Republic XP-72 Superbolt

by John Ezzo

HyperScale is proudly supported by Squadron

I figured I had better get this out before the impending release of AmTech’s kit. This is the Koster Aero 1/48 vacu-form conversion kit which includes a vac fuselage and resin prop intended to be used with Monogram’s P-47D wings, horizontal stabilizers, landing gear, and more.

I can not take all the credit for building this kit. Marvin Banka started it and built the fuselage and wings and I finished it. The critical areas are the alignments of the engine fan and bottom intake.

The panel lines on the fuselage are raised to match the lines on the wings. The instructions from Koster show how to modify the wing guns as the XP-72 has three and the P-47 has four in each.

The Metalizer finish shows all blemishes so lots of sanding and re-sanding was done. Before painting Metelizer I always polish the surface the gloss coat with white.

Decals are not included with the vac kit. Bill Koster has the tail serial number and designator printed on the instruction sheet in 1/48 scale so one can photo copy it onto decal paper as I have done.

At some point AmTech will release it’s injection XP-72 and P-47H. Koster Aero has the XP-47J in a 1/48 conversion set available now. Airmodel of Germany had a vac conversion for the P-47H in 1/48 but I’m not sure if it’s still available. With some work both can be made into fine looking models.

References

• USAAF Fighters of World War Two In Action, Volume Three. By Michael O’Leary, Historical Times Inc.

• Koster Aero, 610 Euclid Ct., Highland Park, IL, 60035, USA
   

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2003 by John Ezzo
Page Created 07 December, 2003
Last Updated 17 March, 2004

Back to HyperScale Main Page