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P-51 Mustang - Tamiya 1/48


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Hello folks - now this:

 

UkF6OyD.jpg

 

With all the buzz about that new P51 kit from eduard, I thought I’d pop this one from the stash and get this oldie but still a goodie made. After my last 2 builds being nmf, I thought I’d do one more - hopefully using the lessons learned and expanding my alclad chops a little further. Also going a scale bigger to 1/48 - more plastic making more fun I hope. It will be nice doing a larger model after so many 1/72s - detailing those smaller models can be hard on the eyes..! 
 

(Maybe there’s a part of me that wants this built so I can justify buying the eduard one😀!!! )
 

In spite of its age, this looks like a pretty sweet kit. I’ve got some aftermarket:

 

PFIlFIS.jpg

 

A big sheet of pe, including interior, precut masks and some resin wheels - all from eduard. I’m planning on doing petie 2nd - the scheme from the box art:

 

B2zgQ0E.jpg

 

I’m a sucker for nmf and blue schemes so this suits me fine. This image will be my primary source - as you can see she’s a well weathered beast with lots of nice tonal variations on the blue nose and airframe- I’ll be looking to recreate that😊. I understand that this plane survived the war and still flys today - on her 3rd engine:) But mine will be a portrayal of her dirty grimy wartime years. Of course this means using the dreaded Tamiya decals - I did shop around for some aftermarket ones but the good ones all seem to be sold out - maybe because of that aforementioned kit release. 
 

Into the build!

 

 

First job was sticking some pe onto the pilots seat:

 

tc87vbg.jpg

 

I went about adding some details to the radio boxes at the rear of the cockpit.

 

LQGqCDt.jpg

Wkml4fw.jpg

 

I drilled some holes for the wires and glued them in - used different gauges of copper wire. I looked at a few references for the placement of these - which pointed out some big inaccuracies in the kit but not to worry. 
 

I made an oxygen line by wrapping some small wire around big wire...

 

YVk2t82.jpg

 

First time I’ve tried this and it came out okay I think. 

 

I attached some more pe to the side walls:

 

WHvGAXF.jpg

 

That green is what eduard thinks is correct for usaf interior green. Maybe sometimes it was that colour but I’ll be using a different shade so this is getting painted over. The hose was installed - I used some crystal clear to create the plugs for this - not very successful but it will do...

 

toxLM8n.jpg

 

I had already primed the surface with some Tamiya fine so I was now ready for some paint. 
 

X7qTgI3.jpg

 

I mixed up some tamiya flat green and flat yellow - also some interior green and some Olive drab to get this shade - Then lightened it with more yellow to do some highlights. 
 

jsmKmvI.jpg

 

I used a lighter shade on the seat bulkhead as some references showed that this was a lighter shade of green. The black head rest area was painted with Tamiya rubber black - then dry brushed with a light grey colour. 
 

9MOoGGv.jpg

 

The back section was also painted with rubber black and dry brushed in the same fashion - I also hand painted the frame with the same interior green color as before. The floor of the cockpit was painted using different shades of brown and rust colours from Vallejo model colour - more of a nod to wood grain as opposed a full wood grain finish. This will be covered with chipping medium and then a dark grey to simulate the rubber floor. 

 

Some details on the radio boxes where painted..

 

s6T9Afc.jpg

 

And lastly a quick dry fit to see how I’m going:

 

IC8rB16.jpg

LRbbfPn.jpg

 

So that’s it for the first few hours work 😎 With the bigger scale I have to get used to a slower pace but I’m very much enjoying it so far. 
 

I’d be keen to hear from anyone who’s built this to see if there’s any issues to be aware of - but from what I can gather it’s supposed to be more or less hassle free. 
 

More to follow soon. Thanks for checking in. 
 

Cheers

 

John

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Hi John "Kitchen Modeler"!

Will follow your build with great interest as I am planning to do the new Eduard kit as Petie 2nd, using Super Scale sheet 48-591. Is that one of the good ones or does it have some issues? From the photo you posted I learnt that the grille is NM, and the name looks like it is some color, while SS renders it in white..

Richard

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1 hour ago, Biggles87 said:

Great start.

The last one I built was about 20 years ago, and I don’t remember having any major problems with it. 

 

John

Thanks John 👍

 

44 minutes ago, Richard502 said:

Hi John "Kitchen Modeler"!

