Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

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If ever an aircraft wore colourful markings it was the Republic Aviation’s P-47 Thunderbolt. 

The Mexico based company Zotz Decals have caught on to this and have released a rash of new sheets in 1/48, 1/32 and the really big 1/24 scale.

I recently received four of these new sheets in 1/48 scale and was impressed at the quality of each.

The first of the sheets is 48/035A and it provides markings for five late war machines.  The individual options are:

• P-47D-30-RA “Slick Chick” serial number 44-33221 belonging to the 9th Air Force’s 368th Fighter Group and flown by the 368th’s Commander Lieutenant Colonel Frank Perego.  A European Theatre machine, it is in natural metal finish with olive drab anti-glare panels (fore and aft the cockpit) with red trim and a yellow tip to its fin and rudder.  The placement guide shows a second illustration of the machine too in the same markings but with alternative red and black cowl flaps.

• “They Satisfy”, P-47N-2-RE with an unknown serial number.  A Pacific theatre based 7th Air Force, 19th Fighter Squadron, 318th Fighter Group aircraft.  The aircraft was assigned to Lieutenant Jim Weir and flown from le Shima in 1945.  In overall natural metal finish with olive drab anti-glare panels and medium blue trim to the cowling and cowl flaps.  The fin, rudder and horizontal stabiliser/elevator wear the bold yellow and black striped group markings.  The black stripes of the group markings are provided as decals which will ease the task of masking considerably.

• “Bonnie”, P-47D-23-RA, serial number 42-27884, 460th Fighter Squadron, 348th Fighter Group.  Another Pacific theatre machine it was flown by Major “Bill” Dunham from Tacloban airfield in the Philippines when he was the Commanding officer of the 460th Fighter Squadron circa December 1944.  It is in natural metal finish with black theatre recognition markings on its wings and fuselage as well as a black anti-glare, spine and canopy frames.  The rudder wears the pre-war blue edged red and white striped rudder although “Bonnie” was sans the white from this marking.  The latter marking is supplied as a decal as are the recognition bands.

• “Dorothy K”, P-47D-20-RA serial number 42-26473, of the 410th Fighter Squadron, 373rd Fighter Group.  Another 9th Air Force European Theatre machine, it was flown by flown by a Lieutenant T. Ambrose from Lippstadt, Germany in 1945.  In overall natural metal finish with olive drab anti-glares with a thin red pinstripe to its base, an insignia blue tip to its fin and rudder and a large red heart on the port side of its engine cowling.  The placement guide shows two versions of the machine, one with and one without a fin strake.

• “2 Big and Too Heavy”/”Short Snorter” P-47N-2-RE serial number 44-88043 of the 333rd Fighter Squadron.  Another 318th Fighter Group machine it too was based on le-Shima and was flown by Lieutenants Wane Duerscmidt and John Bruner.  It is in natural metal finish with olive drab anti-glares and yellow trim to its spinner, cowl front and wing tips.  It also wears the distinctive yellow and black striped empennage.  The placement guide also shows the aircraft finished in the earlier group markings of black bordered tips to the fin and rudder sans the “Short Snorter” artwork and 21 plane-in-squadron numerals so you have two options for the same machine.

The placement guide is a simple half A-4 size piece of thick paper that shows colour profiles of each option with (very limited) information for each option.

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Thumbnail panels:

There is no information as to who has produced the decals but they are really well printed with the nose art being rendered with shadowing and shading – very well done indeed.  The decals are thinly printed and have an absolute minimum of film surrounding each individual item.  You get a single set of national insignia as well as a single set of stencil data although each option – bar the last one – has its own individual data block with the correct serial.  A single set of 318th Fighter Group tail markings is provided too as are a single set of black theatre bands for the “Bonnie” option.  And yes Grant, the decals and the placement guides come packed in a clear plastic zip-loc bag.

The recommended kits are the Tamiya Razorback/Bubbletop P-47Ds and the Academy P-47N kits.

This is an excellent release from Zotz.  It provides some really colourful good quality markings for both European and Pacific based machines.  However, it would have been even better if more information of the subjects were provided.

Thanks to Eli from Zotz for the sample

Zotz decals are available from Zotz Decals Website
or Hobby Retailers including Squadron.com

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2009 by Brett Green
This Page Created on 4 December, 2009
Last updated 13 September, 2010

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