Missouri Armada P-51D Mustang: documents and partial scratch from the Tamiya 1/48 kit

[silberpferd]

Hi Olivier,

 

What you call fuses box (24,27) is in fact the radio control box. Here are the dimensions

 

 

Cheers,

 

Laurent

[Totally Mad Olivier]

Ah Ok Laurent one more thing I learnt. And a great document very useful to improve the Aires part, even if the John Terrell’s drawings for simulators are also of great help, like this one, fe:

[Totally Mad Olivier]

I found a solution to replace my hose for a thinner one without waiting: I used a 0,3 mm tin wire rolled around a 0,2 mm Nickel Silver rod. Furthermore, I have begun the painting job. Of course, my right panel is not over, but it is going on. 

 

[Totally Mad Olivier]

[John Terrell]

That really looks fantastic, Olivier! The oxygen hose looks perfectly scales, and all of the colors/fine details look spot on (really something to consider this is all in 1/48-scale!). It really impresses me too that builds like these even have the little electrical plug-ins/receptacles for the signal lamp (next to the end of the oxygen hose).

 

[Totally Mad Olivier]

Thank you so much John for these very kind words that I particularly appreciate from the expert and artist you are (your reproductions of the P-51D for simulators are just amazing, with not only all details but also little scratches like on the joystick arm, fe). About the hose, I showed above how, using my computer and doing comparisons, I could determine that my first version was definitely too big. When building a replica at such a scale, oversizing is a trap in which it is very easy to fall, if we don't take care. 

 

All the best

 

Olivier

 

P.S: for the little plugs-in for the signal lamp, I took inspiration in your great drawings... but with the close up you just posted, I will try to improve them still a bit...

[Totally Mad Olivier]

On 07/04/2018 at 20:59, antonio argudo said:

that picture with aluminum part I'm afraid will never come... muahaha

 

Hi Antonio,

I am afraid that picture has come :

 

 

After the Butch Baby (personally, I go on thinking she had also her retractable flaps unpainted on the photo posted above), here is another example of a P-51D of the 357th, 362nd Squadron (the Missouri Armada's one) with unpainted rf.

We will probably never know how they were on the Missouri, and maybe you will decide to apply the Dark Green on this area, but for my part, I will work with this document (and the Butch Baby's one) to paint these rf alu, for the aesthetical reasons exposed above.

 

Cheers

 

Olivier

[antonio argudo]

3 hours ago, Olivier de St Raph said:

On 7/4/2018 at 8:59 PM, antonio argudo said:

that picture with aluminum part I'm afraid will never come... muahaha

 

Hi Antonio,

I am afraid that picture has come :

Never say never,  Olivier wonderful find and very neat, you deserve that bottle my friend

 

where did you find it? what kind of Mustang block is it? could be a late one?  could this mean early block Mustangs had the flap fully painted  and later version didn't or was a just a random thing

cheers

Edited April 11, 2018 by antonio argudo

[antonio argudo]

3 hours ago, Olivier de St Raph said:

maybe you will decide to apply the Dark Green on this area,

I will not have to decide it, since in my model the flaps are in up position becuase she  will be display  in flight

cheers

[Totally Mad Olivier]

 

1 hour ago, antonio argudo said:

where did you find it?

http://www.cebudanderson.com/mooney.htm

 

1 hour ago, antonio argudo said:

could this mean early block Mustangs had the flap fully painted  and later version didn't or was a just a random thing

Maybe John (Biggles 87) was right and following the position of flaps when the mechanics did the paintjob, the rf were painted or not...

 

1 hour ago, antonio argudo said:

you deserve that bottle my friend

I will drink to our dream team  health  !

[Biggles87]

1 hour ago, Olivier de St Raph said:

 

http://www.cebudanderson.com/mooney.htm

 

Maybe John (Biggles 87) was right and following the position of flaps when the mechanics did the paintjob, the rf were painted or not...

 

I will drink to our dream team  health  !

 

I was thinking about that yesterday, and came the conclusion that if the flaps were painted in the ' up' position there would also be an unpainted area where the inner end fitted under the wing root fillet, so not a likely solution.

 

John 

[Totally Mad Olivier]

Ok John, let’s leave aside this assumption you made above. I am not sure we will have a reply to the question Antonio asked above (was it just a random thing ?)....

Cheers

[antonio argudo]

well, surfing through cebudanderson.com found this  "B/C" Mustang  with an aluminium flap edgge finish also.

Edited April 11, 2018 by antonio argudo

[Totally Mad Olivier]

Scratchbuild to the program to add new details: the handle was painted gloss black (X1 Tamiya enamel), as I see it on docs. The round support of this handle was made from 0,1 mm thickness tin sheet. I tried to create the tiny slots with the tip of a new triangular blade. The gun sight control box (Mk18 type see above and the pic below) was made from an Evergreen 2 mm rod, and then details (dimmer, inscriptions) added on it.

 

 

For the details inside the shrouds, this great pic brought above by Laurent (thanks to him and to John T. for the infos about the gun sights) will be my main reference (Laurent said this was a 10-NA - like the Missouri - instrument panel):

 

[Totally Mad Olivier]

My right panel is nearly over, after the adding of new details, the canopy light and this rectangular box we can see behind the Mk18 one on the doc just above. To give an idea of dimensions at 1/48 scale, I precised a lenght (3,2 cm), because this close-up is necessary merciless. At the naked eye, I am really glad with the result. 

[antonio argudo]

Hi Olivier, looking real good, all the detail  is impresive, if you want to represent placards, try to cut a  rectangular black decal as a base, that  I tried before with good results,  keep the good!!