Will follow your build with great interest as I am planning to do the new Eduard kit as Petie 2nd, using Super Scale sheet 48-591. Is that one of the good ones or does it have some issues? From the photo you posted I learnt that the grille is NM, and the name looks like it is some color, while SS renders it in white..

Richard

Hi Richard 😀 I’ve never used super scale decals but I’m sure they’re fine. Most after market decals are pretty good in my own experience.  Re the photo - petie 2nd had at least 2 iterations, one with invasion stripes and one without - each slightly different - the decal sheet I have also has the name in white but I’m taking license here - I’ll post up the other photos I have on the next update, so you can compare.  
 

Also I’m super jealous that you have the new eduard kit! Waiting for someone to do wip on here so I can properly drool. Hint hint. 😃

 

44 minutes ago, Prop Duster said:

Great start on classic of the more modern era😁

Thanks Prop Duster!

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15 hours ago, Kev The Modeller said:

Love the P51 especially in BNB of Bodney livery :clap: 

 

14 hours ago, Red Dog said:

Great start Kitchen Modeller.

Nice colourful scheme, love it.

 

Thanks guys - this scheme is quite popular and no wonder - blue on metallic silver - forget about it:) 

 

12 hours ago, Christer A said:

Nice and tidy cockpit there KM!

The chipping in the seat turned out real good.

Thanks Christer:) As you know, the cockpit on P51's is quite big and open so well worth the time to spruce it up as much as possible I think - Chipping on the seat was all dry brushing and painted on chips - it's okay - I meant to hair spray it but forgot - most of the dodgy chipping will be covered by the seatbelts so I'm not too bothered :)

 

11 hours ago, Thom216 said:

Great start on this kit. I may buy one of these when I go to the next model show this weekend.

Do it Thom - get that Mustang :) you won't regret it - I promise :) 

 

I have a wee update on work I did last night - just continuing with the cockpit. 

 

I did some detailing on the cockpit walls: 

 

a590zwE.jpg

 

I used a mix of some PE and the kit details - the PE contrasted quite starkly with the kit details so I painted the PE to try and blend it in a little more - honestly however, seeing it installed, I think next time I'll just use the kit detail and forego the PE completely - The PE is basically flat with painted on details - I think if I'd just used the kit details, it would have ended up being nicer - so one to learn from. The components where all painted with vallejo model colour - blends of black and different greys - I painted on some labels with a fine detail brush. Still more work to do on these but it's looking okay so far. 

 

MEGVhzU.jpg

 

I carried out the weathering on the cockpit floor using vellejo chipping medium - I neglected to clear coat the wood finish, which came back to sting me - as when I started the chipping process, some of the brown started coming away as well - so ended up doing 3 layer chipping - you can see some of the interior green - thankfully this only happened near the top, which will be covered by the pilots seat - so no biggie. 

 

7pco7Ve.jpg

 

I put the instrument panel together which looks quite nice I think - The kit version looked pretty good too so I wouldn't say this is a must have for the kit - but the PE version will do nicely. I painted the head rest also with vellejo red leather mixed with some brown. I'll add some shading to this later. The seat got some shading with some oils - greens and yellows though you can hardly see this in the photo - I'll add some more layers later too. 

 

tuvhcY0.jpg

 

The oil cooler and radiator got some PE grills glued into place - these will be painted aluminium - I'm wondering should I paint the intake corridors aluminum too? The kit instructions are not clear on this so some suggestions would be appreciated! 

 

So another dry fit: 

 

bX8Dwpe.jpg

YtlJl3Z.jpg

 

So it's coming along - I have a few more details to add and paint and I'll probably do some oil paint shading here and there, just add some more texture - not sure if it needs a wash per say - I'll leave this till last and make a call then. 

 

Thanks for dropping by... :)

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

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On 10/15/2019 at 12:01 AM, Richard502 said:

Hi John "Kitchen Modeler"!

Will follow your build with great interest as I am planning to do the new Eduard kit as Petie 2nd, using Super Scale sheet 48-591. Is that one of the good ones or does it have some issues? From the photo you posted I learnt that the grille is NM, and the name looks like it is some color, while SS renders it in white..

Richard

Hello Richard Ive been using Super scale since the early 90’s. And Micro-scale since the mid 80’s they're both good companies and I've actually used the sheet you have. Albeit in the early 90’s again. Unfortunately that plane has gone onto the recycling heap in the sky during a house move 15 years ago. Best advice is to use warm water and good setting solutions will get them taken care of. 
 

