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P-51 Mustang - Tamiya 1/48


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7 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

I agree on the cockpit, it looks better now that you’ve taken the shine off the Eduard placards, but have you forgotten the yellow flap lever which sticks out behind the port console?

 

John

Hi John - it would seem that I have - is there an image you could direct me to that shows that?

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Thanks for the kind words guys. Glad you’re enjoying the build so far. 
 

On 10/22/2019 at 12:54 AM, Biggles87 said:

That’s the one, it’ll be pretty small in 1/48. I’ve use fuse wire with a blob of PVA in the past, good luck.

 

John

Thanks for that John - I used some copper wire with a blob of crystal clear to make it - painted it and installed it.

 

vPJTIQS.jpg

 

A nice little bit of extra detail - thanks for the suggestion 😀
 

With that,  I was finally able to close off the fuselage. 
 

xrQTNKo.jpg

 

I had done lots of dry fits so there was wasn’t any issues. Everything fit very nicely together and aligned correctly. So far, this is a very nice kit. 
 

dOZMX9i.jpg

 

You can just about see the flaps lever buried in the cockpit:) 

 

I did a little sanding and filling / using Tamiya white putty and sanding it off after a few hours dry time.

 

OkBJ9Ay.jpg

vir2qAj.jpg

 

This is just a first pass - some primer will show any issues. 
 

Turning now to the other area I wanted to modify - the wheel bays - the kit provides a fairly good but simplified version typical of most kits - the real version looks like this:

 

cBuKS2W.jpg

 

This is a modern refurbished example but provides an idea of how crowded this area actually was. I’m not intending on replicating this exactly but I wanted to acknowledge it with some additional details. So some copper wire and CA glue - 

 

JKxuPEJ.jpg

NKFYENX.jpg

 

This is still a work in progress and is only part of the wheel bay - but I think I can busy things up a little. It’s pretty tedious work but I’m sure it will look nice when its all painted up. 
 

The eduard pe provides wall over lays for the wheelbay and should cover the seams between the 2 sections nicely. 
 

To be continued... 

 

Cheers

 

John

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On 18/10/2019 at 07:38, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

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 

That sounds like a great idea, but wouldn't they be stiff and difficult to work with if you need to bend them?

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4 hours ago, Eivind Lunde said:

That sounds like a great idea, but wouldn't they be stiff and difficult to work with if you need to bend them?

Ive annealed them to be malleable in the past. If you aren't familiar with annealing its simple. Just heat up the string for a few minutes in a candle or lighter and it will remove any temper or stiffness. But usually guitar strings are pretty flexible. They coil down to a circle about 3.5 inches in diameter in some of the bags they're sold in. Here is a good example. 
https://www.amazon.com/Ernie-Ball-Regular-Slinky-Nickel/dp/B0002M6CVC?th=1&psc=1

 

That bag is maybe 3.5“ or 4” by the same square. 
 

Dennis

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On 10/21/2019 at 2:34 PM, Thom216 said:

That work on the seat was well worth it.

 

On 10/22/2019 at 1:24 AM, Smithy said:

Lovely work as always John. Really enjoying watching this build ;)

 

13 hours ago, phildagreek said:

This is all looking very smart.

 

11 hours ago, mustang1989 said:

Man that pit looks purdy and I'm really liking the way you're spicing up the wheel bay with that plumbing. Very busy and very cool!! 

Thanks for the kind comments guys. 
 

11 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Ive annealed them to be malleable in the past. If you aren't familiar with annealing its simple. Just heat up the string for a few minutes in a candle or lighter and it will remove any temper or stiffness.

Great tip - thanks Dennis

 

3 hours ago, Thom216 said:

How did you do the red bands on the wires? Just paint or tape?

 

Looking great.

I use this:

 

sjEw3mo.jpg

Its for making fly fishing things I think. I slice it and put it on over the wire with tweezers - fiddley work but I'm guessing easier than using tape. 
 

I glued the engine cowlings into place:

 

IsUoSn0.jpg

 

I did a bit of work removing the seam right in front of the canopy- I think it’s there but primer will tell. I rescribed a sanded out panel line and put in a couple of missing rivets. I just did this to have a wee break from wire work! 
 

Speaking of which... the rest of the wire work was completed. I then glued the wing halves together which was the only way to install the pe side walls. The kit has you gluing the wing under section into place first. But a dry test told me I could do it this way also. 

 

zcCrQ4x.jpg

JDMU6iF.jpg

 

I installed the pe bay wheel walls - most of which went in nicely / however the front sections were tricky as hell - trying to get the bends in the right places. Then when I was putting one in, the Super glue dried super fast with the piece in the wrong place. I had to rip it apart removing it. I managed to bend the bits back into joint and finally got them in. 
 

xqf302u.jpg

 

I was pretty happy with the only wire work - I then started thinking about paint and masking. I thought about using the kit wheel covers - in my experience however, these rarely fit. 
 

