Wolwe82 Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 (edited) Hey guys, i m preparing this post as i ll begin to work on next 2-3 Airfix mustangs in 1 week i guess. I ll build 1/48 Tamiya at the same time(in different topic, that one ll be Tuskagee red tails for sure), so i ll see what i can finish, but if you dont mind, i wanted to ask for a bit of help with references here. All these camo options are from Kits-World decals KW172011 and the problem is, there are ONLY fuselages.. so i do not know how does the wings painting looks like. Also there are few errors (dark blue recomended on VF-B while from photos it clearly looks light, not the same as blue on eagle), i did find some images online, but if anyone had more info, it would be great. Thanks So far my chosed options are : 1. "Happy Jack´s go buggy", MC-O, Cptn. Jack Ilfrey, my problems here: - I could find MC-O and MC-I drawings with the same noseart.. Were there two planes (like some replacement for crashed plane?) or one is simply mistake? - The decals shows the art work in medium green, on some b/w photos it looks lighter, on some darker (which might show on two planes?), on post-coloured pics it is even like yellow-ish shade.. - on the images you can see one has the d-day stripes painted (ofc that could be repainted/removed) and one image shows the nose with the grid under exhausts, one shows it without (that as well could be replaced i guess, i do not have a clue what is function of that grid, as i can see around some mustangs with it, some without) 2. VF-B, Maj.Fred W.Glover, eagle noseart, no major problems here, looks like the wing was clean from bottom side, guess clean as well from top ? -the drawing i have find (it had some hard copyright warnings so i rather do not post it here) shows blue wing tips, so not sure if it is right,because my experience with the very website is, they sometimes make some fantasy touches on the drawings.. 3. I m deciding between these two : A. "Pin up girl", L2-V, Lt B.Hollister -there i do not have info about wing look at all, only photo i have is this a bit problem is, the girl on decal is too big, it would not fit on the one panel as it does on the photo.. so option B. "Ridge runner", WD-A, Maj.P. "Mac" McKennon -i have no photos here at all, only one from "modern" era warbird, which does not have the mirror, so any kind of infos here would be welcome Big thanks for any kind of help guys, i ll do some deeper research yet, but this is what i have so far ) Edited September 30, 2014 by Wolwe82 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 (edited) Hi You're a glutton for punishment aren't you. There is an excellent book called 'Fighter Command' which is full of original WW II colour 'photos which I refer to quite a lot. I don't know which of Pierce McKennons 'Ridge Runner' Mustangs you plan to do but there is a good picture of Ridge Runner III in the book which shows two red painted mirrors. I wouldn't like to comment about the others except that there has been some controversy about the colours of 'Happy Jack's Go Buggy' markings. Hope this helps John PS The thing I always find sad about Pierce McKennon is that after surviving several years of wartime flying including two bail outs and at least one forced landing he was killed in a training accident a couple of years after the war. Edited August 31, 2014 by Biggles87 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungo1974 Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Re:PIN UP GIRL When Lt Berkeley Hollister flew 44-14651 it only had the name applied,once Hollister finished his tour the aircraft was given to Lt John C. Donnell Jr who had the Vargas pin up art added. The aircraft was lost on 14 Feb 1945 with Lt Donnell killed in action. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalkeEins Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 (edited) So far my chosed options are : 1. "Happy Jack´s go buggy", MC-O, Cptn. Jack Ilfrey, my problems here: - I could find MC-O and MC-I drawings with the same noseart.. Were there two planes (like some replacement for crashed plane?) or one is simply mistake? - The decals shows the art work in medium green, on some b/w photos it looks lighter, on some darker (which might show on two planes?), on post-coloured pics it is even like yellow-ish shade.. - on the images you can see one has the d-day stripes painted (ofc that could be repainted/removed) and one image shows the nose with the grid under exhausts, one shows it without (that as well could be replaced i guess, i do not have a clue what is function of that grid, as i can see around some mustangs with it, some without) Big thanks for any kind of help guys, i ll do some deeper research yet, but this is what i have so far ) Hi Michal ..had a quick look in my books.. three volumes of Danny Morris' "Aces & Wingmen" to hand, period colour pic of MC-I on page 132 