Dennis

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Just caught up with this John and am enjoying watching your quality work. Despite my best efforts I have never been able to replicate oxygen hoses using that method as well as you have so kudos to you!

 

One thing, if I may. The back rest on the seat was separable and acted as a flotation device. It would not have been painted in the same colour as the cockpit but. if I recall, would have been a light khaki colour. Some make it yellow but that could be a modern day incarnation methinks. Check out the thread about "Missouri Armada" for a discussion on this and also for the myriad excellent reference details.

 

Andy

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4 hours ago, Crimea River said:

Despite my best efforts I have never been able to replicate oxygen hoses using that method

Hi Andy - What I did was super glue the end of the light wire at a right angle to the end of the bigger wire and let it dry - it was then easy to get the wrap going - then a wee blob of glue at the other end to secure it - not sure if this is of any help. 

 

4 hours ago, Crimea River said:

The back rest on the seat was separable and acted as a flotation device. It would not have been painted in the same colour as the cockpit but. if I recall, would have been a light khaki colour.

Your timing is funny on this as I had just cottoned on to this myself - I think what threw me was the tamiya moulding of said floatation device - it looked simply like it was part of the seat. After looking at alot of reference photos I realised what this was actually supposed to be - so I decided to strip back what I'd done and make some adjustments: 

 

0Ebisbi.jpg

 

I removed most of the paint - and then took my hobby knife to the thing to try and make it look more like it's supposed to - I just gauged out little strips and made alot of scratches - this was surprisingly easy and I was pretty happy with the result. When I was done, I coated the whole section with tamiya thin to clean it and melt off the the hard edges.  

 

This also gives me the opportunity to do some hairspray technique on the seat as I meant to first time round. I'll probably paint the cushion a light khaki colour as you suggested - I have been unable to find any direct sources for this so any guidance here would be helpful. 

 

More to follow soon! 

 

Cheers

 

John

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Hi John. Glad we caught it in time.

 

Here's a good reference with discussion on the cushion https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235029538-missouri-armada-p-51d-mustang-documents-and-partial-scratch-from-the-tamiya-148-kit/page/5/&tab=comments#comment-2891643

 

Be forewarned though, once you get into this thread, you may not come out!

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15 hours ago, Crimea River said:

Despite my best efforts I have never been able to replicate oxygen hoses using that method

Neither have i thats why i used to use guitar strings. They're metal wire wrapped around another wire from the factory. If you know anyone thats got an electric and changes the strings grab them from them. They come in multiple diameters and are about a meter long. Should be enough to last you for years. Just use really good wire snips to get a clean cut. They're also good for compressed coil springs. 
 

Dennis 

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Exactly what I have done in the past Dennis, though I did manage to get a passable hose using John's technique for my current Mosquito build. Not as nice as John's though.

 

Andy

Edited by Crimea River
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On 16/10/2019 at 04:29, Kitchen Modeller said:

 

Thanks guys - this scheme is quite popular and no wonder - blue on metallic silver - forget about it:) 

 

Thanks Christer:) As you know, the cockpit on P51's is quite big and open so well worth the time to spruce it up as much as possible I think - Chipping on the seat was all dry brushing and painted on chips - it's okay - I meant to hair spray it but forgot - most of the dodgy chipping will be covered by the seatbelts so I'm not too bothered :)

 

Do it Thom - get that Mustang :) you won't regret it - I promise :) 

 

I have a wee update on work I did last night - just continuing with the cockpit. 

 

I did some detailing on the cockpit walls: 

 

a590zwE.jpg

 

I used a mix of some PE and the kit details - the PE contrasted quite starkly with the kit details so I painted the PE to try and blend it in a little more - honestly however, seeing it installed, I think next time I'll just use the kit detail and forego the PE completely - The PE is basically flat with painted on details - I think if I'd just used the kit details, it would have ended up being nicer - so one to learn from. The components where all painted with vallejo model colour - blends of black and different greys - I painted on some labels with a fine detail brush. Still more work to do on these but it's looking okay so far. 

 

MEGVhzU.jpg

 

I carried out the weathering on the cockpit floor using vellejo chipping medium - I neglected to clear coat the wood finish, which came back to sting me - as when I started the chipping process, some of the brown started coming away as well - so ended up doing 3 layer chipping - you can see some of the interior green - thankfully this only happened near the top, which will be covered by the pilots seat - so no biggie. 

