Italeri 1/72 scale P-47N Thunderbolt

Kit: No. 1240
Scale: 1/72
Manufacturer: Italeri, imported by Testor, 440 Blackhawk Park Ave., Rockford, IL 61104-5158, 815-962-6654, www.testors.com
Price: $19
Comments: Injection-molded, 107 parts, decals

Pros: Easy to build, nice engine, good underwing stores, attractive decals
Cons: Wing is too narrow, missing details, wrong propeller, guns misaligned, tail wheel strut too short

Italeri's new kit is of the last production Thunderbolt. The P-47N saw action in the Pacific Theater, and many saw service in Air National Guard units through the late 1940s.

The kit has somewhat soft recessed panel lines and lots of recessed rivets that seemed, at first, overstated. The 10-piece interior is a fair representation of the prototype, but I had to trim the floorboard to get the instrument panel to fit correctly.

Moving down the fuselage, the dorsal fin extension is too thick; it should have concave sides and a sharp edge.

Italeri's wing is a problem. It is close to scale in span, but the chord is about 10 scale inches short; the trailing edge's contour is off, and the flaps and ailerons are undersized. The guns were molded along the leading edge of the wing, not parallel to the horizon as they should be. Missing from the wing parts are the aileron hinges, ID lights, navigation lights, and the landing light. The ground-adjustable aileron trim tab is incorrectly located on the right flap.

The tail wheel strut is too short and located too far aft. Fairly nice wheel-well detail is featured, but no detail is present on the landing-gear doors.

The propeller represents the Curtiss asymmetrical "paddle-blade," incorrect for operational World War II P-47Ns, which were equipped with Curtiss symmetricals.

But there are good things, too, including a nice R-2800 engine with the correct late-style crankcase for one. The wheels have the correct eight-spoke configuration, and the underwing stores include two racks of nice 25-pound fragmentation bombs, drop tanks, zero-length rocket stub launchers or triple-tube 4.5" rocket launchers, and 500-pound bombs.

Assembly presented no problems. Everything fit pretty well, but I reshaped some items such as the fin extension and prop blades. The canopy parts were slightly thick but crystal-clear; the canopy brace that straddles the track aft of the cockpit was missing.

Watch out for the paint recommendations: The worst mistake is olive drab; it should be FS 34087, not 37087. I think the rivet detail looked better after the Metalizer finish was applied.

Three marking options are given. The background of the pinup of my choice, "Short Snorter," was too large so I trimmed it to fit. Also, the blue surrounds of the national insignias were too wide, so I found substitutes. Italeri's prop logo decals are for a Hamilton Standard unit; I used Curtiss prop decals from my spares box. The kit decals went on nicely and snuggled down well.

After 11 hours of building, the finished model looks like the long-range P-47N - if you don't look too closely. That narrow wing and tiny tail-wheel strut make it look odd at certain angles.

- Walt Fink