P47's Part4 and finally

These P47's are based on the 56th Fighter Group, 62nd Squadron who flew out of Boxted, Essex from April 1944 until the end the war. For more information on this go here-littlefriends.

These models I'm fairly confident represent P47D's not P47M's has I originally thought. For more information on the P47 go here-P-47_Thunderbolt and here-p47.

My choice of the 56th FG was largely based on a recent vist to Duxford Air Museum and seeing a P47 on display in the grey/green colours, but a could not remember the full squadron details. Then on return and looking through 'The Mighty Eighth' by Roger A Freeman, I came across a coloured drawing of a 56th FG aircraft in the relevant camo scheme so my mind was made up. And the rest is history.

P 47's Part 3

The P47's are finally completed. I've weathered the models with Tamiya weathering master, and painted the canopies.

The canopies have been painted, with a further coat of Regal Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Ice Blue and finally Space Wolves Grey and finally a touch of Skull White to give a final highlight.

For the weathering I used Tamiya weathering master Grey and Green (which I surmised are aimed at weathering armoured vehicles), these lightened the paint quite effectively, then on the upper Sand, then Light Sand, then Soot around exhausts, weapon ports. The underside had the same but with Mud used first (and not the grey and green obviously). Definitely feeling more confident using the weathering powders, they have taken a little getting used to, but practice makes perfect. And less is definitely more.

Once all that was done the models were sealed with Army Painter matt varnish, and where the decals were to go a painted those areas with GW gloss varnish. Decals then applied over the gloss varnish. I read on a forum that applying over gloss varnish would hide the surrounding decal paper, but I think this has been only partially successful. The planes codes were painted yellow to represent the correct squadron colours (more on this latter). Decals were then weathered slightly, and two further coats of matt varnish applied.

The decals, which once upon a time I'm sure were called waterslide transfers or just 'transfers', were not that easy to use. I don't recall the decals which came with Airfix models ( I distant memory!), being that hard to apply from backing paper to model. The decals I used on the M4's were also a bit of a pain. They need to be soaked for a long time and then do not want to come off the backing paper, which results in tears. Oh the trials and tribulations!

P47's Part2

So now some more work has been carried out on the Thunderbolts. The green has had a coat of Catachan Green/Charadon Granite 50/50 mix, then been highlighted with Catachan Green followed by 50/50 mix of Catachan Green/Camo Green. The grey has received a coat of Codex Grey, which I found easiest to apply in several thin coats to get a good coverage, followed by highlights of a 50/50 mix of Codex/Fortress grey and finally pure Fortress grey.


The nose has been painted Scab Red and highlighted with Blood Red, and the tail has had a coat of Iyanden Darksun, then Bad Moon Yellow, and a highlight of Bleach Bone. The cockpit canopies have had a coat of Necron abyss for now.

Next weathering, highlights on the canopies, paint the bombs and then decals and basing.

P47 Thunderbolt's

Now the Zulu War project is on the back burner I have returned to my Flames of War force. I had started these P47's before the getting sidetracked. As before these are Battlefront models, but the planes I believe are 1/144th scale, not 1/100th like the infantry and vehicles.

One of the fighters has been completed, and the two on either side are primed (I use Halford's Black primer) and the undersides have been started. All paints referred to are by Games Workshop (unless otherwise stated).

Now the undersides have been completed. The base colour is Boltgun Metal, followed by a wash of Badab Black. Then drybrushed, Chainmail, Mithril Silver (lightly), Codex Grey (lightly), and finished by applying Tamiya's Weathering Master, silver. The weathering powder is not applied to the whole of the underside, but just were I felt it needed a lift to 'brighten' the paint work. The panels have been keylined with Badab Black, to pick them out.

This was the first plane I completed, and I did not dry brush the model but applied the highlights with a 'wet' brush. I think I prefer the result above so this will be touched up, by drybrushing the underside again. Also no silver weathering powder has been applied.

The upper surface of the model has been painted in a camo scheme of Charadon Granite and Adeptus Battlegrey. The nose and tail rudder (which cannot be seen) have been painted Calthan Brown as a base colour for the respective squadron colours. Again I have keylined the panels with Badab Black wash.

Part 2 to follow soon.