1:32 P-47D Razorback

A heavy fighter with a dorsal spine

The Republic P-47D in the form called razorback had a long sweeping spine behind the cockpit and a framed canopy. It was the largest and heaviest single-engine fighter of its time, powered by an eighteen-cylinder engine with a turbocharger mounted right at the rear of the fuselage, and it carried eight large-caliber machine guns. At altitudes above seven kilometers few could match it, in a dive it outran practically everything it met, and from 1944 it was used more and more often for attacks on ground targets.

When camouflage was abandoned altogether

The early examples wore an olive drab upper finish with gray undersides. During 1944, however, production stopped being painted at all and the machines left in bare metal. A practical consideration decided it: paint weighed tens of kilograms, slowed the aircraft slightly and air superiority was meanwhile so clear that there was nobody to hide from. In place of a concealing pattern came conspicuous recognition elements, bands and colored noses, because the new enemy lurked rather in the form of a mistake by one's own anti-aircraft defense than in the form of a hostile patrol. Within a single year camouflage thus gave way to the opposite requirement, that is to being unmistakably recognizable from a distance.

What is inside

The set offers a pair of glazing masks for both sides of the frame and three insignia masks. On bare metal a clean edge of the frame shows twice over, because both the surroundings and the glazing are shiny and every overrun of paint catches the eye. The film holds even on a curved surface without its edges lifting and leaves no adhesive residue once removed.