opus999

I feel like I'm jumping on the train as its pulling out of the station... That cockpit looks beautiful Mark! I have to say, between yours and @billn53's Mustang builds, I'm getting the itch to pull mine out of the stash. Oh... wait... I'm already working on a P-51... All this talk of the Arma P-51B got me to looking at it, and at Arma in general as I hadn't really heard of them. The P-51B looks like it might be the best rendition to ever come out. I've read a lot of glowing reviews for their other kits and I see that they offer re-pops of some old Hasagawa molds. I thought I

You've got your work cut out for you on this one. Wow. Those off-register roundels are amazing too...

Boy, that Mustang was buttoned up quick! I'm impressed with the detail Airfix put in there, but the AM parts are much better. Those Yahu IP's look really neat, but I think I would be too disappointed when I discover they are barely visible. The cockpit turned out fantastic, though! Hard to believe it is 1/72. bummer to hear about possible bum legs in the Mustang kits. I'll have to check the one in my stash.

yesterday I filled in that atrocious gap on the port-side wing root. I mixed up some Apoxie sculpt and just kept pushing it in to the seam until it reached the bottom and continued to fill it until it was flush. Smoothed it out with water afterwards. It will need some sanding, but it is far better than before. I masked a little bit of the canopy but the family is binge watching Star Trek: Picard, so didn't get a lot done last night or tonight. The canopy makes me the most anxious because of the poor fit. I have some ideas about how to fill the massive gaps in, but I'm a little

Thanks!

I can safely say I have never used a file this much on a model. I gave up on the sandpaper... just using a file now! I had to remove an unbelievable amount of plastic to get the wings to fit together, and then even more to get them to fit on the fuselage. I've easily spent a couple hours over the last couple days filing and fitting. It's paid off, because I have the wings on now! But first, on Sunday I got the seams on the fuselage all smoothed out. It's hard to see, but I tried to capture it here: Then tonight I got to where I could put the wings on.

Thanks, Dennis, I really appreciate it, but I think it would be far too difficult to put on at this point. Besides, it probably won't be seen very well. Thanks, though!

I've only messed with a pilot twice in my life (coincidentally one was in my John Glenn F-86 build a few years ago), but they do look nice if done right like yours. The windscreen on the Hobbycraft Sabre turned out nice! I'll be watching the P-51D with interest -- I've got one in the stash and my Dad started one too. What I saw of his I was pretty impressed with.

Thanks you guys! The video is a great resource too.

I finally made some real progress yesterday ("It's about time!" someone in the back shouts...). This in spite of the fact that I took two of my kids on separate hikes. It sure seems like this kit was designed for maximum frustration. First, I painted the cockpit with Mr. Color C303 (FS34102) which seems to match the interior green pretty well. Then, I did all the detail painting on my scratch-built cockpit features. They don't look spectacular, but part of that is because macro really is not your friend. When dry fit and with the canopy on, these details actually

Just got caught up... Wow... lots here to digest! First, I have to say that I am continually amazed at the number of details that have to be attended to (both in the name of detail and in the name of "fixing") and how well you've knocked every one of them down! When I saw that you used PPP on the panel lines, my first thought was how it's tendency to shrink might work in your favor here. The wingtip lights are a neat trick! What is the source of your clear plastic? The canopy sills are a creative solution, I sure hope your plan to get the canopy to fit works!

Thanks for the reference! I actually have gone to that site quite a bit with my recent A6M2 and Ki-84 builds.

Thanks for letting me know Dennis, I was a little concerned. Wallpaper decals seem tricky to me for some reason.

Fantastic! Beautiful paint work.

Wow! That looks great! My first glue-together build at 8 years old was a Revell Ju-87G-2. I'd love to do another. Yours is inspiring me to go look for a kit now...