British Thunderbolts:
Republic P-47Ds

LPS Hobby, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brad Fallen

HyperScale is proudly supported by Squadron.com

LPS Hobby is a Brazilian company that has a small but interesting range of 1/200, 1/144, 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 decals.  This is the first LPS release that I've had the opportunity to examine, and it's an impressive overall package.  From my perspective it has three standout features:  choice of subject matter, the amount of information provided in the instructions, and the quality of the decals themselves.

LPS isn't the first decal manufacturer to provide markings for British P-47s; such machines have featured on decal sheets individually and collectively many times.  What LPS has done here, however, is focus on the Thunderbolts flown by a single RAF unit – in this case, No.73 Operational Training Unit based at Fayid, Egypt.  No.73 OTU was responsible for training Thunderbolt pilots before they commenced operations with the type in the Far East.  The specific aircraft featured are:

1. Thunderbolt I, HD176 (previously P-47D-22-RE, serial number 42-26231), late 1944/1945.  Both this and the following machine were camouflaged in Army-Navy Aeronautical (ANA) colours equivalent to the RAF Temperate Day Fighter scheme – ANA613 Olive Drab and ANA602 Sea Gray over ANA603 Light Gray – that the instructions note were very faded.  HD176 carried a large unit insignia on both sides of the engine cowling, and was fitted with a Hamilton Standard propeller.

2. Thunderbolt II, KJ159 (previously P-47D-28-RE, serial number 44-19650), late 1944/1945.  KJ 159 carried the same large unit insignia on its cowling, and was also fitted with Hamilton Standard propeller.

3. Thunderbolt II, KJ348 (previously P-47D-30-RE, serial number 42-20508), flown by Frank Carey, Commander of No.73 OTU, December 1944.  This strikingly finished aircraft was painted in overall satin black, with a red propeller boss and forward cowling that extended into a lightning bolt running the entire length of both sides of the fuselage.  A smaller version of the same unit insignia was applied to both sides of the forward fuselage, just behind the cowl flaps.  As a P-47D-30, KJ348 was in the first block of P-47s manufactured with underwing compressibility flaps; it was also fitted with a Curtiss Electric propeller.

The painting and marking guide for these aircraft is provided via a single sided A4 sheet.  A large amount of information is included on this full colour sheet, including:

• a port profile of each aircraft

• an overhead plan showing the camouflage pattern applied to HD176 and KJ159

• scrap views of the upper and lower wings of KJ 348, the lower wing of HD176 and KJ159, underwing bomb racks, and Curtiss Electric and Hamilton Standard
  propeller blades

• a numbered placement guide for each decal, along with clear and specific written instructions where these are required (for example in relation to
  applying the multi-part lightning bolts on KJ348)

• Federal Standard colour equivalents for the ANA paints used on HD176 and KJ159.

The decals are by Microscale and have been printed on three separate sheets – two smaller sheets containing multi-part Type C roundels (the centre red dot is supplied as a separate decal), and one larger sheet holding the rest of the decals. 

All of the decals look good on the sheet, with crisp printing and no registration or other obvious production flaws.  (What look like imperfections in the scanned images are a result of the scanning process, not a problem with the decals themselves.)  Particularly worthy of mention are the multi-part red cowling and lightning bolt decals for KJ348, which LPS has printed in a different, brighter red colour to the dull red of the roundel centres.  This seems obvious, but I once bought decals for a USAAF P-47 with a red fuselage band that the manufacturer had printed the same colour as the red surrounds to the 1943-style US national insignia (presumably to save money) when reference photos clearly show this was not the case; I'm glad LPS hasn't taken a similar short cut here.

KJ348's cowl and lightning bolt decals will need to be applied carefully and in a specific order; LPS has designed cutouts in the cowl decals to minimise wrinkling and gaps.  However, I'd still be prepared to do some slicing, dicing and patching here to get a good fit, with some touch up painting also likely required.  LPS recommends its decals be used on Tamiya's 1/48 P-47D kits, and while this doesn't really matter for the more generic markings of HD176 and KJ159, I'd stick with LPS's suggestion for KJ348 because it's likely that the cowl and lightning bolt decals have been engineered to fit the Tamiya kit.

This is a welcome release from LPS Hobby that focuses on a specific, less well-known angle of the P-47's wartime use.  The overall quality of the package on offer – including subject choice, instructions and the decals themselves – makes this a set that can be highly recommended to RAF and P-47 modellers alike.

Thanks to LPS Hobby for this sample.

Text and Images Copyright © 2014 by Brad Fallen
This Page Created on 29 January, 2014
Last updated 29 January, 2014

Back to HyperScale Main Page