Phantome Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 With only a few days left until the GB is over, I'm going to attempt an extremely ambitious triple Mustang build taking advantage of the fact that both the Tamiya and the Academy Mustangs are extremely good 'shake and bake' kits that should not cause me much trouble. Here's a summary of the builds and (possible problems) 1) Academy P-51B "Bonnie B II". Taken from the Xtradecal D-Day sheet. Alas, this particular P-51B had the fin fillets which the "Old Crow" boxing does not have. I ordered the P-51C kit that does but has not yet arrived. That still does not stop me from building up everything except the separate tail section. 2) Tamiya P-51D "Detroit Miss". Have always wanted to build this one so here's the chance. 3) Tamiya P-51D "Jumpin' Jacques". I have some old Hasegawa decals but I'm slightly terrified of how thick they'll look on natural metal. I ordered some Mr Setter/Softer from Japan a few weeks ago but waiting for that to arrive. If it does not arrive by early Saturday I will replace it with something else. The "JJ" will be armed with two bombs, rather than drop tanks, hence why I chose the F-51 kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted January 8, 2017 Author Share Posted January 8, 2017 Check out all this plastic! I originally used Gunze H58 but thought it looked a bit light. Plus I do not like using Gunze for interiors since they are terrible for brush touch ups. So I sprayed Vallejo Interior Green on top which turned out to be great since Vallejo behaves better over paint or primer than plastic. Here's how the P-51B looks. Revell wood brown was used to brush paint the floor As assembled: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted January 8, 2017 Author Share Posted January 8, 2017 (edited) Meanwhile in P-51D-land, cockpits assembled. I will use Eduard Superfabric seats but I do not have white glue on me right now so this will have to wait until next week. I feel like my desk is North American's assembly line circa 1944 I also painted all other interior parts besides the cockpit in Tamiya XF-4 which is to me the best representation of Yellow zinc chromate in acrylic. As I said at the beginning... shake and bake. The Tamiya P-51D is probably my favorite WW2 kit ever. Just so perfect in every way. Tomorrow I'll do a bit of puttying/sanding where necessary (not much!) in preparation for paint time which I hope to do before Saturday so I won't have to rush through the builds before the deadline. Edited January 8, 2017 by Phantome 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Good afternoon Phantome Very good job so far I really hope you will suced to complete your trio before the end of this Gb .. Patrice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 (edited) I do too. Alas, Academy P-51C has not yet arrived... nor has the Mr Setter/Softer. Will do sanding/filling later today. Also having a philsophical debate on what to use for Olive Drab. I've typically used Tamiya X-62 but I find it's too dark and does not reflect fading. Gunze's H52 (for USAAF) looks way too brown. And H78 (for Army) also looks a bit too dark. I'm convincing myself that H73 might be just it. It's too brownish for its original intention, RAF Dark Green, and when you put it next to X-62 it does look like a lighter shade of it. Indeed it eerily looks like the Gunze equivalente of Xtracrylix Faded Olive Drab (which is my color of choice for US vehicles). Will do some airbrush tests later as well. Edited January 9, 2017 by Phantome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted January 10, 2017 Share Posted January 10, 2017 15 hours ago, Phantome said: I do too. Alas, Academy P-51C has not yet arrived... nor has the Mr Setter/Softer. Will do sanding/filling later today. Also having a philsophical debate on what to use for Olive Drab. I've typically used Tamiya X-62 but I find it's too dark and does not reflect fading. Gunze's H52 (for USAAF) looks way too brown. And H78 (for Army) also looks a bit too dark. I'm convincing myself that H73 might be just it. It's too brownish for its original intention, RAF Dark Green, and when you put it next to X-62 it does look like a lighter shade of it. Indeed it eerily looks like the Gunze equivalente of Xtracrylix Faded Olive Drab (which is my color of choice for US vehicles). Will do some airbrush tests later as well. Good Morning Phantome Sorry I can't help you regarding the Olive Drab I always use Humbrol paints , but I am sure that someone will be able to help you .. Regards Patrice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted January 11, 2017 Author Share Posted January 11, 2017 Academy has arrived! Question: I notice that a lot of modellers have the top part of the P-51D seat (where the headrest is) painted black. However, I have not found a single WW2 picture to confirm