P51D Nose Art

[MalX]

 

 

ok good the metalcoat is arriving tomorrow, she almost looks like real Aluminium on the underside, i steered well clear of weathering the puttied wings too much because when i did it started to look like Aluminium 

 

i love the Radiator area........i might add to that tomorrow with a bit of oily black.........but with a PAINTBRUSH only, yes she needs a few oily streaks........she's too much Airbrush right now.......too foggy looking.

 

but i'm very pleased that she now looks ok, considering at one stage she was almost a wreck!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

she is Acrylic Windsor Newton over Polyurethane varnish, so if you mess up the weathering it's dead easy to wipe off with a kitchen sponge........when all of this is done she'll get another coat of gloss varnish......... then more weathering and then the transfers etc.

 

tomorrow i'll tackle the fueselage.......

Edited January 3, 2017 by MalX

[MalX]

 

 

 

I had to do the fueselage which ended up looked quite good, but this in turn made the flaps etc look dreadful, so i sprayed out most of the silly dark shading with metalcoat................the wings are tinted silver but it doesn't show in the photos, even so, the difference now between the wings and the flaps etc is massive.............i prefer the flaps looking clean but i will add a tiny amount of grey shading later on this week......looking at her now yea' she needs a wee bit of shading there.

 

the finished paint job is starting to get damaged as i over work her, so she needs a coat of gloss lacquer as soon as possible later tonight..........because she's at that dangerous stage right now one false move and it's ruined.

 

i'm noticing something quite interesting with her, the topside looks more realistic cleaner..........but the underside much more realistic dirty, but i can't do any more weathering to her until she's totally protected................that Radiator intake needs toning down, it's too bright, it was right before 

 

 

 

[MalX]

 

there she is after 4 coats of lacquer, she now needs wet and dry tomorrow and then more weathering/highlighting..........but there's not much needed and then it's on to all the rest, i've already redone the radiator that's been toned down

 

 this model is a total nightmare (due to the aluminium paint), the B17 in contrast is far easier to work on............but this is the worst part done

 

 

 

 

[MalX]

On 03/01/2017 at 16:08, Gwart said:

Don't forget you can mute down the wing colour with some post shading/weathering and scratches of aluminium and rub wear/staining.Also various varnishes mattin,gloss a satin mix for different area's post or prior to decalling.

 

 My attempt at the same on an Airfix 1/72 kit.

 

 

I need to blend the gun access panels into the surrounding colour as they were painted also.

 

 

 

It's a matt varnish finish that i've rubbed with my robe,next steep is to weather it all.

 

i see you've left the Windscreen off like me, wise man, because it would be ruined by now if not, i've lost the rivet detail on mine..damn it

 

matt finish..........uum, i might go for matt and then polish it up with wire wool....................fueselage only and the leading edges of the wings.........the underside will look brilliant in flat matt, with a tint of dark grey, i'm going to pick out more panels especially two on the fueselage side to create more panel contrast ..............one under the cockpit the other near the tail, i'll add more scratch marks to the wings where the pilot walks etc.

 

it should be much easier to work on now that it's lacquered, but i'm not adding the anti-glare stripe or any transfer until the paint job is perfect first............... because that ruined my last Mustang.

 

 

Edited January 4, 2017 by MalX

[MalX]

good day today  the anti glare stripe really sets off the fueselage, it gives a brilliant contrast............ i darkened the panelling under the cockpit and lightened it under the Aerial..........the Hasegawa kit has rubbish exhausts, but there's nothing i can do about that now.

 

the red and yellow spinner looks awesome........ but i'm not brave enough yet to tackle the horrible nose transfer, because it was totally useless last time i tried it, (it didn't  follow the curved contour of the nose and it creased up like crazy), if it fails this time i'll paint the nose yellow and add the red chequered squares via a cut up red transfer, it might be best to do this anyway !!!!!!!!...........this nose area is crucial, because it stands out like a sore thumb if you mess it up.

 

there's no rush........ 

 

this is good experience for a future B17G

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 5, 2017 by MalX

[MalX]

 

 

there she is, i've done the nose transfer and the prop, the nose decal had to be painted over to match the spinner, she's very bright and amazing to look at, but i'm disapointed that i've lost the fueselage rivot detail.............but she'll look nice with the rest of the decals in place.

 

is there a lesson to learn ?...................i wouldn't have lost the rivet detail if she was Olive Drab..........i'm not the right person to tackle an aluminium paint job, it's way too tricky for me; i'm too careless..........never mind.

