Bedders

In the spirit of the GB I thought I might show you a bit of how it got to this point. I bought the H back in August and was immediately impressed by what I found in the box: Pretty straightforward in terms of parts-breakdown but nicely moulded, crisp parts with finely-engraved panel lines; and a decal sheet that looked good (though I spotted the issue with the printing accuracy early on and tried one out - it seemed to hold together just about OK so I thought I could probably use them). The windscreen & canopy was a single piece but there was just enough of a seam line to get a fine blade and then a razor saw into. The cockpit was nicely detailed with a moulded instrument panel whose details could be picked out with some fine brush-work. The placement of a few of the cockpit parts was a bit approximate if you followed the instructions, so there was a bit of trial and error involved to get the for-aft placement of the seat correct on the cockpit floor. The gunsight is well-moulded and I chose to leave it off until the end of the build. The radiator was well-moulded with a nicely-shaped duct running out to the rear. For a limited run kit I was immediately happy with how it was going together, though there was some need for filler on a number of the joints: The only real hassle I had was with the windscreen, which was a bit of a pain to fit onto the nose and which needed a lot of dry fitting, fettling, trying again etc. I got it about right in the end but still not perfect. I was really enjoying the build by tis point; I gound it very satisfying to be building a decent kit of this, the fastest Mustang, with the subtly redesigned airframe giving a slightly refreshing feel to a normal P-51 build. I added seatbelts from Tamiya tape, and the point on the right side of the fuselage at which the antenna wire came down from the fin. Whilst doing the build (I know you should do your research before you start, but hey ho...) I found some really useful H-model drawings here: http://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php?topic=15088.0 I decided early on to not to bother with the resin rockets and rails that come with the kit. The quality of the resin mouldings is not great and I reckoned that if I really wanted to have stub mounts for the rockets, I could use those from Airfix's F-51D kit, which look the same but they're located differently on the H. I still haven't quite ruled them out. I also decided not to drop the flaps on this kit: many of the photos I have seen of the H show them with the flaps up, unlike on Bs and Ds. I was also going to leave the inner landing gear doors open, but then I noticed that they were pretty much always closed on parked aircraft, except very occasionally on aircraft where the flaps had indeed been left down. So rather late in the day I decided to close the inner doors and obscure what is a pretty nicely-moulded wheel bay. This just about brings us back to the top of this build story. I drilled out the holes for the tail warning radar antenna and added the antenna before priming. And then it was on with the paint.... Justin

Lovely. Brings back memories. You've done a great job on the handrail. Justin

Oh God. Life was so simple when I had either a time problem or a money problem. These new Eduard Spitifres mean I will very quickly have both. And we haven't seen the VIIIs yet which will open all sorts of temptations in the shape of VIIs, Xs and XIs....

Looking forward to this Patrice. Years ago I didn't like the 20th FG black and white markings, but these days they are really growing on me. Interesting how tastes change. So I'll be following along. Justin

Thanks Steve. Note to self about MS decal film - didn't know there was such a thing! J

One more photo. Sorry that the light is so bad. It's not much use for modelling, let alone photograpy. Also I think I've got the canopy frame masking slightly incorrect so I'll have to redo that (for the third time...). Justin

And so to the decals. Started with the tail nimbers but as I was applying them they started to break up on the lower edge: It was then that I realised that the decals had not been printed fully onto the film: I've emailed RS Models asking for a new set but more in hope than anticipation of a response - none has come. So I pressed on. Didn't bother to try the RS walkways and made my own from a spare Spitfire sheet. And reconstructed the tail numbers using upside-down bits of the spare numbers from the RS sheet. Overall it's come out OK. I decided not to use the post-1947 red bar on the stars, or to apply the yellow paint to fin-top or wingtips. This is because I want the eye to focus on the structural and design differences between the D and H models and not principally the different colour-schemes.

