COBI P-47 Thunderbolt Set 5737

COBI's P-47 Thunderbolt is a 1:32 model built from 477 blocks, 35 cm long with a 40 cm wingspan, in the markings of the aircraft named Little Chief. The propeller and ailerons move, the wheels rotate on rubber tires, and a pilot figure fits in the cockpit. A display stand and a nameplate are included. No stickers.

Why it is so fat

The P-47 is the largest single-engine fighter of the war, and the bulk is not armour or fuel. It is plumbing.

The Thunderbolt's engine was turbo-supercharged, and the turbocharger was mounted in the rear fuselage, behind the pilot. Exhaust gas had to travel the length of the aircraft to reach it, and compressed air had to travel back again to the engine. That meant large ducts running under the cockpit floor for the whole length of the fuselage, and it is the reason the aeroplane has the deep barrel body that earned it the name Jug.

The payoff was altitude. A turbocharged engine keeps making power where a supercharged one falls off, and above 25,000 feet the P-47 was faster than almost anything it met — which is exactly where American bomber formations needed escorts.

It also meant a structure heavy enough to absorb extraordinary damage. Thunderbolts came home with cylinders shot off, control surfaces gone and holes through the wings, and the type's loss rate was the lowest of any American fighter in Europe. More than 15,000 were built.

Specifications

Pieces: 477 · Figures: 1 pilot · Scale: 1:32 · No stickers
Model dimensions: 35 × 40 × 12 cm (13.8 × 15.7 × 4.7 in)