Eduard’s Jug over Germany P-47

I’ve always been drawn to the P-47…I think the Thunderbolt represents to me one of the magnificent “muscle” planes of WWII. I’ve built a couple of “Jugs”, but mostly the 1:32 Hasegawa kit. So, I was thrilled when I received the 1:48 Eduard “Jugs over Germany” kit (#1179) as part of a Secret Santa exchange this past Christmas. Eduard repackaged the Academy sprues and added a lot of goodies that included PE, masks, Brassin, and some outstanding Cartograph decals. It was difficult to choose the scheme, but I eventually settled on ride flown by Maj Donavon Smith, the Commanding Officer of the 61st FS, 56 FG, in Boxted AB, early 1945. I chose the scheme because it was unique and I like a painting challenge sometimes.

I started off with the cockpit, as usual, and the Eduard PE was superb. The rest of the build was pretty straight forward and the fit was good. I always do D-Day invasion stripes by making my own masks. I find it pretty easy to on the wings, but the fuselage is another matter. I cut out the stars and bars from the decal sheet to make a mask. I followed the same technique for when I painted the upper surface white around the fuselage lettering.
The only annoyance I had with the Academy canopy was that if one depicts the canopy closed, the main canopy doesn’t match up well with the windscreen. But since I was going to depict it open, it wasn’t a problem.

It is important to note that the decals are not fully opague. After application of the stars/bars, I noticed the white of the invasion stripes can be seen underneath. I should have painted the area white, prior to application.

In conclusion, I strongly recommend this kit. I know most probably prefer either Tamiya or Hasegawa, but don’t discount the Academy representation. The Eduard goodies in the box were outstanding additions. I had a fun time with this build and am very pleased at the end result. I have a number of P-47s in the stash, including an Academy boxing, so I look forward to tackling them.