of Vol II ; " Happy Jack .." in yellow outlined in red -no mention of an MC-O colour pic of Glover's 44-64153 on page 130 Vol II - anti-glare panel is light blue, the colour extending around the canopy, but no blue on the wingtips AFAIK Edited August 31, 2014 by FalkeEins 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 1, 2014 Author Share Posted September 1, 2014 Big thanks to all of you guys for the nice info It seems i tend to pick some tricky camo options... I guess option no.2 with the eagle sign will make it through for sure The "Happy Jack´s .. " was my first option, but the decal is green.. the code letters would not be problem either I or O, but the colour of noseart is.. i ll see what i can find around. I could make the "Pin up girl" just with the letters, but then it would miss the whole point of interest i guess.. The "Ridge runner" would be a bit tricky, because the code letters seems to be outlined with red and i dont have these and cannt find decal sheet like that (the kits-world nose art serie contains only the nosearts, kill marks and few extra "checker" tails/noses) Actualy i m thinking about chosing two of these and as third, go for the Gunfighter warbird I got the decals for it, just have to gather some images of cockpit (it is made as two seater i believe) and all the antenas for the modern "hardware" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 Hi Yes the 'Ridge Runner' codes definitely have red outlines, The only place where you might get them is Ultracast who seem to have a large stock of old Aeromaster decals but the prices are quite high, about 18 euros plus shipping. Good luck John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 1, 2014 Author Share Posted September 1, 2014 Thanks a lot John. I have to say it, i like it here on BM, so many helfpul people around. I wont call names, because so many people helped me already in many ways and i dont want to miss anyone But its great. Ye, 18 euros + shipping is quite too much to me right now (for kit which costs me 5 euro even.. ). I ll have to work with what i have now. No more money spending to new kits and aftermarket this year! I know its going to be hard.. better not guessing how many times most of us did this call before.. and failed... I did some research about the "Gunfighter" (sometimes called "Gunfighter II") and on some images you can see the headrest behind seat and on some images there is not one. Would it be possible it was single seater at first and was later rebuilt to two seater for the airshows? Well, back on the research! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 Good morning Wolwe I think you can find very interesting infos here http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/gallery.php?Group=20&Style=item&origStyle=list&Item=48&Temp=1014&searchString= Patrice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 2, 2014 Author Share Posted September 2, 2014 Thanks Patrice, thats nice, i ll search through the photos for sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 (edited) I'm not trying to bump your thread Wolwe, but I would like to finish me 1/32 Tamiya P-51 as 'Happy Jack's go buggy' and the currently available ones give the nose art incorrectly in green. I know that the Cutting Edge 'Big Stud Ponies II' has the right colours but is out of production. Does anyone reading this thread have the HJgb section of this sheet left over and is willing to sell it. Thanks John Edited September 2, 2014 by Biggles87 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 2, 2014 Author Share Posted September 2, 2014 No worry John, you helped me, so if this helps you with your troubles, it ll be great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 8, 2014 Author Share Posted September 8, 2014 Looking at the calendar, it seems i might have problem with finishing these in time.. Main problem are code letters - the decal sheet contains only nose arts and i do not have the black code letters and it is out of stockin local hobby shops.. I ordered the code letters, but it can take 2-3 weeks.. and for the Gunfighter it seems impossible to find any good photo of the back seat.. Does anyone have any photos of the back seat in any P-51D? It looks like its quite common "conversion" on air shows and such, but i cannt find any images... I guess if it is just for air show purposes (and not for training or so), then there wont be any instruments, so it should be quite empty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Hi Wolwe, I'm going to Duxford next weekend, I'll ask around on the flight line walk. