Subject: Re: HLJ - Academy 1/48 P-47D Thunderbolt "Gabreski" pt 1
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Dave Johnson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 15:18:38 -0700

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Dave Johnson 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 1:25 AM
  Subject: HLJ - Academy 1/48 P-47D Thunderbolt "Gabreski" pt 1

  Academy

  1/48 P-47D Thunderbolt "Gabreski"

  Special Edition

  Product #12222 (http://www.hlj.com/product/ACD12222) from HobbyLink Japan (http://www.hlj.com/scripts/hljlist.cgi?rel=nav&GenreCode=Air)

  Product Article by Dave Johnson on  September 2010

  Belief history of Francis "Gabby"Gabreski and the P-47D

  Francis Stanley "Gabby" Gabreski (Franciszek Gabryszewski) was born on January 28, 1919 in Oil City, Pennsylvania after his parents had emigrated from Poland in the early 1900's. Gabby Gabreski was the top American Fighter ace in Europe during World War 2. He also served in the Korean War as Jet Fighter pilot, and his career in the United States Air Force span more than 26 years service. Gabreski was best known for his credited destruction of 34½ aircraft in aerial combat and being one of only seven U.S. pilots to become an ace in two wars with 28 kills during World War 2 and 6.5 during the Korean War. Gabreski was also one of the Air Force's most accomplished leaders, in addition to commanding two fighter squadrons, Gabreski had six command tours at group or wing level, including one in combat in Korea. Totalling over 11 years of command and 15 overall in operational fighter assignments. Gabreski retired from the United States Air Force on November 1, 1967. Per his USAF official biography, he retired with more than 5,000 flying hours, 4,000 of them in jets. Gabreski died of an apparent heart attack in Huntington Hospital, Long Island, New York on January 31, 2002.

  Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, was also known as the "Jug," it was the biggest, heaviest, and most expensive fighter aircraft in history to be powered by a single piston engine. It was one of the main United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) fighters during World War II, and served with other Allied air forces. The P-47 was very effective in air combat but proved especially adept at ground attack. It had eight .50-caliber machine guns, four per wing. When fully combat loaded the P-47 could weigh up to eight tons

  The Kit

  Academy's 1/48 P-47 tooling has been around for a few years now and most "Jug" fans would know what the Academy kits looks like. Ok, well its not a typical Tamiya "Shake 'n' Bake" Kit, but the kit does go together well and the quality and fit would be up there with P-47 offering from Hasegawa. Academy P-47 features some neat designs with open gun bays, optional wheels bugled and flattened or unstressed, covered or uncovered hubs and tons of external attachments in the way of drop tanks, bombs and tubular rocket launchers. The one addition included is the under wing rockets, but these are not required for this boxing. The cockpit has some nice crisp detail, but would look excellent with some additional aftermarket products either being resin, photo etch or both.

  Academy offers a few nice extras in this Gabreski boxing. One dislike I have with some of the Academy kits are the decals. Decals can be very thick and cause modellers a few problems trying to get them to lay down nicely. The decal sheet in this P-47 boxing has been printed by Catograf in Italy, so there should be no problems getting these to lay down. The Decal sheet only has one option of marking for Gabreski P-47D-25, 42-26418 (HV A). The sheet also carries the stencils required for one aircraft and the D-Day stripes that were applied to this aircraft. 

  Also a nice surprise included was a small sheet of dry transfers for the serial number, squadron codes and the data stencils for the propellers. These appear to have been printed by Hobbydecal in South Korea. For first time users of dry transfers, it's very important that you apply them over a flat finish as they will not bond to a gloss finish. 

  Another addition to this boxing is a resin figure of Gabby Gabreski that is casted in a dark gray resin. There is a small amount of clean up required with flash that's left from the casting process. The sculpt of the figure is nicely done with crisp details on his flight suit and gear. Unfortunately, the only gripe is that I don't think that the sculptor quite caught the resemblance of Gabby Gabreski with the facial features, but they do look close. Still it's a great addition, I do wish manufactures would include resin pilots more often.

  Overall the kit has a couple short falls that can easily be over looked, it's still offers a good deal for what Academy gives you inside the box. The kit does go together well and would be suitable for any level of modeller.

  I would like to thank HobbyLink Japan (www.hlj.com) for this review sample.