P-47 Razorback Thunderbolt 1/48 Scale

My dad grew up in a town that had a WWII primary flight training base, and saw many a PT-19 in the air. From that exposure he fell in love with aviation, with a focus on WWII, as he was exposed to the news at that time.

Dad passed his love of aviation on to me, and having been an avid reader, dad came upon a book called Thunderbolt, written by Capt. Robert S. Johnson, who flew in the 56th Fighter group, of the 8th Air Force, over Germany. Dad shared the book with me, which I’ve read many times, and that ignited my interest in the P-47. I modeled many a one as a kid.

I did this piece, as a Christmas present, for my dad in the late ’80’s. Primarily Yellow Pine, from two by fours, with some birch doweling for the 50 caliber wing guns. The display stand is laminated Ash.

I lofted the wind dado and the horizontal tail rabbit in the “squared” blank, then rough cut it to shape, finishing it out by carving and sanding. The flying surfaces’ blanks were surfaced to thickness, then cut to shape and rounded over. I didn’t replicate the actual airfoils, as this was to be a representation of the wooden “Identification” models that were used during WWII.

Clear semi-gloss lacquer finished the plane out. Don’t know why I never followed this up with a P-51 Mustang. Unfortunately, Dad’s gone, so I can’t do it for him, for Christmas, but I just might have to do one for me.