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 Hey John, you are one lucky boy! I did find some images of the back cockpit after all, but it is all 3D pc drawings.. i guess better than nothing. I ll wait few days and try to find more images too and after weekend i ll begin with the Gunfighter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Glad you found something, I've seen pictures of the rear cockpit of a TF-51 with full instrument panel but I'm not sure that restored warbirds would go to that level. The 'Gunfighter scheme is very attractive, not to much NMF, looking forward to seeing it. I am going to press on with my Korean War F-51 when I get back from the UK. I'll post some pictures, but it won't be eligible for the STGB because the airframe is about 75% complete although in terms of work to be done it's about 50%! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 Thats great, good luck with your F-51 John, do you have some WIP here on BM? The Gunfighter is realy nice camo scheme and the wings+ fuselage seems to be painted with aluminium varnish and not left in NMF like most other warbirds P-51s. Only problem i will have with the checker nose.. there are decals for it, but the green is soooo bright there.. and painting the plane with such a bright green would be serious crime! So i ll have to find some way how to mask the checker nose and airbrush it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 11, 2014 Author Share Posted September 11, 2014 Oki, so because i would like to give a go to Eduards Spitfire in near future, i started the work on Gunfighter already Started with the cockpit, i have like 3 images, 2 of them showing instrument panel and (very) near areas and one showing the back "pit" wall and a bit of the seat (but the shot is taken through closed canopy, so it is not great..) + the two IP images show different IP each time. But because i m building version without the deck and headrest behind pilot´s seat (on some shots you can see the headrest, on some shots theres none), i m going for the half digital IP, because that image is from the same photo serie as the pit without headrest. Here you can see the IP with only one MFD Here with two and slightly different instruments layout I was trying to get as close to this as possible, cuting the instruments from some spare decals for IP i had here (mosquito and bf 109E). Here is where i m now - its not even half done, i ll add more details, levers and so on, but i need some rest now. On one of the pit shots you can see the top side of cockpit wall has the metal sheet unpainted, so i thought i could try to simulate it too I did cut strip from can, thinned it down a bit with rasper and polished again with fine sandpaper. Why the thinning phase - i took the riveting wheel and did two lines of rivets from the backside of the plate. If the plate was too thick, i could damage the riveting wheel This way i got some nice positive rivets there like on the real thing I did also cut off the fuel tank behind pilot´s seat and used the original airfix seats as base for new ones. So far i did cut out the back of the seat and used minidrill to "hollow out" (wow, i got to use google translator for some words, so hope it wont sound too funny.. at least not more than usualy.. ) the bottom parts. I ll add narrow deck and framing as back to the seat next. Btw, the left IP is the final version, right IP is what i was trying at first - drilling holes, paint it black and fill it with clear fix. But somehow i was not happy with it. The decals are not perfect but it looks a bit better, i hope . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 12, 2014 Author Share Posted September 12, 2014 Guys i need a bit help here - if you check the image of Gunfighter here You can see it has somehow special panel behind the wing - under the US marking bar. On the kit (and on most other mustangs) this panel is just flat. But on the Gunfighter, there are some kind of cooling ribs/openings. I dont know how to do this.. Well, i have few options in mind, but i cant find some easy way.. (and i need to do this panel on both sides, if i ll go for it..) 1. first option is easiest.. leave the panel as it is on the kit and live with it, hoping that most people wont notice the difference unless you point it out 2. i could thinn the panel from inside (a lot), then use sharp blade to cut out the ribs and bend them out. But there is quite big chance i ll do some wrong move and quite whole fuselage is wasted.. + the ribs wont have sides 3. i could take thin round bar, cut it on half along and then again, so i get 1/4 rounded bar. Then cut strips from it, glue it on the original panel, paint it and simulate the holes just by painting it black. The ribs would not have exact shape, but in such a small scale it would not be noticeable i hope. 4. last idea i got and probably the best when we take about the final look, but not easy. I could cut some strip from a can, thinn it down even more and cut it to the shape of the panel (good thing is, the fuselage there is flat, so no need to bend it). Then i would take some little screwdriver or something like that, pushing the panel from future inner side, making "positive" ribs on the outer side. I could leave it like this or if i find enough thin cuttin disc, i could use it to cut out the holes in every rib. As last step, i would cut out the original panel from the kit and glued this on its place. Now, this would look best i m pretty sure, but the whole panel is like 5-7mm "big".. and there are 3 rows of ribs.. So i m not sure. While i was typing this, i was thinking about it and the first (obviously) and last are the less risky ways.. if i screw or wont be able to make the 4th one, theres no harm to the kit.. If i screw the 2nd or 3rd, i ll have a lot to do to fix it.. The thing is.. does this even worth the time in your most honest opinion guys? