Kit: No. JTY-40
Scale: 1/48
Manufacturer: Hasegawa, distributed by Marco Polo Import Inc., 532 S. Coral-ridge Place, City of Industry, CA 91746
Price: $32.98
Comments: Injection molded, 114 parts (4 vinyl), decals.
If the colorful box art of Hasegawa’s new 1/48 scale Jug doesn’t attract you, the beautiful moldings will. Molded in light gray styrene, the parts feature razor-sharp recessed panel lines, no flash, and only a few mold marks. Other features include a vinyl prop-shaft retainer (four are included; you need only one), a rearview mirror, compressed-oleo landing-gear struts, choice of covered or spoked main wheels, simulated fabric at the base of the control column and in the tail-wheel bay, detailed wheel-well interiors, and those little adjusting bolts that steady bombs and gas tanks. Eleven parts go unused, including a different set of prop blades and a dorsal fin fillet for the P-47M.
Underwing ordnance includes a pair of 500-pound bombs and a flat center-line fuel tank. The separate machine-gun barrels fit into holes horizontally aligned in the leading edges of the wings.
The instructions come with a parts identification chart and a color list. The four-view scale drawings for decal placement are especially good. Clear parts, packaged separately, are thin and delicate.
The decal sheet (with markings for the cover subject “Angie” and “Saucy Susie”) is nearly as large as the box and has dozens of stencils. The images are sharp, but the light colors are translucent.
This Thunderbolt fits together precisely. I used thin sheet styrene to lower the trailing edge of the one-piece lower-wing section enough to match the bottom of the fuselage. That’s the only filler I used!
The cockpit has adequate detail for the scale, but lacks trim wheels and seat belts.
Most of the nearly 40 hours I devoted to my model were spent applying the 76 decals. After blotting each decal with a damp paper towel, the panel lines underneath showed up as slightly lighter lines. This was caused by air between the decals and the bottom of the lines. I applied Super Sol, but it wasn’t strong enough to make the decals sink in. Solvaset, on the other hand, was too strong and melted my test decal. Watch out, too, because the decals are brittle and if one folds, it will fracture. I suggest diluting Solvaset with water and working slowly to avoid damaging the decals.
The finished model scales almost perfectly with the dimensions in Squadron/Signal’s P-47 Thunderbolt in Action. Nitpickers may want to add more detail to the cockpit. The engine looks great, but if you want to display the cowl open, you’ll want to improve it as well.
I’m going to build a second kit using the alternate decals for “Saucy Susie.” These two Jugs are going to make the rest of my World War II collection look drab.
Al Jones