In Box Review of Monogram 1/48th Scale
U.S. Republic P-47D "Razorback" Thunderbolt
Kit no. 5302
By Ray Mehlberger
The kit is out of production. My kit has a copyright date of 1977. However, the kit appears 6 places on eBay with prices ranging from $14.00 on up to $22.00.
By Ray Mehlberger
The kit is out of production. My kit has a copyright date of 1977. However, the kit appears 6 places on eBay with prices ranging from $14.00 on up to $22.00.
HISTORY:
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a World War II era fighter aircraft produced by the United States between 1941 and 1945. Its primary armament was eight .50-caliber machine guns and in the fighter-bomber ground-attack role it could carry five-inch rockets or a bomb load of 2,500 pounds (1,103 kg).
When fully loaded the P-47 weighed up to eight tons (tonnes) making it one of the heaviest fighters of the war. The P-47 was designed around the powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine which was also used by two U.S. Navy fighters, the Grumman F6F Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair.
The Thunderbolt was effective as a short-to-medium range escort fighter in high-altitude air-to-air combat and ground attack in both the World War II European and Pacific theaters.
The P-47 was one of the main United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighters of World War II, and served with Allied air forces including France, Britain, and Russia. Mexican and Brazilian squadrons fighting alongside the U.S. were equipped with the P-47.
The armored cockpit was relatively roomy and comfortable, the bubble canopy introduced on the P-47D in particular offering good visibility. A present-day U.S. ground-attack aircraft, the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, takes its name from the P-47.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Fighter-bomber
Manufacturer: Republic Aviation
Designer: Alexander Kartveli
First flight: 6 May 1941
Introduction to service: November 1942
Retired: 1966, Peruvian Air Force
Primary users: U.S. Army Air Forces, Royal Air Force, French Air Force
Produced: 1941–1945
Number built: 15,636
Unit cost: U.S. $ 83,000 in 1945
Variants: Republic XP-72
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a World War II era fighter aircraft produced by the United States between 1941 and 1945. Its primary armament was eight .50-caliber machine guns and in the fighter-bomber ground-attack role it could carry five-inch rockets or a bomb load of 2,500 pounds (1,103 kg).
When fully loaded the P-47 weighed up to eight tons (tonnes) making it one of the heaviest fighters of the war. The P-47 was designed around the powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine which was also used by two U.S. Navy fighters, the Grumman F6F Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair.
The Thunderbolt was effective as a short-to-medium range escort fighter in high-altitude air-to-air combat and ground attack in both the World War II European and Pacific theaters.
The P-47 was one of the main United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighters of World War II, and served with Allied air forces including France, Britain, and Russia. Mexican and Brazilian squadrons fighting alongside the U.S. were equipped with the P-47.
The armored cockpit was relatively roomy and comfortable, the bubble canopy introduced on the P-47D in particular offering good visibility. A present-day U.S. ground-attack aircraft, the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, takes its name from the P-47.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Fighter-bomber
Manufacturer: Republic Aviation
Designer: Alexander Kartveli
First flight: 6 May 1941
Introduction to service: November 1942
Retired: 1966, Peruvian Air Force
Primary users: U.S. Army Air Forces, Royal Air Force, French Air Force
Produced: 1941–1945
Number built: 15,636
Unit cost: U.S. $ 83,000 in 1945
Variants: Republic XP-72
THE KIT:
Monogram is an old prolific model company based in Morton Grove IL. They manufacture all manner of model subjects in the popular scales. In recent years they have become associated with Revell.
This kit came in a shrink-wrapped tray and lid type box.
The box art shows a color photo of the P-47D model made up and posed against an all white background, similar to how Tamiya does the majority of their box arts too.
The P-47D is olive-drab over a light-gray undercarriage, with red cowling and an Indian Chief's head over "Little Chief" on the side of the nose. Although hidden by the wing here the fuselage code is white HV star V and the serial no. on the tail is white 276179.
One side panel has 3 walk-around type color photos of the model made up. One is the box art scheme. The second one is bare metal with olive-drab anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen, has a red cowing with a logo of a penguin over white "Pencie III" outlined in black on it, a black fuselage code of HV star M, repeated under the left wing in black, black and white invasion stripes under the fuselage star and wings. HV-M under the wings in black and a black horizontal bar on the rudder over black serial no. 225836.
Monogram is an old prolific model company based in Morton Grove IL. They manufacture all manner of model subjects in the popular scales. In recent years they have become associated with Revell.
This kit came in a shrink-wrapped tray and lid type box.
The box art shows a color photo of the P-47D model made up and posed against an all white background, similar to how Tamiya does the majority of their box arts too.
The P-47D is olive-drab over a light-gray undercarriage, with red cowling and an Indian Chief's head over "Little Chief" on the side of the nose. Although hidden by the wing here the fuselage code is white HV star V and the serial no. on the tail is white 276179.
One side panel has 3 walk-around type color photos of the model made up. One is the box art scheme. The second one is bare metal with olive-drab anti-glare panel in front of the windscreen, has a red cowing with a logo of a penguin over white "Pencie III" outlined in black on it, a black fuselage code of HV star M, repeated under the left wing in black, black and white invasion stripes under the fuselage star and wings. HV-M under the wings in black and a black horizontal bar on the rudder over black serial no. 225836.
The other side panel repeats the box art in color, with an one-paragraph history of the P-47D, the copyright of the kit as 1977 and Monogram's address in Morton Grove, IL.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX:
The kit holds 4 olive-drab trees, a clear tree, decal sheet and instructions. Trees are not cello bagged, alphabetized or illustrated in the instructions. They do have part number tabs next to the parts on them however. This means careful searching of the trees to get the correct parts for each assembly step. Bad move Monogram!!
The instructions consist of a single sheet that accordion-folds out into 6 pages in 6" x 11" page format.
Page 1 begins with the history of the P-47D over the 1st assembly step.
Pages 2 through 4 give a balance of a total of 7 assembly steps.
Pages 5 & 6 are the painting and marking instructions for 2 schemes (already described above).
Trees are not cello bagged.
The first olive-drab tree holds: the lower wing halves, main wheels, tail wheel, dashboard, cockpit tub, wheel pants, engine, pilot's arm (14 parts)
The kit holds 4 olive-drab trees, a clear tree, decal sheet and instructions. Trees are not cello bagged, alphabetized or illustrated in the instructions. They do have part number tabs next to the parts on them however. This means careful searching of the trees to get the correct parts for each assembly step. Bad move Monogram!!
The instructions consist of a single sheet that accordion-folds out into 6 pages in 6" x 11" page format.
Page 1 begins with the history of the P-47D over the 1st assembly step.
Pages 2 through 4 give a balance of a total of 7 assembly steps.
Pages 5 & 6 are the painting and marking instructions for 2 schemes (already described above).
Trees are not cello bagged.
The first olive-drab tree holds: the lower wing halves, main wheels, tail wheel, dashboard, cockpit tub, wheel pants, engine, pilot's arm (14 parts)
The second olive-drab tree holds: the wing tops, elevators, cowling (5 parts)
The third olive-drab tree holds: fuselage halves, drop tanks (4 parts)
The fourth olive-drab tree holds: bombs, propeller, gear doors, landing gear legs, pilot figure etc. (22 parts)
The clear tree holds cockpit windows and gun sight glass (3 parts)
The decal sheet completes the model.
Nicely raised panel lines. Flaps are all molded solid.
Recommended.