A very nice pair. As I move from Spitfires to Mustangs, one of these has got to be on the cards soon. V much like the Brazilian one. Justin

Cheers Rob. Must say I'm glad I read up (on BM) on how to use Alclad - you need a very smooth finish on the primer to avoid the Alclad showing up the blemishes. All useful for whan I get round to the D-model. Justin

Must say that I agree it's not clever to launch a P-51 kit without wing pylons. For what it's worth, I recently bought a set of the resin additions, and the early-type ones which are correct for the B model are very fiddly with their additional sway braces. Difficult to remove from the runners and a pain to trim before fitting to the model. I broke both of mine despite trying to be careful. I should add that I like the KP kit - it's probably got the best overall balance between accuracy and detail, but it is not without its faults. The decals on mine were badly out of register and the one-piece canopies are restrictive. If KP want this kit to be a success against the competition they should consider adding the resin wing pylons to future batches of the kits, or better still providing injection moulded ones. Justin

Lots more H folks. Primed, Alcladed and looking nice. Love the purity of the H shape, particularly the straight leading edge. And must say i like this Alclad stuff. Justin

I've made a bit of progress on the H-model, whilst wasting time trying to decide what the colour scheme will be. Hence bits of white paint on the top of the fin to help me visualise some options. In the meantime I decided to make my life difficult by replicating the tail warning radar that was fitted to all H-models as far as I know. So I drilled three holes throught the fin and cut some wire to represent the antenna. I surprised myself by getting the holes in more or less the right place but some filler is still going to be needed to tidy it all up. Here's how it looks: I decided it would be better to put the wires through and tidy up the holes before doing any painting. I want to use Alclad (for the first time) and from what I've read you need a good surface to spray on to. So best to have it all cleaned up before I get to that point. Other than that I have mostly been tryng to decide on colour schemes for the B- and D-models. I'm nowhere near the paint stage but with so many to choose from (even from the 8th Air Force which is my only real criterion) I thought I should give it some consideration reasonably early on. But the only thing I've achieved is to give myself a headache... Justin

This is excellent news. Really. No I mean it. I can start my 1/72 Trumpeter kit after all (gulp)....

Very nice job and really like the tall tail. Justin

Looking forward to seeing this develop - those two seat conversions were quite clever and some fun colour schemes to boot. Justin

I feel your pain, but judging by your cockpit work, you'll be able to sort it. V nice choice of subject. Wish I could get hold of some D-model 353FG markings in 1/72! Justin

Thanks for the thumbs-up, as I've been working on the B. I haven't made a Mustang for years, and the last B I did was probably the Monogram kit. The new KP kit looks pretty good overall, though there are still a couple of issues with the shape. One of them is the slight "double bubble" around the spinner and nose intake which looks a bit to pronounced to me. So I squared of the area on both sides and added some filler to try to fill the gap. After a bit of sanding it looks a bit more rounded and closer to the slightly fuller shape I want it to be. At the other end, I've tried to correct what I think is a slight forward tilt to the rudder post. It should be vertical but seemed to me to lean forward. So with some judicious sanding I've got it a bit more vertical-looking. I've added the rudder, and filled in the gap between the rudder piece and the square hinge that it should be attached to. I've also added an actuator for the rudder trim tab from plartic card, and a bit of sprue for the rudder-mounted lamp.

How do the mods feel about me joining with this trio? Last time I posted, well before the GB started, I had begun a P-51H and was quite enjoying it. So I went mad and bought myself a KP P-51B and an Airfix D to learn a bit more about the Mustang family. Here's where things had got to: Since then I've made a bit of progress and the group now looks like this: interiors done and bits stuck together. So in terms of construction, beyond the 25% point. Nevertheless, there's still quite a lot to do: How do folks feel about me joining in the GB fun? I don't see another H on the stocks, so this might add that extra dimension. I await your judgement... Justin

Well I'm quietly drooling, and also kicking myself that I embarked on a trio of P-51s without knowing that the GB was about to start. They're well past the 25% point now, so I'm looking at your D and asking mself whether to start another one... Justin

Those Hawks are looking simply lovely Steve as we get to the paint stage. Your clever white-tack border round the cockpits for masking purposes will also help me with a couple of P-51s. Why didn't I think of that...? Justin

Those decals will look great on the Airfix 22. Pity tne Special Hobby kits are the wrong shape.

Love that diver. Give 'im a cuppa tea!

Some months ago I got the post-decal gloss coat all wrong on my Spitfire 21 conversion And it ended up like this It's salvageable, and I'm determined to do it. The experience made me broaden my horizons to include Mustangs, so it's not all bad.... Good luck with the rebuild. Justin

Hunter looks lovely PC - really like the choice of going with four drop tanks. I must have missed the Valiant but that looks top banana too. And I'm with the others on the Sabre. Hell of a lot of work, and turned out nice. What more does a man want, other than a cool one from the fridge to celebrate? Justin

Very nice and an interesting subject. Hadn't clocked those airscoops behind the cockpit before. I'm looking forward to seeing this take shape. Justin