this. Was this standard practice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 Good morning Phantome In this picture you can see that the top part of the seat was painted black And I guess it was standard practice .. Regards Patrice 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted January 12, 2017 Author Share Posted January 12, 2017 Update with the Academy fin fillet tail piece. Canopies have been masked and models are almost ready to be primed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted January 15, 2017 Author Share Posted January 15, 2017 Big day today. Trying out lots of new products. Some good, some a bit disappointing. The good: Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 in gray. I have used Mr Surfacer for priming in the past but this stuff is light years better. I'm talking best primer by a long shot. Sprays like a charm with a lovely, smooth finish. I am not using a different primer. Ever. Next up was Mr Metal Color for the natural metal. I had only brush painted it before and the result was amazing for the aluminum (218) although a bit more grainy for the chrome silver (211). Spraying was less great. Coverage was fantastic but it was far from chrome-like perfection. I suspect this is because I did not polish the primer. On the plus, side, it resulted in a sort of "matte aluminum" finish which looks better at a distance for a WW2 bird. The gun panels were sprayed with Chrome Silver do give some contrast. Plan remains to do the original aircraft, Bonnie B, Detroit Miss and Jumpin Jacques. I have painted the stripes on the two -51Ds, but will re-do them on the -51B for convenience in masking. Bonnie B was painted with Gunze H73 which as suspected, looked like a really nice faded Olive Drab. I have compared with Xtracrylix Faded Olive Drab and it is even more convincing, as it has a more brownish tint but not entirely brown as would be H62. This will be a photo finish but have nothing to do tomorrow so I think I'll manage. Somehow. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted January 15, 2017 Author Share Posted January 15, 2017 What I did not like about Mr Metal Color is that it has yet to cure, hours after spraying. Masking does not lift the paint but leaves reside on the tape and the plane. A solution to this is to simply rub with a cloth but still a bit annoying. I think my next experiment with NMF will be decanted Tamiya AS-12 as it's a primer in itself and dries rock hard from what I've read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 Unfortunately I have not been able to finish I will post pics here tomorrow to show how far I got and then post the finished pics in the Ready for Inspection thread. Was a valiant attempt though!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 18 hours ago, Phantome said: Unfortunately I have not been able to finish I will post pics here tomorrow to show how far I got and then post the finished pics in the Ready for Inspection thread. Was a valiant attempt though!! Good evening Phantome Sorry to read that but I will follow them in the Ready for Inspection Thread .. Regards Patrice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted January 16, 2017 Author Share Posted January 16, 2017 Ok so this is the end result of my efforts. Got up to the decalling stage Bonnie B is coming out particularly well, as is the Jumpin Jacques despite some liberties I took (no blue lines around the olive drab anti-glare panel). I am less pleased with Detroit Miss. The Microscale decals appear too big making it look somewhat toy-like. Also don't think standard blue is appropriate, would look better with something darker/more orange like RLM04. So why did I not finish? Masking! Took hours and Bonnie B was particularly difficult not just because of the invasion stripes but because of the annoying olive drab bits inside the stripes. At least it came out pretty good in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantome Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Ok, this will be my last post as they are almost finished. I only need to add some streaks of Tamiya smoke and a panel line wash (and later a matt coat on Bonnie B). The finished results will be displayed in the Ready for Inspection forum at some point in the near future. Slightly sad that I missed the deadline but was a wonderfully fun build! 'Till Mustang STGB IV... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEMPESTMK5 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) Good morning Phantome Very nice job with the paint and decals.. Can I put your name on the list for the Mustang STGB IV in 2018 ? http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235013182-p-51-mustang-stgb-iv-for-2018/ Patrice Edited January 18, 2017 by TEMPESTMK5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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