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 12, 2014 Author Share Posted September 12, 2014 Meanwhile a bit of progress on the cockpit. Added some details around, did some quick wash (i did not even used gloss varnish before, just carefuly used the enamel wash straight on the acrylic paint - i do NOT recommend this on big areas i m doing it this way only in small areas, where i will NOT need to remove excessive wash, when i need to speed things up. It is not in the name of quality though ) and the sidewalls are quite completed. Now i need to find something, what i could use as padding for the back pit sidewalls. Well, most likely i ll end up using some thinn plastic card, but i need to cut to it square openings, which wont be fun.. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 Nice detailing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 (edited) On that louvered panel, I'd keep an eye out for some sort of photo etch that looks the part- maybe even a vent for a tank (ground vehicle, that is), or something odd like that. Or, if you're adventurous, try "cutting" your own out of a soda can or the like. In 1/72, perhaps you could even get away with scribing directly onto the plastic and putting some black wash in the grooves? bob Edited September 13, 2014 by gingerbob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 13, 2014 Author Share Posted September 13, 2014 (edited) I cannt use scribing, because the ribs are going out of the plate But i ll check some tanks i have here (though there are not many in my stash .. still do not have the balls to go for tanks, before i ll learn the streaking effects, chipping and get some colours for it ) and thanks mish Edited September 13, 2014 by Wolwe82 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles87 Posted September 13, 2014 Share Posted September 13, 2014 Hi, not much luck at Duxford I' m afraid, of the two here at the moment one is a single seater and the other is a TF-51 which has a full rear panel, sorry I could not be more helpful. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 13, 2014 Author Share Posted September 13, 2014 Hi John, no worry, i appreciate your effort, thanks a lot To make it great saturday, my laptop refuses to work properly (keeps freezing while there just images opened...), so looking at the few ref pics i have here is quite a quest... but at this moment the fuselage is glued together and i did some test work on exhausts - taking the spitfire IX round quickboost exhausts as base, drilling the tubes deeper and cuting out the rings at the endings. I m thinking about making the exhaust plugs, but it ll depend how much time i ll have for it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolwe82 Posted September 13, 2014 Author Share Posted September 13, 2014 So, not much progress today after all. I spent some time afternoon trying to make the special metal plate behind the wing, i did cut it from the can, thinned it, even made special tool for pushing out the ribs, but it is so small, i could not keep the whole plate flat around and profiled in middle.. it kept bending all around, so i gave up. I ll live with it, its just for my shelf anyway After that i was focusing a bit on the cockpit, added the padding and bulkhead to back pit, painted the floor (i have no shots of it, so i made it black). I noticed too late i should probably lower the back pit floor.. well, the cockpit ll be closed anyway (i was trying it dry fit, you can see nicely through it anyway) most likely.. Also i noticed the back seat (actualy the front seat too) are not the original seats (the back seat has some "sidewalls" and the front seat has huge seater), so i ll have to make these (or use some pavla resin seats, which ll look similar - these are cheap and look great - so far for the back seat i found at home sea fury seat, which is almost perfect ). But i ll make the seats in the end, leaving the pit as it is now will make it easier for masking job I do not have any shots of the left side, so there it is all just my imagination, i tried to make it to fit the other side a bit 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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