Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

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48/038 is the fourth and final sheet in the current coverage of the P-47 Thunderbolt in 1/48 scale by Zotz Decals.

The sheet provides markings for five more machines all of which are adorned with ‘pin up’ style nose art.  The individual options are:

• ‘SCREAMING RED ASS COMMANDER’ P-47D-28-RE serial number
  42-28961, flown by a Major Hugh D. "Rowdy" Dow of the 347th Fighter squadron 350th fighter Group in the Mediterranean Theatre (Italy) circa December 1944.  The machine is in overall natural metal finish with olive drab anti-glare panels (fore and aft the cockpit).  It wears large squadron insignia on both sides of the cowling along with the words ‘SCREAMING RED ASS COMMANDER’ in white outlined red lettering on the port side of the fuselage.  Squadron recognition letters are worn on the fuselage and stencilled large letter ‘A’s are worn on the fin and rudder.

• Virginia’, P-47D-28-RA, serial number 42-28608, flown by a Lieutenant Robert Brulle of the 390th Fighter Squadron 366th Fighter Group.  In overall natural metal finish with olive drab anti-glare panels and black European Theatre recognition markings comprising a black cowling front and bands over the fin, rudder and horizontal stabilisers.  It also sports partial D-Day stripes to the underside of the rear fuselage and the name Virginia’ in red with a black outline.  It wears Vargas style nose art and the reproduction of this is simply striking!

• ‘SACK HAPPY’, P-47N-1-RE, serial number 44-88320, flown by a Lieutenant  Robert Redfields of the 73rd Fighter Squadron 318th Fighter Group on le Shima island in 1945.   The machine is in overall natural metal finish with olive drab anti-glare panels.  The fin, rudder and horizontal stabiliser/elevator wear the bold yellow and black striped post June 1945 group markings.  The black stripes of the group markings are provided as decals.

• ‘IV’E HAD IT’, P-47N- 2-RE, serial number 44-87991 of the 333rd Fighter Squadron, 318th Fighter Group on le Shima island in 1945.  As with the previous option this one too is in overall natural metal finish with olive drab anti-glare panels.  The fin, rudder and horizontal stabiliser/elevator wear the bold yellow and black striped post June 1945 group markings as well as a yellow spinner and cowl front.  The black stripes of the group markings are provided as decals.

• ‘Magic Carpet’, P-47D-20-RE, serial number 42-76516 of the 390th Fighter Squadron, 366th Fighter Group flown by a Lieutenant Harold N. Holt.  A 9th Air Force machine, it is in olive drab over neutral grey camouflage finish with a natural metal cowling front cowl flaps and canopy framing as well as white theatre recognition bands on its fin and rudder and horizontal stabilizers.

As with the other 1/48 scale Zotz P-47 sheets in this current series, 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 advice 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 (including two of the larger ones worn on the bottom of the port wing as an added identification marking in the European theatre) as well as a single set of stencil data.  Each option has its own individual data block with the correct serial.  Two sets of 318th Fighter Group tail markings are provided as well as a set of black and a set of white theatre recognition bands and a set of partial D Day bands (in black only) for the Virginia option.  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.

Zotz Decals has done a great job with these four sheets in 1/48 scale.  They have provided some really colourful good quality markings indeed.  I would have liked to have seen a lot more information provided on the placement guides as to what squadrons/Groups operated the machines and who flew them though.

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 © 2010 by Rodger Kelly
This Page Created on 16 September, 2010
Last updated 17 September, 2010

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