P-51D Daddy's Girl (Or how to ruin a perfectly good Tamiya Mustang kit)

[Squibby]

Thanks @Biggles87 I'd love to see some photos. I've been looking across the internet and have come across a handy set of coloured plans which show the factory default extents. It seems like most of the wing except for the control surfaces was treated this way.

 

http://wingstracksguns.com/2017/01/tamiya-p-51-build-report-1-wings/

 

I'm also interested to see what the level of filling was like. I'm thinking of swiping Perfect Plastic Putty over the lines and rivets to diminish them to a slight impression rather than going the whole hog of flawlessly filling and sanding them flush. Maybe with a bit more attention on the leading edges.

 

@David H A patchwork quilt NMF on the wings would be nice though. However I think the lacquered wings have their own charm. Plus it's possibly more realistic anyway (at some point in the aircraft's life anyway ).

 

[Squibby]

Started some detailing in the centre bay section. It turned out though thath the port and starboard sides have different layouts reality. Tamiya had molded in details that appeared on both sides and mirrored them. I had to do some careful surgery to sort this out e.g. the hydraulic accumulator cylinder one one side needed to be cut out and a small manifold part needed to be removed on the other. This was quite tricky and turned out a bit messy, luckily most of the rough stuff should be hidden by pipework and other doodads.

 

Once the surgery was complete I added some riveted strips of aluminum tape, drilled out the lightening holes and continued all the pipework runs. The large hoses are 0.5mm styrene rod with aluminum tape 'fittings'. All very approximate as before to give the general impression of busyness and maintaining consistency with the outer bays.

 

You'll notice I had to just finish the wires loose where they connect back into the outer bay section. I'll have to carefully align them when fitting them and be careful with painting.

 

 

And test fitted...

 

 

 

I think I'll call this side complete and move onto the other side. I feel adding anything further may be counter productive....

 

 

[Biggles87]

Great detail on the inner bay, just enough to be convincing.

Thanks for posting the link, very useful, I'll sort out some photos for you and post them over the weekend.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Thom216]

That's going to look just great under paint.

[Squibby]

Phew... what a diversion... but I'm glad I tackled it and especially happy with the outcome (so far at least, I still need to paint it of course ).

 

I'm calling the gear bays finally done. I'm now thoroughly sick and tired of fiddly bits of lead wire... and I think I've detailed as much as I dare. Not entirely accurate but not it has most of the main elements represented more or less.

 

Here is the finished centre section.

 

 

 

The spring is actually a scored brass tube. I couldn't wind anything that tiny so I had to improvise. Hopefully it'll look good under paint.

 

And here it is all test fitted together.

 

 

 

Now I can get back to the radio bay / rear cockpit area I was intending to start on a couple of weeks ago

...Or I might start getting some paint onto the gear bay to tackle that particular challenge head on... I'm thinking all over Zinc Chromate Yellow to start.

I'm going to ignore the information I've read that suggests the areas between the wing structural bits were actually left in an aluminum lacquer / NMF finish... There is absolutely no way I can paint that cleanly at this stage.

 

 

 

Edited November 18, 2017 by Squibby

[Biggles87]

Excellent work on the wheel bays, both inner and outer.

Some photos below of Mustang wings in various stages of construction, a couple of them are P51Bs but I doubt that they wouldn't have differed dramatically from the -D in the final finish, but there did appear to be differences in the extent of the puttied/sanded and primed areas.

 

And finally, a close up of the port inner wheel bay so that you can compare it with your efforts.

Hope these are of use to you.

 

John 

Edited November 18, 2017 by Biggles87

[woody37]

Wow, lovely detailing

 

[DJJunis]

Wow this is fantastic! Well done!

 

All the Best!

Don

[Totally Mad Olivier]

Squibby, you made a fantastic job on the inner bays and on the cockpit, bravo!

I am beginning a new thread (less than 1 month after you) on the same Tamiya 1/48 kit. Your work will be very inspiring... 

All the best

Olivier

P.S: I could have posted my pics on your thread, but I thought it was maybe a better idea to open a new one. I had a quite bad experience previously on Brit in such a situation...

[Squibby]

@Olivier de St Raph Cheers and good luck! If you are looking for a decent reference on the gear bays I've found this site where some incredibly talented  guy built a 1/5 scale mustang...The detail is absolutely mind-blowing, and he used original factory drawings to fabricate all the parts.

There are quire a few nice shots of the bay insides. They were certainly very helpful for me.

