F-51D "Was that too fast?" (for me, it was:) )

[Wolwe82]

Morning guys, yesterday at night i finished another mustang, built for the Mustang STGB here on BM. She was built and painted along with my Sweet Arlene, but i did not have time to finish her (i wanted to try some more dirty weathering for her), so she had to wait. Hope it did worth

The kit is again well known Airfix P/F-51D, this time i used CMK wheels (i like how much their wheels "sits down", for the fully loaded plane it looks good to me), Quickboost seat and exhausts, stole the antena stick from Italeri P-51A (i m pretty sure i m not going to built that one, i m not THAT crazy.. and the Airfix antene stick is professionaly hiden in so much flash, it looks like part of the platic frame.. ). I did add some tubes on cowling, under exhausts, there is some opening and it appears some late mustangs had a "tube" fitted in and on photo it shows this one had it too. So i tried to do that on the kit too. Next i added new glass to gunsight and few wires around (u/c legs, rockets and one under tail). Other than that it was build just OOB. The decals are also from the kit. The only problem i had with the USAF letters, on the top side of wing i screwed it a bit and there is some silvering I was lazy to cut the single letters, next time i might do that. Also the sharkmouth was a bit fight to fit (but it can as well be just by hands), when i wanted to settle it down following photos of real aircraft, i ended up with almost 2mm gap between the two sides under nose. Had to paint it with red and it is slightly darker red shade Also the FF-943 flying as warbird on airshows has black stripe painted on bottom side of wing, ending on top side behind MG´s. This is not in the kit instructions, but i liked it more + the photo shows some kind of darker area on the leading edge around the guns and many more mustangs from the same unit had that stripes, so i thought it would bring a bit of life to the full aluminium airframe.

Speaking about photos of real aircraft - the only photo i have shows this mustang quite clean. But i wanted to build some dirty bird, so i used photos of some heavily weathered Korean War mustangs as references, hope you wont mind..

The WIP for anyone interested you can find here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234965758-p-51d-f-51d-sweet-arlene-and-korean-war-bird-both-finished/?p=1710160

So, here are the final shots

And all my mustangs together 4 of them were finished in last 24 days (3 of them built in that time frame), for me thats too fast definitely.. Only the RAF Mustang IV was built earlier.

So thanks for watching and hope you like her Any comments are welcome, mainly about the weathering, because i want to find how to do some proper weathering on NMF/aluminium finish.. Thanks

[GDumbrell]

Simply put, WOW!!!!!!

[FalkeEins]

yes indeed!

super work Michal !

[Pawel Szczudlyk]

They looks great

[Wolwe82]

Thanks guys, i m realy happy you like her I know i said it before, but these new Airfix kits are so much fun to build. The panel lines might be too deep and thick, but still they turn into nice finish easy

[Rick Brown]

Stunning!

[stevej60]

Another superb build Wolwe,finish is first class as usual and the staining and fluid leaks are something we will see more people try in future.

Oh,and welcome the the quick build club!

[PlaStix]

Very impressive again Wolwe! You just get better and better! Keep it up!

[Biggles87]

So you like Mustangs then? Superb builds, I love the sharkmouthed Korean F-51s. I have a Dragon 1/32 kit which has become a really long term project (mainly due to the wing rivet filling) which is destined to be 'Little Beast II', unfortunately it is more than 25% complete and cannot be entered in the Group Build, and anyway at my current rate of progress it would be too late!

[batcode]

superb work looks great very nmf, and nice job on the weathering looks great. very nice collection of mustangs

[Biggles87]

Hello again, just read your build thread. There are several pictures in the Osrey Frontline Colours and P-51D Walkaround books which show the chromate yellow primer showing through the silver lacquer on the walked on areas of the upper wings on Korean War F-51s.

We've already had the conversation about putties and primed wings on another thread, but it was obviously still evident on some Mustangs in Korea, that's how I'm going to finish my Dragon F-51.

John

[pascal JMW]

Very Nice mustang ! And top collection Well done !

[Wolwe82]

Thanks a lot guys, i m realy happy you like her Seems i do like mustangs after all, though when i started with kits again after break, i was pretty sure i m not going to make collections of mustangs, because i wanted collection of hurricanes and P-40´s first.. well.. that didnt go under the plan you see..

Oh,and welcome the the quick build club!

Thanks Steve, though i do not have the endurance to hold on this speed for too long, like you do

There are several pictures in the Osrey Frontline Colours and P-51D Walkaround books which show the chromate yellow primer showing through the silver lacquer on the walked on areas of the upper wings on Korean War F-51s.

Ouch thats a shame i did not know this earlier I had problems to find photos which would show the wings of mustangs, particualy wings of heavy worn mustangs.. I could find tons and tons of images, but everything was showing the fuselage, or the bottom side of wing, but usualy with such a shadow, you could not see anything there.. So i did just some dirt and such a stuff on logical(at least i hope so) areas, where i did not have any images from real mustangs. Anyway, its good to know for future and i ll be watching your dragon 1/32 for sure, i was looking at the kit some time ago, so it ll be nice to see one in progress

[Pete610]

Outstanging

[sean]

Super build and finish Wolwe, the weathering looks spot on. Nice to see all the Mustangs together,

must get a shift on with mine.

Sean

[2wheels]

Thought that was the Tamiya 1/48 kit when I first saw the pictures.

Great piece of work, and a great collection.

[Rich G]

Wow, very impressed!

Now that I've seen the finished article I love the weathering along the wing route and the fuel stains, these pictures really show off the lovely weathering techniques you've applied. I think you've got it absolutely spot on, really really nice kit.

Well done,

Rich

[Biggles87]

Just looked at the pictures on the main computer rather than an iPad and they look even better, and all that in 1/72 scale. Fantastic.

[HOUSTON]

Wolve82

You know what, it's always a joy to behold your Models. .

you turned out another IMPRESSIVE AND OUTSTANDING F-51D

just

KUDOS

[Learstang]

Beautiful job, Wolwe82! I can't say I'm tempted to do an NMF USAAF P-51 (it seems that everybody and their mother has done one of these), but I do like the postwar birds, like the Korean War versions (USAF, SAAF, ROKAF), and the camouflaged versions, like your Mustang Mk.IV. I am tempted to buy this kit and do it either as a Korean War F-51 or a camouflaged Israeli version. Your brilliant work is inspiration! I think the old cliché is applicable here; it's hard to believe that's only 1/72nd scale.

Regards,

Jason

[Wolwe82]

Once more big thanks to all of you guys for your nice words i m happy you like her. I did find two mor of these in my stash, so i guess she ll get some sisters in future Hopefuly with a bit of luck i can get close to this one again - thats never for sure by me, i m still going try and fail way..

[F-32]

Outstanding, really well done

[Val]

A truly stunning model, top work!

[russ c]

Another Fantastic Mustang there, Great job

[Stimpy]

Love 'em all, any chance if a Tuskegee red tail as well?