Budman

Research (done by others) indicates that the North American Inglewood CA facility finished the wings of at least some Mustangs by puttying, priming and painting the surfaces. This caught my mind’s eye and I thought I would try to emulate this procedure. To accomplish this I filled, primed and wet sanded the wings several times until I achieved the texture I imagined was about right. Then I sprayed the entire plane with alclad II black base from a brand new bottle. It would not dry completely. I waited 3 ½ days and it still didn’t dry. I had read where the first time use had been fine but the second use, about a year later had resulted in this same result. My plan was to use it once (since it was brand new) and discard the rest. Very foolish on my part. It goes without saying that I will never use their black base again!!!!! Did I mention I am pi$$ed off to the max? To have an expensive kit that has hours and hours of work in it have this kind of thing happen as the last step is a real bummer. The Alclad folks need to respond to this obvious problem with one of their products (as my experience is certainly not the first) and make the appropriate changes to their quality control or lack thereof. To try to salvage the build with at least a decent finish, I wet sanded the afore mentioned base coat as well as possible (I wear doctors synthetic gloves when holding the model for wet sanding and parts of the black base stuck to the gloves and pulled off in places) and sprayed the wings with Alclad’s “aluminum” last night to see if it would look alright and help the situation with the base. It has dried and looks reasonable but I didn’t build this P-51 to look “reasonable”. The photos show where the base lifted. Not cool!! Thanks for dropping in Bud

Haven't had much build time as we have been out of town but managed to get a little done on the canopy. The afore mentioned seam was treated to some careful knife work and then some careful sanding (starting with 1500 grit thru 12000 grit) and a dunk into some Future and we are rewarded with a nice clear canopy with no trace of the seam with the masks applied and the inside taped, a little black is sprayed on after the assy of a few parts and we are almost ready for the paint shop Thats about it for now...thanks for dropin in Bud

Thanks for your kind words Al.

Al, this is a beautiful build out of a challenging kit. The Phantom is the most sinister looking fighter ever and you are certainly it justice with this build!! Bud

You truly have had a dream come true, only way it gets any better is if you get 7 rides!!! ...got any pics?? Thanks for the kind words, Oliver

Thanks for the welcome and all the kind words. Currently waiting for stuff to arrive...soon as it does I can get back to work!! Bud

Thanks for the kind words Tim, this looks like a great forum...

Thanks guys, appreciate the help Bud

Anybody tried this? Will it work ok? Thanks, Bud

I am already pretty far along with the build, but I just found this forum... The cockpit is almost finished The sidewalls are finished All together The fuselage is together We have wings!! The nose panels are on The nose panels required a couple of shims (Tamiya tape) but the fit was very good and all in all, no problems. Currently working on the canopy (moulded with a mould line down the center which has to be removed) but we are now up to date. This build is really a blast and I recommend it to anyone who loves P-51's (or even if you don't!! Thanks for looking in Bud