 

7pco7Ve.jpg

 

I put the instrument panel together which looks quite nice I think - The kit version looked pretty good too so I wouldn't say this is a must have for the kit - but the PE version will do nicely. I painted the head rest also with vellejo red leather mixed with some brown. I'll add some shading to this later. The seat got some shading with some oils - greens and yellows though you can hardly see this in the photo - I'll add some more layers later too. 

 

tuvhcY0.jpg

 

The oil cooler and radiator got some PE grills glued into place - these will be painted aluminium - I'm wondering should I paint the intake corridors aluminum too? The kit instructions are not clear on this so some suggestions would be appreciated! 

 

So another dry fit: 

 

bX8Dwpe.jpg

YtlJl3Z.jpg

 

So it's coming along - I have a few more details to add and paint and I'll probably do some oil paint shading here and there, just add some more texture - not sure if it needs a wash per say - I'll leave this till last and make a call then. 

 

Thanks for dropping by... :)

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

 

That cockpit floor is excellent

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19 hours ago, Crimea River said:

Be forewarned though, once you get into this thread, you may not come out!

Thanks Andy - I actually did find that one earlier this week - and must say, this prompted me to take action on my seat - this and Sqibbley's excellent build (which he doesn't seem to have finished unfortunately) I have no where near the same amount of talent as these 2 who make my efforts look pretty childish in comparison - but I'm here to have some fun and I've certainly learned alot already. 

 

18 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Neither have i thats why i used to use guitar strings.

This was my plan initially for this but I lost my strings in a recent house move - so I thought I'd give the wire a crack to see if I could do it - a guitar string would have worked better I suspect. 

 

5 hours ago, Paulaero said:

That cockpit floor is excellent

Thanks Paul :) I'm planning on putting some light dustings of pigments down but otherwise it's more or less done. 

 

I have made a little more progress... 

 

tveWS6a.jpg

 

The seat was repainted - this time utilizing the hairspray method - painted in Mr Hobby Silver 8 - some vellejo chipping medium - then my interior green mix - chipping done with a paintbrush and a tooth pick. I'm much happier with this compared to my earlier brush chipping efforts - this looks alot more convincing to me. 

 

I then went about painting the seat cushion - going for a brown / khaki colour... 

 

v80Y7uE.jpg

 

I tried to build up the colours in layers - dappling on washes to tone things down when the contrast got to extreme.

 

Wb4hFVK.jpg

 

I'm still find my way regarding brush painting like this - so I'm not overly happy with this result but it's the best I could do with my current skill set. 

 

Once that was done I reattached the side bars... 

 

RGtv0pY.jpg

 

I also did some more detailing on the side walls - 

 

Xtnacjr.jpg

 

Painted in some details - I also added a scratch built throttle control with some plasticard and stretched sprue. 

 

Other parts of the cockpit got some labels and some touch ups here and there... 

 

HUwkP3j.jpg

 

Gl6K3ZT.jpg

 

I'm going put down a matt clear coat over all of this and then do some weathering with oils - after which, I think I'll be close to getting this cockpit closed up... 

 

To be continued... 

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

 

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Hi folks / hope you’re having a fine weekend and getting some bench time - I got a little, between family time and sorting out house stuff so I can’t complain.

 

Got the seat finished:

 

pAnKBsR.jpg

 

Did some weathering / shading with some oil paint - added the seatbelts and gave the lot a wash with Tamiya panel line brown. A little part came off one of the straps - see the brown patch in the photo - first time this has happened. So I’ll try and touch that up at some point.
 

I installed the ip, seat and control column at this point - doing some dry fitting with the fuselage to make sure everything was in the correct position. 
 

wdvK5Rh.jpg

 

I did some more of the oil paint weathering else where in the cockpit: 

 

OcHSnNd.jpg

 

Nothing crazy, just added some layers of variation to areas that were looking a little undercooked or flat - including the seat cushion and head rest. 
 

dG0fYkJ.jpg

 

XS0NtYE.jpg

 

hQqo9jK.jpg

 

TNQpNm1.jpg


So just about there - a couple of wee jobs and I can close up the fuselage. This is easily the most time I’ve put into a cockpit so far and I’m happy I did. Still lots I could have done better though -  lots of lessons learned so hopefully the next one will be better.  

Thanks for looking in! 
 

Cheers

 

John

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This looks great!!! I've got a 1/48 scale Tamiya Mustang in the stash and have heard nothing but good stuff out of these kits.  I haven't built me an American bird in a while but if I did then it would be one of these kits. 

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