Platz

1/144 P-47D Razorback

Kit Number: PD014

Reviewed by  Jim Pearsall, IPMS# 2209

MSRP: $23.95 Imported by Dragon USA - Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com The Plane: This is my second Platz Thunderbolt. I reviewed the P-47D Bubbletop about 6 months ago, and found it to be a really good kit. So now I get to do the razorback version. I've been a fan of the P-47, and any Republic aircraft for that matter, for a long time. And I've built more than one P-47 razorback in the last 40 years, in several scales. This one is probably the easiest build of the bunch. The Kit: You get three gray sprues and clear parts. Note that there are three props on the sprue leaning on the box. They're all different, and each can be used on one of the 4 possible builds. The panel lines are recessed, as expected of a 21st Century kit, finely done.

Build: I was surprised at how well things fit on this kit. Even though I built the bubbletop recently, I had less fit problems with the razorback. In fact the only place I had to use any putty was the bottom of the fuselage, near the tail wheel. I don't remember the last time I didn't have to use some sort of putty on the wing roots. I think it MIGHT be the Monogram B-36 in 1/72 scale, where the wings fit into recesses in the fuselage. Because of the small size, it wasn't real easy to get the horizontal stabilizers to line up, but I used Tamiya extra thin cement, and got them pretty close. Even the second time, after I knocked one off after painting, it lined up OK. There is an interior, with a seat and a clear part to be used as the instrument panel. I was going to make a decal, but the black and white image printed on the white paper was good enough in 1/144. I should note that the gauges are so small that they exceeded the ability of my printer to render them as more than white spots. On the other hand, it's a wonder that there's enough interior that I would want to put a panel in there. And a word on the engine. It's only 3 pieces, but it's a great example of molding art. Individual pushrods can be seen with sufficient magnification. It fits nicely inside the cowling and really looks super. Right about here you have to make a decision which propeller you're going to use. There are 3 props there, and you want to use the right one, but which one? Unfortunately, whoever knew this when they were making the mold didn't send that memo to the guys who did the instructions. It took me a long evening of research, both in books and on the web to decide that the two paddle-bladed props, parts 6 & 7 went with the D-22 and later versions, although earlier versions were also upgraded because of the huge performance gains. I lucked out because the D-5 was lost fairly early, and probably used part 8, the non-paddle blade prop. The landing gear are 4 pieces for each side, 1) main gear door and strut, 2) wheel, 3) door along the strut and 4) fuselage door. It took a couple of tries to get a method to fit the strut door, as it fits slightly in the gear well, and there's a hole in the main gear door with a pin on the strut door. Painting I decided to do Walker "Bud" Mahurin's P-47D-5-RE, partly because I liked the color scheme, partly because of the back story. Mahurin was an ETO ace before he was shot down. He was rescued by the French Underground and returned to England. Because he "knew too much" about the Underground, he was transferred to the Pacific, where he got one victory before VJ Day. He also scored kills in Korea, making him the only US ace with kills in the ETO, PTO and Korea. A good model is fine, but a great story can impress even the jaded. Painting was easy, as the scheme was pretty vanilla. I used Testor's Model Master ® Olive Drab and Neutral Gray, and even surprised myself at how well I managed the color demarcation. The white stripes on the fin and horizontal stabs are offered on the decal sheet, but I decided that I'm a better painter/masker than decal applier, so I started to figure out how to place the masks. I found that the stripes are just above or outboard of the trim tabs, and extend for the width of 3 of the stiffener ribs on the elevators or rudder. I was gratified to find that those stiffeners were there. On a 1/144 model! That indicates the level of molding and detail on this kit. And it sure made it easier to mask, even if I did have to use a magnifier to see those stiffeners. The canopy was a pain to paint, but only because the whole assembly is less than ¼ inch long. It's hard to see that small stuff. And hard to get the tape exactly where you want it. I had to mix my own yellow zinc chromate mixture for the wheel wells, using insignia yellow and chromate green. It looks pretty close to the photos I found on line. Decals These decals match the quality of the rest of the kit. They went on nicely, I had no problem figuring out which decal went where, and a touch of Micro-Sol ® made them snuggle in place. The other thing that really impressed me was the decals for the prop blades. I was also impressed that they sent 12 of each of the decals, 6 for each model, because I certainly managed to lose one of those little yellow stencil decals somewhere on the table. Or stuck to my finger, the tweezers, the water dish, or maybe the dog. Overall Evaluation: Outstanding. Everything fit. The instructions were good on color callouts and markings. There's one place in the instructions where there's a note in Japanese that tells you to cut down the two small strakes on the bottom of the wing where the pylons fit, if you're going to use those pylons. A test fit made it clear what they were talking about, even though I had no idea what the text said. And the pylons covered the butcher job I did with the knife blade scraping the bottom of the wing flat. The basic engineering on this kit is superior. The fit is great. I suspect that if it hadn't been the holidays, and I had more time, I could have finished this kit in 2 evenings, one to build, one to decal and add the antenna and landing gear. Thanks to Platz and IPMS/USA for the chance to build something which just went almost perfectly from start to finish.