1/72 P-47D ”Gabreski” from Academy Models (Part 1)

Francis Stanley “Gabby” Gabreski (born Franciszek Stanisław Gabryszewski; January 28, 1919 – January 31, 2002) was a Polish-American career pilot in the United States Air Force, retiring as a colonel with 26 years of military service. He was the top American and United States Army Air Forces fighter ace over Europe in World War II and a jet fighter ace with the Air Force in the Korean War.

Although best known for his credited destruction of 34½ aircraft in aerial combat and is one of only seven U.S. combat pilots to become an ace in two wars, Gabreski was also one of the Air Force’s most accomplished leaders. In addition to commanding two fighter squadrons, he had six command tours at group or wing level, including one in combat in Korea, totaling over 11 years of command and 15 overall in operational fighter assignments.

After his Air Force career, Gabreski headed the Long Island Rail Road, a commuter railroad owned by the State of New York, and struggled in his attempts to improve its service and financial condition. After two and a half years, he resigned under pressure and went into full retirement.
[More on Gabreski after this link.]

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the United States from 1941 through 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. also flew the P-47.

The armored cockpit was relatively roomy and comfortable and the bubble canopy introduced on the P-47D offered good visibility. A present-day U.S. ground-attack aircraft, the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, takes its name from the P-47
[More on the P-47 Thunderbolt after this link.]

Now that you read some background story from Francis Stanley “Gabby” Gabreski and the Republic Thunderbolt P-47D, here is the 1/72 model kit honoring Gabreski from Academy Models.

KIT HIGHLIGHTS

• Includes markings for the last P-47D flown by Gabreski in WWII
• Markings for the last F-86E Gabreski flew during the Korean War
• High-quality decals from Cartograf
• Assemble with the canopy open or closed
• Precisely detailed cockpit and landing gear
• Accurately detailed panel lines and rivets
• MSRP: $32.99
• Street Price: Approximate $23.99 USD

This model is in no way a new release but you can still have this Limited Edition for a very reasonable street price. The set includes also the F-86E-10 ”Lady Frances” also flown by Gabreski during the Korean conflict.

I found the cockpit area for my personal taste humble yet effective for this scale. The fuselage halves went together very good leaving little to nothing to fill with putty.

As you can expect from Cartograf, the markings are of very good quality and responded very well to Walthers solvaset.  The entire model was painted with Mission Models Paints. Rather than going with an entire list of used color I will mention the two main colors called by the model kit instructions. Mission Models has the FS equivalents:

MMP-075 Light Sea Grey
MMP-031 Russian Green 4BO
MMP-068 Zinc Chromate
MMP-003 Red

Being small sprues, they were submerged in 91% IPA to remove mold release and skin oils, Allow the sprues to air dry and then they got a single heavy wet coat of MMS-002 Grey Primer.

The wheel wells are detailed as is the landing gear. Absolutely free of heavy mold lines and/or flash. If you were to purchase good quality decals for a 1/72 ”Gabreski”, you would pay around half the price of this double kit.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Highly recommended Limited Edition kit, either to be built or your choice as a commemorative set.
The 1/72 F-86E will be built in the weeks to come so stay tuned.

My sincere thanks to Model Rectifier Corporation for this sample.
Also, many thanks to Mission Models Paints for supplying us with their paints catalog for this and all our ongoing projects.