This is my P-47D bubbletop Thunderbolt. The Academy kit is a great, low cost alternative to the Tamiya one. You're given plenty of aramament options to choose from. I did use the Eduard mini PE detail set. Not that the model really needs it but you do get seatbelts and those are a definite need in my opinion. The kit goes together well and a bit of putty is needed for the fuse seams and around the gun ports on the wing. I used True Details resin wheels since they are 'flattened' to give the illusion of weight. The model is painted with Testors enamles. I pre-shaded the panel lines with Floquil grimy black. The panel lines were given an enamel wash afte the glosscoat was applied for decaling. The kit decals are so-so. The checkerboard on the nose needed a lot of solvaset and releif cuts to get it to settle down. I opted to paint the invasion stripes rather than use the kit supplied decal. Academy decals have a nasty tendency to silver and I got lucky with this build as there were only a few spots where that happened. As usual it was given a weathering job with Floquil's grimy black then Testors dull-coated to seal everything in. Paint chipping was done with a Prisma-Color silver pencil.
