JimmyZ Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 (edited) Hi all, Since I've finished a build in the MTO GB, I though I could start another. And this time it will be this Sprues are full of flash The kit comes with resin wheel replacements for the dreary looking ones on the sprues Also included are some PE for the interior (mostly). Though I have used some of it on another kit already... And the first problem (already?) I'm not too surprised about the broken canopy (seeing the condition of the box), though I am bummed out. I do have another Smer P-51 kit that contains an intact canopy, but I want to build two P-51's. One USAAF one, from the kit decals, and an RAF one. I'll see if I can get a replacement canopy, or see what it would looks like if I glue this one. Wish me luck. Cheers Jimmy Edited December 7, 2016 by JimmyZ Thread name change 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZ Posted November 26, 2016 Author Share Posted November 26, 2016 At last I have an update for this build, though small. I glued the canopy back together, but I won't be using it. So looks like I'll only be able to build one of these. I finished the cockpit bits OOB, only adding simple foil seatbelts Next up is the cockpit sidewalls, which contains no detail. Luckily it comes with some PE for that. The plastic is ridden with flash, of the worst I have seen yet (most of it removed already) Hopefully I'll have another update in a bit. Cheers Jimmy 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Shame about the canopy Jimmy,Good luck. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 Hi Jimmy Too bad for the canopy I hope you will succed to fix that .. Patrice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZ Posted December 6, 2016 Author Share Posted December 6, 2016 Hi everyone. At last I am able to update on this build again! I spent small amounts of time on it in between my other build. I finished the cockpit sidewalls with the PE supplied. I didn't go for very detailed or weathered in here. I then glued the cockpit floor to the fuselage half I quite like the IP PE parts And IP glued into the cockpit Before closing the fuselage I had to paint and glue the exhausts, since they go in from the inside. I also had to glue the tail wheel, which btw doesn't fit. There's a hole on one fuselage half, but not on the other. Also it's too narrow so I had to add thing pieces of plastic to each side just so it would stay in place. Sorry for the poor photo. And at last! Feels like it's been forever, but at last the fuselage is closed. It will stay like that for the night, and when dry I can start filling the horrible seams... That's it for tonight. Cheers Jimmy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitz23 Posted December 6, 2016 Share Posted December 6, 2016 You're a brave man, looking good so far though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZ Posted December 20, 2016 Author Share Posted December 20, 2016 Hi everyone. I finished my P-51B last week, so I can spend all my modelling time on this one now. I started with a flurry of activity, cutting things from sprues, painting others while still on the sprue, and gluing things together. I then proceeded to glue the wings to the fuselage, which was no small feat, since it didn't fit at all. I also made the undercarriage doors fit (see what I did there?) and glued them in the closed position as it should be. This kit has been tricky so far. Some parts I literally had to sculpt from the supplied flash laden plastic. Until next time. Jimmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZ Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 Hi everyone. I've made some more progress, albeit slower that I would have liked. I painted the canopy. Needs some touching up. I finished the filling and smoothing and she's ready for some paint. As usual I started on the underside. Here I gave it a thin first coat. And after a couple of coats and bouts of sanding, I masked the appropriate areas off for painting the uppers. This is how it looked after the first coat. Looks messy, but it usually comes thought after a few coats with wet sanding after every coat. I also started painting the wheels. I really wanted to finish this one off before the holidays, but I guess nit. Since I want to do some other things (like reading), this probably won't progress much till January. Thanks for looking. Jimmy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZ Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 Hi all, I am finally able to post some progress. I've finished the OD, and masked up for the yellow stripes. You can also see I've been buy smoothing the canopy/fuselage seams using Tamiya surface primer. And some time later, finished, glossed and ready for decals. I've started placing the decals too, and should finish with them soon. Cheers Jimmy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZ Posted January 10, 2017 Author Share Posted January 10, 2017 A quick update. I've applied the decals (no photo at the moment, sorry). The Smer decals are very thin, which is a plus on the aesthetics side, but a negative on the logistics side. Several of them tore when sliding onto the plane. You'll rember that I have two of these kits, and I ended up using several of the spare kit's decals. I also used several parts of the spare kit due to 1) missing parts on the sprue, 2) parts losses due to the carpet monster and 3) parts breakages. The spare kit is now all but useless, but if I didn't have a spare kit I'd have been in big trouble! That's all for now. I'm sure my next post will be of the completed build. Cheers Jimmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZ Posted January 12, 2017 Author Share Posted January 12, 2017 Finished at last (with only a few days to spare). I explained my decal issues in my previous post. Luckily I had two kits, so I could complete 1 fully. After the matt coat dried I did some weathering with dry pastels, since photos of the subject shows it as quite dirty. I didn't want to overdo it though. All in all this kit isn't too great and it takes a lot of work to get it to look like a half-decent Allison engined Mustang. If fact, most average modellers like me will need two kits to get one complete one out of it. There's some accuracy issues there as well. I'm not sure the wing shape is correct, and the spinner is not pointy enough, as well as having a too big diameter where it joins to the nose. The overall shape also looks slightly funny to my eye, but this might be nitpicking, since I've seen worse shaped Mustangs (I've got two of those my shelf). I am happy with the end result though, but won't be building another of these again. Anyway, enough bickering. Here's some photos. More photos in the gallery soon. Cheers Jimmy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roberto Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Really good work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Moff Posted January 13, 2017 Share Posted January 13, 2017 Lovely stuff! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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