Reviews : Hasegawa P-47D Thunderbolt

This is an average Hasegawa kit, for better or worse. The pros: it fits together beautifully; the decals settle down very well, even the big D-Day stripes; and it will result in an accurate-looking little P-47. The cons: there is barely any detail in the cockpit, just an instrument panel and a pilot; the surface detail is shallow; there's no detail in the wheel wells either; and the single-piece canopy fits rather vaguely atop the fuselage with nary a clue to where it's meant to be. Tamiya and Academy both offer a variety of Thunderbolts with greater detail and more options, but Hasegawa's version is cleanly molded and easy to build, making it marginally less fun but slightly more relaxing.

I recently acquired a 1985 box of this kit. Scalemates says it is from the same molds. The cockpit has next to no detail, just a pilot in a seat. The one piece canopy does block the view, so it is not a big deal. The kit went together very well, a joy to build. I am hand painting for now. I used white glue for masking, that was a mistake. After getting the glue off, I ended up doing alternating stripes of green and olive drab with a line of black. Its not historically accurate to anything, but I enjoyed doing it.

GOOD KIT,PARTS FIT WELL, NICE DECALS DETAILED, BUT THERE IS SO MUCH YOU CAN DO DETAILING TO MAKE THIS KIT STAND OUT