 

http://www.spitfireinmyworkshop.net/story.php?id=41&title=retrospective-fitting-out-the-wheel-bays

http://www.spitfireinmyworkshop.net/p51d-gallery.php?selimage=19&c=11

http://www.spitfireinmyworkshop.net/p51d-gallery.php?selimage=20&c=12

http://www.spitfireinmyworkshop.net/p51d-gallery.php?selimage=18&c=13

 

Oh he also built a 1/5 spitfire... worth looking into really

 

 

[cambridge]

plot twist: he now tells us this is going to be an in flight model with landing gears retracted  

[Squibby]

@cambridge I guess I whip up a scratch built Packard Merlin as well and hide it in the cowling

 

[Totally Mad Olivier]

Thanks Squibby for your welcome and for the gear bay shots, amazing indeed!

But for now, I am looking for good pics of the original radio and battery compartment, as I am just beginning my build. I found this on the net (I have posted it too on my own thread), very good and useful. The same quality photo in other view angles would be great, to have a good perception of details. Anyway, this pic shows that the recent Eduard P.E set reproduces quite well radio and battery, even if of course it is just a base.

 

[Squibby]

Cheers @Olivier de St Raph ,once I start in that area I'll post up any links to good photos I find.

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/67911-OT-P-51D-Cockpit-Progression-Walk-Through

 

Have a look at that link, it's got a few of the rear compartment, The site is discussing a flight sim rendition of the cockpit mainly, it helped me immensely when detailing the cockpit.

 

Meanwhile I've been tacking the painting of the gear bay. I just couldn't move on without seeing how my handiwork looked under paint... I'd say overall a bit rough but it looks pretty good under normal light and viewing distances.

I sprayed the whole thing Tamiya XF-4 to start. Then picked out the various details. I used various metal colour shades to mix things up a bit. Once the paint went down there were a lot of rough spots. I couldn't do much about them unfortunately without damaging the fiddly bits. I've really got to get more precise and spend more time cleaning up the bits after gluing.

 

I've attempted a light dry brushing and pin washed the parts with some brown premixed enamel panel liner. The aluminum strip stringer detail didn't take to pin washes too well and it tended to soak underneath. I also couldn't clean the excess up too well and had to use a white spirit drenched brush to wash the excess... wash... out. The end effect wasn't great IMHO and they still look very blobby and washed out in comparison to the crisp kit parts up close. Possibly some stretched sprue may have worked better here.

 

 

 

and test fitted into the wing.

 

 

 

 

For my first major scratch build / detailing project I think it turned out well, probably not anywhere near a nice aftermarket resin drop in but I'm proud of the effort.

 

Now I'll move onto the cockpit and radio bay again... for real this time...

 

 

[Knaupel]

very impressive!

 

Pete

[Biggles87]

I think it turned out very well.

 

John

[Totally Mad Olivier]

Dear Squibby,

first of all thanks a lot for the link with again great pics that will be very useful!

And hats off for your very nice gear bays, that pity won' be visible until people return the aircraft...

[matteo44]

Well done!

Excellent work! 

[giemme]

On 11/11/2017 at 07:59, Biggles87 said:

I can't see any ruination either. Fantastic amount of micro-engineering going on, some of those pieces must be tiny.

 

You've got me hooked.

 

John

Likewise. Excellent scratch-building and painting, so far     Those wheel wells absolutely look the part, up to a resin AM to me.

 

Ciao

[Thom216]

Hot damn, that's some sweet piping!

[Caerbannog]

Very impressive work! Is it the same 1:48 scale I have in my kits??? So when do you plan to ruin the kit?

René

 

[Squibby]

Thanks for the support

 

Tell you what though, masking the bay will be a tricky proposition, my normal method of shoving bluetack into it will wreck havoc on the little fiddly bits inside.

 

Potentially I can use the gear bay doors fixed in place with strategically placed bits of tape. The only issue is that Tamiya kits are intended to be displayed gear down so the fit isn't always the best. It's one thing Airfix does quite well I feel (by providing a 'closed' set of gear doors). I'll have to test this out.

 

 

[giemme]

How about using some spongy/foamy stuff to mask the wheel wells, with just some blue tack along the edges to secure it? I mean like this:

 

 

Ciao

[Squibby]

@giemme Thanks for the suggestion! I can still use the bottom wing section to carefully measure and cut out a section of foam to conform to the bays.

 

[Totally Mad Olivier]

Dear Squibby,

the next time, I suggest you to first paint the underbody and then mask it before doing the wheel bay detailing and painting, that you did so well.

Here is how I proceeded on my Yakovlev Yak 3:

1) apply a little portion of double sided tape on the door to fix it on Tamiya sheet and trace the outlines:

 

 

2) do the same  with the other door and cut the outlines with a new 11 blade:

 

3) Trace a 3 mm line around:

 

4) and then cut it:

 

5) Place it and add some squarres of Tesa pro masking tape (cheaper than Tamiya and low tack) around and now work in your wells.

 

That said, I am sure you will get very good results with your method too...

 

Cheers

 

Olivier