Posted 12 years ago
ohmyflyguy
(83 items)
As it turns out, this is an aluminum model of the Republic Aircraft P-47B, the pre-war Thunderbolt. I wrongly assumed when I found this that it was possibly a trenchart version that was a later sand cast model based on the WW2 Cruver 1/72 scale recognition model. Once I scaled the dimensions, I realized that this represented the first production version of the P-47 that had a slightly shorter nose.
It did have a beautifully machined cockpit cavity but was missing a canopy as well as a scale propeller. Since this model pre-dates injection molding of clear plastic parts, I crafted a new canopy "plug"using a chunk of vintage Rohm & Haas WW2 Mil-Spec Plexiglas canopy sheet (1" thick). This would have been the same technique used by Republic Aircraft's own "model shops" to produce. The aluminum framing is modern Bare Metal Foil (tm). The propeller is a scale cast aluminum unit as well and even turns on a ne prop shaft. Further details and marking may be forthcoming..
Regards,
Tom
