Mike Titre’s P-47 in 1/32 Scale

Tim Dunavin

I was commissioned by Warbirds of America, Squadron 4, to build a P-47 with the markings of the aircraft flown by our fellow Squadron member, and good friend, Mike Titre.   This was to be done by the time we had our annual dinner in February of 2008, to honor Mike.   It was at this dinner that the model was auctioned off and Mike’s brother, Peter Titre, presented it to the winning bidder.   It sold for $160, and the proceeds are to go towards a memorial brick, that will be placed in the Memorial wall at Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

 The Hasegawa P-47D was selected for this project, and started in late summer.

I started the project by washing the model in mild warm water, with just a small amount of soap.  The cockpit was the first part to be painted and assembled.   In 1/32 scale, the control panel was much easier to paint and my knowledge of the instruments of the P-47 was of great help to me.  

A wartime photo of Mike was given to me by a close friend of Mike’s, Ted Koston.  I used the photo to pain the pilot to look just like Mike did in the photo.

I replaced the plastic .50 Caliber guns with brass tube, cut to length and glued in with superglue.

As with all my models, I pre-paint the  markings – by hand, and then build into subassemblies – pre-fitting as I go.

The model is not glued together here, but is being test fitted.  “The Mole” figure was hand painted on, after this photo, and touchup was done after completed assembly.  A small DC motor had been added to power the propeller, and a small project box was used to house the batteries.   Wires were run down a brass tube and back to the back of the wood base.  The wood base had been cut, routed, sanded, stained and varnished, before the plane was attached, and a felt bottom was added to make the unit a “desk model”

Here you can see the mounting and wires protruding out the back.  Photos were taken outdoors for an action shot.   I took several photos and then used the best one to make an action photo to go along with the model.   I used “Photoshop” to modify the photo to its final form.

Tim Dunavin

28931 Bell Rd

Rock Falls, Il.  61071

Peter Titre, Tim Dunavin (in WWII uniform), and the winning bidder, Roger Paykert