Andwil

I followed @Karearea’s excellent suggestion and using the kit parts as a pattern made replacement wing fences from plastic card. I used some lead wire bent around the leading edge to gauge the wing profile and filed the fences to the right shape: Sanded them smooth, primed and airbrushed them dark green and when dry fixed them in place with small drops of CA: Just need to do a little touching up and attach the pitot and it will be done. Thanks for looking. AW

RAAF P-8 Poseidon, Anzac Day flypast very low directly over my house. AW

I thought the fit of this kit was too good to be true. Here is the undercarriage and doors attached and it sitting nicely, not tail sitting: Then right at the end of the build I struck the first serious problem. The wing fences are not even remotely right: The cut outs do not match the wing aerofoil making them sit at a crazy angle. Part way through filing to a better fit: Still looks horrible. Stopped for today, might continue tomorrow or I might decide even though its inaccurate, to leave them off. If I had a 1/72 scale plan I would make my own but unfortunately I don’t have one. Thanks for looking. AW

It may be. I’m not an expert on the cockpits of P-51B vs P-51D do couldn’t say for certain. I actually prefer the Academy seat to the Airfix one and their control column doesn’t break in half when separating from the sprue! The three cockpits completed, Airfix at the top: and in fuselage halves: Academy, port Academy starboard Airfix Fuselages closed up: Thanks for looking. AW

I repainted the insides of the intakes dark green, I had misinterpreted which part the instructions said to should be aluminium. Also attached the tailplanes. Last few bits to be added, not in the photo is the Master brass pitot, which is in a safe place being quite long and needle sharp! Thanks for looking. AW

That makes three of us! AW

Looks like the Valiant had a fake cockpit painted on the underside decades before the Canadians had it on their F/A-18s, certainly confused me for a while! Nice job on the fin flash, vortex generators can be a real pain at times. AW

Thats a pretty good comparison. I also think it looks a bit like a Supermarine Swift from certain angles. Anywho, decals now on: There are a host of microscopic black stencils that I have ignored as they would not show up on the dark green. I think in 1/72 they are not really necessary anyway. I also note that the details and panel lines shown on the stencil placement diagram do not match those moulded on the kit making placement somewhat problematic. Thanks for looking. AW

The three cockpits are now ready for assembly. The two Academy on the left, Airfix on the right. I will use the decal for the Airfix IP. Seats: Undercarriages, again Academy on the left, Airfix on the right although I suspect they are interchangeable: Thanks for looking. AW

Wine bottle corks glued into old Gunze lids. AW

Today I airbrushed the radome and fin tip matt black and when dry I removed the masking. Unfortunately my masking wasn’t as good as it should be and I got some overspray and also some paint lifting which will need attention. Thanks for looking. AW

Finished the three props: Thanks for looking. AW

Really not much different from just doing one. I once did four at once. These three have different colour schemes so that might take a bit longer and I wouldn’t do more than one if it entailed lots of masking! AW

Aluminium sprayed on the natural metal areas. There is a bit of a run on the fuselage near the tail bumper that I will need to sand down and the underside leading edges look a bit splotchy and will need a second coat. Thanks for looking. AW

Started putting some colour on the internals: and the seats: True to form, the control column of the Airfix kit broke in half when I carefully tried to separate it from the sprue. The broken propeller has been repaired and the tips of all three painted yellow. The mended Airfix is one on the left. Thanks for looking. AW