 

cheers

[Totally Mad Olivier]

Thanks Antonio. By "placards", you mean this?

 

If yes (what I suppose), I am indeed not very glad with them, even if, honestly, at naked eye, they look OK (the same for the small black and white points I made for the tiny rivets).

But if I can improve these details, why not?

That said, in fact, for 3 of the 4 placards (except for the left one, finally all painted after that the decal had peeled off...), I precisely used black decals cut as you suggest. I had to add inscriptions and the white frame around, what was uneasy at this scale... 

Rather than photoetched parts useless because not fitted to the part they are supposed to represent (fe the PE Eduard to represent the canopy opening handle, awful), the aftermarket brands should offer quality decals for such details as these placards. Indeed, the decal sheets are full of small decals for the outside part of our model, but they often forget the details in the cockpit, very important too. So, we have to deal with what we find in our decal reserve... and with our paintbrushes and acrylic paints!

 

Cheers

[antonio argudo]

Hi Olivier,

yes those are the placards I mean, not sure if it is worth the effort now, but if you are up to, here is my tip: to make the placard frame in silver, paint with silver paint  on a rectangular decal, cut it to the desire size and then put another smaller black decal  on top so therefore you have a frame, quite simple, will need few trims but good results can be achieve,  then you can paint the stencils on it, I did that in 1/32 but I guess in 1/48 will be harder, anyway your cockpit looks really good though, keep the good

cheers

[Totally Mad Olivier]

On 12/04/2018 at 20:55, antonio argudo said:

not sure if it is worth the effort now

sure it is, definitely! 

 

On 12/04/2018 at 20:55, antonio argudo said:

paint with silver paint  on a rectangular decal, cut it to the desire size and then put another smaller black decal  on top so therefore you have a frame, quite simple, will need few trims but good results can be achieve,  then you can paint the stencils on it

A good tip, that I will try to follow to the letter...

 

Thanks a lot Antonio! 

 

P.S: I will try to improve my "rivets" too...

 

P.S 2: I have just ordered the 1/48 stressed surface flaps from Rust Usmanov, who had sent me an email to inform me that both 1/32 and 1/48 flaps were now available. I hope these resin aftermarket flaps will be as beautiful as they appeared on Antonio's pics (Antonio that I thank here for this very good info...). 

Edited April 14, 2018 by Olivier de St Raph
adding

[Totally Mad Olivier]

I have followed Antonio's hint to improve 2 of the 4 placards (the left ones). This was not easy at all at 1/48 scale, with tiny portions of decals. The result is a little better on the close-up, and really good at the naked eye. But another patient work was necessary to improve the rivets... My right panel is now over.

 

[antonio argudo]

Hi Olivier,

defently an improvement, glad you did it, keep the good!

cheers

[Totally Mad Olivier]

I remember that someone in the thread (I think it was John Terrell) had explained that, unlike the photo suggests, the area behind the radiator has to be painted alu (and not YZC) for a 10-NA version like the Missouri. Could you confirm that info, please, I want to be 100% sure before applying alu there.

 

 

[Totally Mad Olivier]

I have another question for our best experts (still waiting for a reply for the one just above):

I have several versions of tail wheel well, with sometimes alu or light grey inside:

 

and sometimes Green (in different shades):

 

I have worked these last days on this area, scratchbuilding a frame (see below) as we may see on these photos (especially the last one) and I have to do the paintjob now. So? what was the right color for this inside bay? In the doubt, I will choose the alu option for my Missouri. But here too, your help would be very welcome...

 

 

N.B: my tail wheel bay is not over, I have to add a kind of rectangular panel that we can see on the doc 122 above...

 

 

 

 

[Mattlow]

Hi Olivier

 

Just catching up on the Missouri Armada epic.

 

First off, this is one of THE most useful threads you're likely to find on an individual aircraft, and the type in general for us modellers. Your trial, error, try again approach is both educational and inspiring. So don't worry about the interest/relevance etc... we love it.

 

Tail wheel well. When I asked about the tail well it became sort of clear that much of the detail (including most of the actual tail wheel leg) was covered with a canvas boot. This, if you think about it, makes total sense. The tail wheel leg of the Mustang is (to my eyes) pretty complex and the last thing you'd want is loads of mud and ice and crud getting sprayed into the well and all over the mechanism - it'd be a nightmare to clean. The Americans seem to have put a lot of care into ensuring the aircraft remained protected and clean.

 

The image I had also shows that there were canvas/cloth patches doped over the lightening/access holes in the lower side of the bay - again, keeps the crud out.

 

My Revell build is coming along (wings, tail surfaces are on). I am just trying to get the surfaces and seams sorted for their silver paint (which is utterly merciless at showing up each and every imperfection..  )

 

Model on Olivier!!

 

Matt

 

[Totally Mad Olivier]

Thanks a lot dear Matt for your encouragements.

About the wrapping canvas around the tail wheel leg, it is clearly my intention to represent it (I will take inspiration in yours), but before, I wanted to build this formwork we can see on docs, to avoid an empty feeling inside this bay.

 

All the best

 

Olivier

 

P.S (edited later): now I realize (a bit too late) that the canvas (see the doc below), not only encloses the leg but hides completely the frame and details. So my work above will become invisible too... I could have earned time... And even the question of inside bay color, with the canvas, becomes outdated... while your comment is totally justified. I will definitely fall in every trap of this build! 

 

N.B: this great photo from Laurent is definitely the best one we have to represent the canvas and will be my reference doc for that detail.I should have studied it better before scratchbuilding the formwork...  

 

Edited April 17, 2018 by Olivier de St Raph
adding