 

next week i'll redo the gun ejection ports on the underside, they're way too black, it's strange how you suddenly notice the faults when you look at your photos only...........that line of weathering on the top of the wing along the seam in the middle looks wrong too, but it looks far worst in the photo than in real life............uum 

 

the B17 is easy to weather, but this one is a real pig !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Edited January 6, 2017 by MalX

[MalX]

i've ruined the wing transfers, so i've just ordered some new ones from Hannants, they fell apart whilst moving them around with a paintbrush, it's either because the kit is so old or that horrid decal cote weakened them................i'm feeling very fed up, this bloody model is driving me flipping nuts,

 

in addition, my kit has a few transfers missing

 

 https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SS32257

 

i've repainted the wings and dont a bit of touch up work on the fueslage

Edited January 8, 2017 by MalX

[72modeler]

On ‎1‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 2:51 PM, MalX said:

 

 

there she is, i've done the nose transfer and the prop, the nose decal had to be painted over to match the spinner, she's very bright and amazing to look at, but i'm disapointed that i've lost the fueselage rivot detail.............but she'll look nice with the rest of the decals in place.

 

is there a lesson to learn ?...................i wouldn't have lost the rivet detail if she was Olive Drab..........i'm not the right person to tackle an aluminium paint job, it's way too tricky for me; i'm too careless..........never mind.

 

next week i'll redo the gun ejection ports on the underside, they're way too black, it's strange how you suddenly notice the faults when you look at your photos only...........that line of weathering on the top of the wing along the seam in the middle looks wrong too, but it looks far worst in the photo than in real life............uum 

 

the B17 is easy to weather, but this one is a real pig !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Don't give up now- you've gone this far; and besides, you've learned a lot, too! BTW, how did you mask and paint the yellow band on the spinner? It's fantastic!

 

Mike

[MalX]

hi

i didn't, i painted the spinner yellow first and then i dipped it in a pot of red red paint one end at a time, it took about 6 attempts for each end until i got it dead true, it's virtually impossible with masking tape.

 

it looks very good with the fueselage transfers on and those dark grey weathering lines sprayed out of the top of the wing..the wings look miles better now.

 

this Mustang is so damned hard because it's in Aluminium and has no Wheels down, it keeps getting damaged...........it's so delicate

[bentwaters81tfw]

Coming along nicely now. That spinner's great, she's gonna look really good.

[MalX]

 

 

 

bad photos i'm afraid, the flash is bleaching out all the mid tones, she doesn't look like that in real life...........she needs a bit of weathering on the flaps on the underside from the gun ejectors.........she's too clean there.........tail fins are too clean.......engine exhaust weathering looks ok but bad in the photos.............for some reason the best photos are taken at night.

 

the wings still bug me but i think i'll leave them

1........if i clean them up it'll look totally unrealistic and far too plasticy

2........too much weathering like before and that'll look wrong too !!

whatever the case, the wings definitely look strange esp for anyone that doesn't know that they were puttied, but they do look better in real life, the flaps etc are deffo wrong, there's no warping in them, they're too straight..............finally, you cant move them to show the aircraft turning, landing and banking

 

...... never mind she will still look great hanging from the ceiling 

 

 

 

 

[MalX]

the Aluminium paint job is a nightmare, because it's not real metal and by God you notice this instantly, Olive drab or Grey is far more realistic and satisfying to look at.......... this Mustang frustrates me because i'm always aware that it looks wrong. 

 

i wonder if other members feel the same

 

[Work In Progress]

It's a challenging thing to do well, but I think the model looks very good now. I like the weathering as you currently have it.

[MalX]

 

got it 

i shaded the flaps, i then darkened the Pilot ``step here`` area and brightened it at the wing root above, i then darkened the panel above under the ``kill markings``.......she looks stunning but still doesn't photograph well, i'm going to have suss this camera out 

 

 i thought, ``lets have some fun, lets spray her in water soluable paint, so if it's a disaster i can wipe it off``. i didn't care i just relaxed and let rip...........  it's turned out a huge success.

 

the canopy is done... dead easy this time, the spinner will be matt coated off the model and only glued in place after the rest is totally finished, because it'll only get in the way and get busted.........none of the damned glass will be stuck in place either until the model is finished, i've checked it out, it all fits perfectly.....unlike the flipping B17 

 

she has quite a few layers to her, she's interesting to look at now

 

the cockpit interior has no detail at all, (as you will have noticed) but you cant see inside so i couldn't care less.

 

i will probably display her banking right over, because she looks totally wrong flying straight, they all do  

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2017 by MalX

[MalX]

 

that's much more like her, i've removed the sharpness from the photo, i'll watch out for that in the future

[MalX]

i'm glad i backed off on the puttied wing, because the painted wing areas on an airliner are clean, it's the Aluminium that varies, 

4 hours ago, Work In Progress said:

It's a challenging thing to do well, but I think the model looks very good now. I like the weathering as you currently have it.

i've just darkened the major joints between the flaps and wings etc............but not the panel lines, because it looked totally wrong when i started doing it............the G4 A under the wing is correct, because that's how she looked in 1948  so she actually survived the war 

 

mind you, he would have probably been shot down if he met Marseille though..........maybe....maybe not

[Work In Progress]

I was going to ask about the squadron code under the wing, it's an unusual feature. I like it.

