Another Ole Revell Jug
By Chris Wimmer
My Thunderbolt dream began years ago in 1996, when I saw famous "No guts no glory" performing a test flight at Duxford Aerodrome. I'll never forget that awesome sound of the roaring P&W surrounded by 4 tons of shaking metal, taxying only few meters away from the place where I was standing with my mouth open.
I have finished the kit only a couple of days ago, but the first pictures of the build are dating back to October 2010. I only planned it as a first-time-trial for sanding down and engraving a whole model. But soon those Duxford memories came back and I quickly fell in love with my old Revell bird. Many parts were scratch built or modified, so is the cockpit, the landing gear and the extended fowler flaps. Oh, not to forget the cowling flaps and the intercooler exit and some engine parts. Seat and belts were made from an original "Munich Leberkas" aluminium box, the wingtip lights were made from a melted CD-shell- it's best styrene, works fantastic! Only aftermarket stuff I used was Jerry Rutman's six-spoke wheel set. I know that these are not correct on this particular aircraft, but they were looking so damn good that I couldn't resist... ;-)
The kit's decals are well done, not so the instructions where to place them. I had to do a lot of research to find out the correct positions. The "stars'n bars" to me appeared a bit too blue, so I decided to mask and spray them on my own. This wasn't an easy job to do in the intercooler exit area. The silver colour is Humbrol 11 with two layers of glossy varnish.
I wanted to have a "pure" Thunderbolt, so I decided to show 421055 as it may have looked when it was handed over to 509th FG. Hope you like it!
Chris Wimmer from the southest South of Germany
© Chris Wimmer 2013
This article was published on Thursday, July 11 2013; Last modified on Thursday, July 11 2013