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P-51 D-10-NA Missouri Armada: a faithful replica from the Tamiya 1/48 kit


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Hello to all,

after nearly 8 months of research, sharing and partial scratchbuild from the Tamiya 1/48 kit, I have the pleasure to present you my last baby, the P-51 D-10-NA "Missouri Armada", Capt John B. England, of the 362th F.S, 357th F.G, 8th Air Force:

 

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I want to thank here all the contributors and followers without whom I would never have been able to get such a result.

 

Main contributors:

- Juan Manuel Villalba: I probably would not have built this replica if Juan had not asked me to do the translation (subtitles) for his great DVD dedicated to this aircraft. Even if I sometimes made different choices than him (rivets, seat cushion, White Alu primer applied, Satin finish rather than mat etc.), many of the techniques I used were learnt from this master (and friend). A big hug to you, dear Juan, who were also and in all circumstances one of my best supporters (in private mail conversations)!

- Antonio Argudo: Antonio is an expert of the Mustang and a great modeler (his cockpit is just amazing) and he brought me so many useful docs and infos for months. I look forward him to find the time to go on with his build. You can ever see his thread:

1/32 Tamiya P-51D Mustang "Missouri Armada" on Britmodeller, of course!

- John Terrell: another expert who learnt us so much for weeks. John is an artist too, who made the very realistic drawings for simulators. Pity, John has vanished these last weeks, I could not have news from him, hope he feels OK.

- Laurent (silberpferd), another Mustang expert who brought great and very useful pics (bottom views, 108 gallon tanks and pressure line outlet, tail wheel canvas, gunsight etc.)

- Fencer-1 (Alexey), who brought very accurate infos about panels and flaps

 

Other contributors and followers (in the order of posting):

- Biggles 87: another expert and fan of the Mustang, I have to go and see his threads on Brit!

- Crimea River, important contributor and follower, as Biggles 87, from the beginning to the end

- Hannes, my friend of the "Fiat 806 research and scratchbuild" thread (soon 200 pages on Brit!!). A great artist!

- ronnierex

- Squibby

- Harvey, other friend and actually amazing full scratchbuilder of the Fiat 806... 

- Houston, a Mustang, 357th F.G and Missouri Armada fan, very encouraging and enthusiast

- Bedders

- Troy Smith (and not Troll ;)!)

- delis

- Mattlow, important contributor too, especially for the Alclad stencils

- DJJunis

- gingerbob

- matto21

- DMC 

- Garry c

- NickD (another friend and contributor from the Fiat 806 saga...) 

- Ol' Scrapiron

- Torbjorn

- Plasto

- Jamie @Sovereign Hobbies

- thammond65

- Rumblestripe

- sharknose156, another member of the "806 dream team"... I didn't expect finding another "dream team" like I did when I began the "Missouri" thread...

- galfa

- Tourist, definitely another Mustang expert, who suggested necessary corrections for the early version the Missouri was.

- quangster

- ArmouredSprue

- T-21

- elger, always very encouraging and who brought very useful pics, especially for the wheel bays and landing light...

- Johnny1000

- Scooby

- Azgaron (Håkan), whose positive and encouraging comments have been very appreciated in the last weeks of my build/ thread. 

-  CrazyCrank: another great modeler that I luckily knew on the Fiat 806 thread. I must go and see his progress on his great 1/8 Pocher Bugatti T50 thread... The short break I will do before beginning a new build will leave me the time for that.

-  crobinsohn

- pipthepilot

- Kahunaminor

- seven

- Blackcollar

 

Internet has moved our hobby in another dimension: all the Brit members I just mentioned come from all over the world, and their contribution and support was essential for such a project . We are far from the modeler working alone in his corner. Thanks to that sharing space that is Britmodeller, I could try to recreate a really faithful replica of that aircraft. But internet has also his drawbacks, and my local dealer, Kits Discounts, is about to close, as many other ones before, what we may just deeply regret. The pleasure to come in the shop, to dream in front of so many kits, to touch, to smell, all what we have all known, is small and small disappearing, the old world, with real contacts.

 

My next build should be the Revell 1/18 Ford T 1912, for which I will probably open a new thread. 

 

All the best to all and thanks again for following and helping.

 

Olivier, July 6th, 2018 (I had to check on Reverso for the date in english, it is yet a problem for me :D...)

 

 

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Looks fabulous from just this one image, would love to see more. The amount and level of work you put into her was unbelievable. Just fantastic.