[MalX]

 

that's my next one, tricky spraying on the fueselage.......but i've got the badger Renegade for that and there will be plenty of swearing too

i'll open another thread for her...........i like the colour scheme it's dark and menacing..........very high quality kit too

 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2017 by MalX

[MalX]

4 minutes ago, Work In Progress said:

I was going to ask about the squadron code under the wing, it's an unusual feature. I like it.

yes, it's shown on the kits World decals..............``In feb 1949, this aircraft became Swiss Air Force J-2019``

in fact, if mine is 1948 she would probably have been much cleaner with no soot marks on the gun ejectors but who cares 

 

this Mustang looks better than most, because it's not over the top like ``big beautiful doll``, or the versions with blue or red noses, it's still very colourful though, esp the Pin up nude.........i love anything with a nude woman on the side 

 

 

[MalX]

 

 

she's looking good.............FLIPPING HECK  the tail numbers on mine are correct for my kill markings...........but the box artwork tail number are for the other type of german kill markings !!!!...........no year is mentioned on the decal sheet, so either the box artwork or the kits-World Decals is wrong, i dont really want to know to be honest 

 

the new decal sheet you see there are for the wing transfers that i messed up, only took 2 days to arrive........... i had to also replace the fueselage decals..........far too yellow compared to the new ones.

 

i think she looks really nice now, i've increased the contrast of the Aluminium finish by adding darker areas and lightening the top face of the exhaust manifold, i've increased the weathering around the ``step here`` area.

 

the radiator area underneath has been totally cleaned up, i've played safe and removed its weathering, would it have been that dirty?  not sure but it deffo looks ``safer``, you're much more likely to see all of that on the BF109 Jabo

 

the cockpit is utter rubbish, but so is the Hasegawa's, it's nothing like the real Mustang, this is perfect for me but for anyone whose fussy about this sort of thing, you will need a couple of PE sets and esp for the Undercarriage bays

 

matt lacquer tomorrow and then it's safe.....and close to finish ! 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2017 by MalX

[MalX]

ok she's now matt..........3 coats, what does she look like ???????????????

 

flat and dead looking, she looked better before, she now needs to be cured and glossed up tomorrow........... the matt is definitely too matt, it looks like a fine wet and dry later tonight and then a gloss finish..................keeping the anti glare, the props and the heaviest of the weathering in Matt.

 

 

because right now in poor lighting the Aluminium looks like grey primer...................bloody hell 

 

 

 

[Greenshirt]

I would think a satin finish might be better. Gloss is usually too shiny, looking toy like to my eye; and matte always looks wrong unless it's a very well used subject left in the elements for some time. 

 

I usually hit my models with satin after the decal-sealing gloss coat. 

[72modeler]

On ‎1‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 3:12 PM, MalX said:

i'm glad i backed off on the puttied wing, because the painted wing areas on an airliner are clean, it's the Aluminium that varies, 

i've just darkened the major joints between the flaps and wings etc............but not the panel lines, because it looked totally wrong when i started doing it............the G4 A under the wing is correct, because that's how she looked in 1948  so she actually survived the war 

 

mind you, he would have probably been shot down if he met Marseille though..........maybe....maybe not

At the end of the war, the aircraft squadron and individual aircraft codes were painted under the left wing so that any low-level flying (buzz jobs) could be recorded and reported to the appropriate command. These were known as buzz numbers. You can see these in many photos of fighters and fighter-bombers taken after the war. At some point this system was replaced by a two-letter prefix for each aircraft type and the last three numerals of the aircraft's serial number. For example, the buzz number for the F-51 was FF-xxx and the F-86 was FU-xxx .For aircraft with duplicated last three numerals, an A,B, or C was added after the last numeral of the buzz number- for example FU-877A.  If you do a Google search for USAAF-USAF buzz numbers, you will see a list for all aircraft types that would be a very good modeling reference.

 

I found a couple of photos of G4-A I thought you might enjoy!

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/20907

 

Mike

Edited January 12, 2017 by 72modeler
added link

[MalX]

thanks for that, it's very interesting to see her fueselage, she's less weathered than mine but also matt/dull Aluminium, but nothing like the ``Show`` Mustangs you see today..........so i'm pretty close.

 

i'm going to go for a very thin wash of gloss, that'll dry a semi gloss satin finish, the model isn't strong enough to take wire wool and polish, it'll crack somewhere, it's bound to

 

http://www.drawdecal.com/tag/p-51d/page/6/

 

loads of brand new very rare decals here for 1/24 Airfix, you wont see these on Ebay, this is really great news as the current range of decals at 1/24 are rubbish

Edited January 12, 2017 by MalX

[Work In Progress]

Why on earth did you apply a three layer matt coat?!?

Scuff it up with a new paper towel or two, give it a light coat of satin and then what I'd do is apply a coat of a good quality car wax and give it a gentle buffing. I'm not going to suggest yo do that on yours until you;ve tried it on some scrappy test subject first like an old drop tank but I do like the effect. It looks like a shiny aeroplane that isn't toylike wet-look.