P-51D Daddy's Girl (Or how to ruin a perfectly good Tamiya Mustang kit)

[Thom216]

Progressing quite nicely! Good work on the seams and vents.

[Squibby]

A decent bit of progress this weekend.

 

I finished off the fuselage seams, attached the wings, cleaned them up and blasted the entire thing in primer (Badger Stylnrez in this case). The wings went together well even with my extensive modifications. 

I found the gear bay doors fit ok and worked well as a mask, though to be safe I added some masking tape around the edge to catch any spray through the minute gaps.

 

 

Finally I can get to the fun bit  but first I've got a few more NMF experiments to run before I commit my technique to the finished model.

In the mean time I noticed one little area that I'm at a loss on how to finish. The exposed edge of the ailerons (visible with flaps down). I presume it'll have some sort of hinge detail but I can't find any references. Anyone got anything?

 

 

 

 

[giemme]

Looking super smooth in her primer coat

 

Ciao

[Squibby]

Spent the last couple of days conducting more experiments into getting a realistic weathered NMF.

 

My method essentially starts with laying down an aluminium basecoat then squiggling over it with thinned flat black paint.

This is what this ends up looking like. I then gloss and overcoat in very thin 'chrome' paint (due to it's translucency). 

 

To replicate the silver painted over panels on the wing I experimented with laying down a layer of white aluminum before squiggling over, the tonal variation got lost however once the chrome went down. I ended up solving it by just spraying a layer of thinned 'white aluminium' over the specific panels after applying the chrome to the other areas. This gave me the effect I was looking for. The lighter panels didn't show as much variation through due to the more opaque colour, which is fine as these panels are usually quite smooth looking. 

 

At this point I played around with the flat coat to dull the metal a bit and create that patina you see in photos. There were many fails at this point...

I tried a few odd things like laying down chipping solution (essentially the same as hairspray) and spraying the matt varnish over. Predictably it didn't lift very well and made a mess. 

I also tried thinning the matt varnish with chipping fluid which also didn't do anything special.

I finally tried using a light grey paint over the chipping solution and that looked absolutely horrible...😆

 

In the end I just applied the flat coat relatively unevenly freehand across the 'metal' sections and applied a masked off even layer over the silver painted section (though IMHO a overdid it a bit here). This looked good but not quite there.

 

As a finishing touch I trialed using some gloss thinned with water (about 2 drops water to 1 drop gloss) and applied with a thin brush to form little scratches and worn 'grainy' areas. This looked quite good on the 'painted' section.

I also used a big stiff bristled brush to paint streaks over the model, which created a nice streaky grain effect to the metal.

 

I'm really struggling to capture the effect in photos since the scratches are really only visible as more shiney areas on the dull surface. I was testing various techniques so it's a bit overdone in areas. If subtly applied I think it captures that worn metal patina nicely.

 

I think I'm ready to start on the paintwork for real.

 

Oh regarding the aileron edge. I found a reasonably good photo and what is represented seems close enough. Representing this area better would require surgery of the wing which I'm not keen on at this stage. I cleaned up the visible seams a bit more and called it done.

 

Edited November 5, 2019 by Squibby

[Thom216]

You got some good looking results there!

[giemme]

Interesting experimentation. Looking forward to how it turns out on the real thing

 

Ciao

[silberpferd]

On 03/11/2019 at 12:14, Squibby said:

In the mean time I noticed one little area that I'm at a loss on how to finish. The exposed edge of the ailerons (visible with flaps down). I presume it'll have some sort of hinge detail but I can't find any references. Anyone got anything?

This should help

 

 

Laurent

[Squibby]

Thanks for that,

 

I think the only way to replicate that would be to carve out the side wall and build the recessed detail out of plasticard. Would have been relatively doable before I joined the wings together. At this stage I think it falls into the too hard basket. 

 

Due to the flush fit of the flaps you can't just build out of the edge to create that recessed detail. 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

On 11/3/2019 at 5:14 AM, Squibby said:

In the mean time I noticed one little area that I'm at a loss on how to finish. The exposed edge of the ailerons (visible with flaps down). I presume it'll have some sort of hinge detail but I can't find any references. Anyone got anything?

I see you found your answer. 

5 hours ago, silberpferd said:

This should help

 

 

Laurent

However airscale may also have info to share if you need anything.  

This is another build which may give you more info. Probably some of the best builds I've seen of Mustangs in a long time. 

Dennis

Edited November 6, 2019 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Marklo]

Beautiful work so far. Have you tried buffing or polishing, scotchbrite over aluminium can give a nice dull but metallic effect. I tried this on my Pfalz but as is the case preffered shiny as it is a lacquered finish but the buffed result would have looked good for bare aluminium.

 

[Squibby]

Cheers Corsairfoxfouruncle.

 

I decided against cutting up the aileron at this stage, but those logs are great reads.

 

I remember I started my build in parallel with Olivier's one, his thread has a lot of good info, and we bounced a few ideas around (the seat cushion discussion was doozy 😄). I ended up disappearing and wondered where he had gotten to. Cheer for re-linking that thread, I had a look through the RFI pics and it's a hell of a P51.

Airscale's work is simply awe inspiring but lets be real here, that man has some superhuman modelling skills and patience 😁. I remember using his spitfire thread as reference for the cockpit in my Mk1 spit.