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This has been one of the most interesting Mustang adventure to follow, I've learned so many new things on the way and I will miss it for sure,   glad to have contribute to it, your dedication and effort has pay off, the result is simply stunning!

Congratulations my friend Olivier!

looking forward to your next build

cheers

 

Edited by antonio argudo
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Olivier,

Absolutely brilliant research and modelling. 

The posting of this build along with the research was just fantastic.

Thank you for taking the time to post along with all the folks that provided

the additional research. One of the best efforts of modelers assisting modelers I have had the

privilege of seeing. Coupled with the execution of the build it could not be better.

Lastly, a few more pics of your effort as completed would be great if you have the chance.

 

All the Best!

Don

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A great and impressive model ,dear Olivier ! It´s also a small monument that shows us of the insanity of war . Each swastica reminds of the death of a young pilot and it doesn´t matter if he was a committed Nazi , a deluded fanatic or just a young man who wanted to defend his home county . And of course many American , British , French  and boys from other nations died as pilots  as well in this terrible war . 

We should just bow our heads and do our best that our civilized nations will never fight against each other again .    Hannes

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I hope you will post more pictures here soon Olivier, in case there is anyone looking at this who did not follow your build. Your attention to detail and perseverance was truly inspiring and I learned a few new tricks from you.

Looking forward to your next build.

 

Best wishes

 

John

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Thanks a lot chaps for your kind comments!

Of course, I will add photos, I just had not the time to do it this morning. I also have to complete my post. I am actually at pro work and I will do that as soon as possible...

 

Cheers

 

Olivier

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More photos: 

 

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N.B: my son noticed that one of my svastikas awards has disappeared. It had ever disappeared (the best followers of the thread probably remember that) and I could replace it.

That's what I will have to do and it should be the final touch to my build. I will redo a photo tomorrow after the correction...

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It's a very beautiful build you have done, Olivier! It simply looks amazing! Very nice attention to detail, and beautiful pics! :)

 

Håkan

 

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9 hours ago, Hannes said:

A great and impressive model ,dear Olivier ! It´s also a small monument that shows us of the insanity of war . Each swastica reminds of the death of a young pilot and it doesn´t matter if he was a committed Nazi , a deluded fanatic or just a young man who wanted to defend his home county . And of course many American , British , French  and boys from other nations died as pilots  as well in this terrible war . 

We should just bow our heads and do our best that our civilized nations will never fight against each other again .    Hannes

Dear Hannes, thanks a lot for these wise words, and for the way you take a necessary step-back...

 

many greetings

 

Olivier

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I have added the missing award (adding a tiny drop of Micro Metal AF on my award to avoid a new accident) and these photos should be the last ones (at least for now) of my build. I took advantage of that correction to take a picture in nearly the same view angle than one of our rare and best docs showing the Missouri Armada:

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P.S: my decision about my next build is not totally sure, I dream to build another Mustang, but a car, this time... An old and perennially fashionable convertible of about 1964... Do you see what I mean?

Incredibly, as far as I know, the convertible doesn't exist in kit, but I could try to change the coupé in a convertible. The parents of a good friend, very lucky, have this amazing car. I could ask them some help... Mmmh, here is a very tempting prospect and challenge !

 

Cheers

 

P.S: Thanks a lot for your kind comment, Quang, it was a great pleasure for me to share that with you too and I learned a lot too, much more than what I could imagine. And thanks for your contribution!

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"100 fois sur le métier remettez votre ouvrage"... I thought my build was over but Antonio noticed with right (he delicately told me that by PM) that the canopy position was wrong. Indeed, it should fall on the fuselage instead of going straight like it does on my build, what is confirmed by the many docs we have canopy opened, like this one, fe:

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I have used the Cyberbond cyano Remover and will wait at least 1 hour before trying gently to remove the canopy and improve that. It is a major advantage of the cyano compared with the polystyren cement, this possibility to unglue the parts with the Remover...

Definitely, Antonio will have played perfectly the role of prickle, as Hannes did for my Fiat 806 build, pushing me to go as close as possible from truth. Thanks for that, Antonio!

So, more soon...

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Waiting for this correction, here is the car I would like to build from the Revell Coupé 1/24 kit:

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These are personal photos I made in the summer, 2016, during the Défilé d'élégances automobiles at the Valescure St Raphaël golf...

I love this car, especially with this red body and cream color of the leather seats... And you? 

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I have redone the photos after the last correction on the canopy position:

 

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In a post of the thread (I don't remember where), I explained that, imho, 2 satin finish surfaces facing together could create a gloss aspect. This "theory" seems to be confirmed here:

 

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