one piece landing gear doors that need cutting up and well detailed open spoked main wheels with bar tread, although 1 do prefer diamond tread tyres myself. The tail wheel and its bay are very good and your choice of open or closed, it just pops into it's hole in the fuselage.

The propeller is a paddle-bladed Curtiss-Electric unit and even has lines for the yellow tips marked on it.

The rest is all disposable stores which includes ten five inch rockets with separate, fine fins, two 150 gallon drop tanks and a pair of fantastically detailed bomb racks.

Colour Options.

Two colour options come with this kit and although both are fine choices, the pity is that both come from the same USAAC Squadron, the 61st Fighter Sqn. and 56th Fighter Group.

Both aircraft are very black over aluminum with red nose, rudder and codes. A fine choice but surely a different second set could have been found

Decals

The decals are semi-gloss printed, in excellent register and have very accurate looking colours. All markings are sharply defined with plenty of stencils and an optional instrument panel. Hopefully both -red and white are dense enough to cover the black but Revell decals have lifted their game so much lately that 1 am confident that this will not be a problem.

Construction

The instruction sheet follows a logical sequence and fit should require little filler. Most join lines are cleverly hidden by panel lines and dry fitting shows a well thought out kit.

Conclusion

The quality of the detail is superb and the fit of parts is excellent. An easily readable and logical instruction sheet makes this model ideal for both novice and senior alike. As there is visually little difference between a P-47D and a P-47M this kit could lend itself to many other markings. Revell may even think of issuing it as a P-47N with the long span wings, one can only hope! As for the extra length and fat belly, well I won't go pointing the finger. OK!

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