 

Marklo, thanks for the suggestion but I feel scotchbrite or any kind of buffing would cause the paint to come off. I'm using relatively fragile acrylics here. I've never had luck with sanding or polishing painted surfaces 😣 The most I'd risk is a rub down with a paper towel...

[Kitchen Modeller]

Your weathered lacquered wing experiments look amazing - it will be interesting to see them transferred on the bigger scale. Are you using Vallejo metal colour metallics? I used them in the past and found them to be quite good but didn’t realize they had that translucent quality. Anyways - very much enjoying this thread - love your work👍

[Squibby]

Hi Kitchen Modeller, yes I'm using Vallejo Metal Colours, and no they're not that translucent unless thinned down (i use Tamiya X20A). Chrome being the most translucent I've got.

I exclusively spray acrylics since I don't have an extractor and value my lungs 😃, 

 

Time to jump right in and stop messing around with old wildcat wing sections...

 

On with the gloss coat went and then an all over coat of aluminium. The coat has a few blemishes here and there (as is tradition...) but it's essentially a base coat so I'm not too fussed. Luckily the bad ones are on the nose and will be hidden by the green nose and anti glare strip. 

 

 

Sure looks nice an shiny though 😁... Shame I'm about to mess it up...😋

[Squibby]

After a couple of days of squiggling black lines over it I ended up with this.

 

I had to tackle it in a few sessions as my compressor started to heat up something fierce and I had to let it cool down a few times.

I just drew boxes and lines following the rivets and panel lines and generally mottled and squiggled around.

 

I then gloss coated it and started with the thinned chrome blend coat (1:5 with X20A). The painted areas of the wing have been left bare for now.

 

After letting the chrome dry a bit. I masked up and sprayed a thinned mix of white aluminium over the painted sections. I also masked and sprayed the darker panels around the exhaust outlets with dark aluminium.

 

I'm incredibly pleased with how it turned out, unfortunately the diffuse lit static photos don't quite capture the depth and subtle variation of the finish. 

Needless to say this will be my go to NMF method going forward.

 

Next up I'll mask up and get the marking colours and stripes down, Then it'll be a final gloss and onto the decals.

Edited November 9, 2019 by Squibby

[giemme]

Ah, that's a wonderful effect you've achieved!  I never thought of a double metallic coat with pre-shading in the middle. I should definitely have a go at that myself, thanks for posting the details 👍

 

Ciao

[Squibby]

Progress...

 

I've painted the green nose and the anti glare strip. The nose was painted with a basecoat of XF5 flat green which more or less matches the multitude of shades you see on the green nose P51s.

The anti glare strip was painted in XF-85 rubber black. Both areas were post shaded with the base colour mixed with a drop of white then blended with a heavily thinned filter of the base colour.

 

 

I've only got the blue tail and the black bands on the wings / tail planes to go.

[giemme]

The overall is looking just great!  

 

Ciao

[Thom216]

Cool idea with the shading between the NMF coats.

[Kitchen Modeller]

Great work on the nmf - I love the contrast you achieved between the bare metal and painted sections. Beautifully done! The new technique works a treat... 

[Squibby]

Blue tail painted. 

 

Aligning the masked off region for the serials was surprisingly difficult and even still I think they are slightly misaligned. 

I used Tamiya XF-8 flat blue as a basecoat and the same postshading + blend method. 

 

 

Only the ID stripes to go...

[Squibby]

And the stripes are now on... after much careful masking. I used XF-1 for the basecoat and XF-58 to post shade. I'm sure they are slightly too narrow / wide or not placed perfectly (I measured the decals), but they get the point across.

One thing's for sure, while it may not be too visible in the photos, a fair few of my rivet lines are embarrassingly skewed 😥, The tail plane is particularly bad in places and it made aligning the masking lines quite tricky. I've really got to get more precise drawing the lines in the first place, following them with the wheel is easy enough.

 

I also went back and resprayed the tail wheel bay in XF-4 and I think I'm largely done with the main paintwork. Only the various bits and flaps to paint up and add now.

 

 

On with a gloss coat ready for decals then...

[giemme]

Looking very neat, Squibby  

 

Ciao

[Kitchen Modeller]

Looks great Squibby- I wouldn’t worry too much about the rivet lines - you know they’re not perfect but most people will never notice - I had to really look really hard to see any imperfections - they’re there but minor.  Overall they look pretty good mate. 

[Biggles87]

I agree, just expanded the photos looking for rivet lines and realised just what a great job you’ve done on the wings. I’ll be starting one next month for the STGB and will be very happy if it turns out anything like your.

 

John

[Squibby]

Well progressed with the decals now, I love getting to this stage, it's finally starting to look like the real thing.

 

The lifelike decals sheet I'm using is filled with tiny stencils which are a pain to put on, but I'm almost there, only a few on the underside to go. The main decals went down well, but a word of warning to those using Gunze mark softer, apply it sparingly since the decals are quite thin. I didn't mess any up luckily but I was close in some areas

Along the way I realized I painted the anti glare strip in the black when it should be dark olive drab. Luckily I wasn't too far along with the decals and was able to mask it up and respray it in XF-62 with all the requisite shading and blending.

 

I also thought the panels around the exhausts were a bit too light. In photos they are usually much darker and more varied in tone. I masked these areas up and mixed up a heavily thinned mix of magnesium metal colour and a dark grey (Gunze H68, RLM 74 in this case) and carefully shaded it leaving the areas around the rivets in the original dark aluminium tone.

The end effect is much representative of the real thing IMHO.