As with my previous completion, the Arii Bf 109G-6, this is my second build of a kit, in this case the Academy P-47D, kit 2174. I was working on the HobbyBoss 1/48 P-51D, and was planning on using the Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black as a primer. Just to be on the safe side, I decided to try it on a smaller kit first, and since I had this one in the stash, it became my guinea pig. (As it happened, the P-51D ended up FUBAR anyway.)

I was glad I did. The Mr. Finishing Surfacer covered very well, but it was quite flat. Gunze recommends it as a primer for metallic finishes, so I expected it to be gloss. I actually sprayed some Tamiya X-1 Black over it, but that didn't help much.

The kit went together very well, as Academy kits do. I used Tamiya XF-5 Flat Green for the cockpit. I didn't bother to paint the walls of the cockpit. For the exterior, I first painted the white area for the invasion stripes with Mr. Base White 1000. This goes on very smoothly. I then masked the areas I wanted to stay white, and painted the rest of the airframe with the Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black. I masked the black areas and proceeded to paint the NMF, using Auto Air Aluminum Base (Fine). This paint really needs a gloss undercoat. On this kit, the landing gear - which was primed only with Tamiya X-1, turned out pretty good, but the main airframe - which was primed with the Mr. Finishing Surfacer - turned out quite grainy.

The landing gear is Tamiya X-11 Chrome Silver, the tires are Tamiya XF-63 German Grey, the propellor blades are Tamiya X-1 Black, and the propellor hub is Floquil Old Silver. The bombs are Mr. Color Olive Drab, the anti-glare panel is Model Master Enamel Olive Drab ANA-613, and the landing gear bay and doors are Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green.

As with most of my Academy kits, I used aftermarket decals - Superscale 72-886. I chose the Black Panther for the simple reason that it had a relatively simple scheme. The decals went on very well.

I used the Eduard precut mask for the windshield, but masked the canopy by hand. It is not hard to do with P-47 bubbletops.

Page last updated June 15, 2023.