RJw7zXm.jpg

 

They fit perfectly😀 Thats great news as it means I can paint and weather these with the rest of the model - and it saves me a masking job. 
 

That’s it for now - another update when I get this painted. 
 

Thanks for checking in!

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

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Hey folks - I've been off work this week with with Strep throat - so haven't been feeling very well - I have been working on this intermittently - before headaches and nausea force me to stop - I am on the mend however, so hopefully can start making some proper progress again soon... 

 

I painted the wheel bays - first with a coat of tamiya XF1 - flat black, followed with a couple of coats of XF4 to simulate zinc chromate: 

 

AUeqK3x.jpg

 

5gAgeY2.jpg

 

I then painted in some details with Mr Hobby Silver 8... 

 

lXQHECS.jpg

 

Then some more detailing with Vellejo black and Citadel white: 

 

AMWdaPI.jpg

 

AMWdaPI.jpg

 

This then got a gloss clear coat in preparation for the washes. When this was dry I used a some Mig Shaft wash to dirty things up. 

 

zC2GEH0.jpg

 

So I'm happy enough with this - not as nice as the resin replacement available from Eduard but certainly better than the sparse kit version. I'll use the kit wheel covers to mask this and can then start putting the model together. 

 

I also did a wee bit of work on the canopy frame - attached some PE and drilled holes through the support: 

 

i1y0X2L.jpg

 

That's it for now - thanks for checking in... 

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Thom216 said:

Midge tubing! Thank you, it's cool how many odd places we can find supplies to suit our needs.

 

Those gear bays look great as a result!

Thanks Thom - I stole the idea from Wil Pattinson - he did a very in-depth video on how he detailed his 1/35 spitfire engine... 

 

 

Its long - but there are quite a few nuggets in there! 

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Hi all - hope you’re having a lovely weekend... I’ve been progressing this slowly but surely...

 

After all of the detail work it was nice to finally glue some big bits on...

 

Ox29gcE.jpg

 

Wings and tail stabilizers went on - without much fuss - fit was pretty good.  Tiny tiny gap at the wing root but nothing worth getting my knickers in twist about. 
 

I had a decision to make over the radiator flap - the kit version was fine but I had a PE version to consider. 
 

uxozoaw.jpg

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The pe was tricky enough to bend correctly and then super glue together. It had some gaps but I reckoned I fill them with some more CA glue. Although  it would have been easier to just use the plastic, I thought the pe would just look nicer so I installed it into the fuselage. 
 

r6p9XB9.jpg

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I addressed the wing roots with some perfect plastic putty.

 

9Njt7b5.jpg

 

And then wiped clean with some wet cotton buds...

 

YtVYwuU.jpg

 

The other issue I needed to sort out was the very visible seam line on the out flow on the underside - it’s in a difficult spot where there’s no easy way to sand it - so I thought covering it up might be a better option. I cut a bit of plasticard and sanded it down to reduce the thickness as much as possible. Then glued it in place. 
 

p73jrty.jpg

 

That was then sanded back to blend it in...

 

4QCN06s.jpg

 

I’m hoping that does the job - we’ll see when I get the primer down. 
 

The front canopy wasn’t an amazing fit - the sprue gates are on the side that snugs into the dashboard so some very careful sanding is required. You can probably see from the photo that there is some minute gapage there. 
 

tDutmZo.jpg


I decided to glue it in and put some perfect plastic putty to cover the gaps.

 

The rear canopy went together okay - the glass was glued to the plastic with crystal clear - I masked off both sections - the front was glued into place with tamiya extra thin - I glued the rear section in with pva which should make it easy to remove later. 
 

GYUpNC3.jpg

 

When using the canopy to mask the cockpit I’ve found that it pays to make sure the seal is absolutely airtight - so I spent a good deal of time doing that. I ended up using pva on all the joins which seemed to do the job. Once I was happy no stray paint was going to make its way where it shouldn’t, I put down the interior colour.

 

xlv3Z9e.jpg

 

So she’s just about ready for some primer. It’s great to hit another mile stone and she’s beginning to look like a mustang. 
 

Thanks for checking in... 

 

Cheers

 

John

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Hi all - it's time for primer and paint... 

 

I mixed up my usual mix of Mr Surfacer 1500 black with Mr Leveling thinner 50/50 and sprayed that on in a couple of coats - one light, the next wet... 

 

P3OVn3t.jpg

 

This doesn't take long to dry - about 20 minutes - after which I started sanding it smooth using fairly high grit sanding sponges. I wanted to see if I could get any smoother so I tried using some polishing compound: 

 

SXvmwM9.jpg

 

I've used this before on canopies so wanted to see what effect it would have on the primer. 

 

1ZE4htD.jpg

 

It definitely made things smoother - I was trying to get it as smooth as possible before the black gloss coat. I did have one visible ghost seam under the tail: 

 

zRTpTQ0.jpg

 

I applied some putty to this and sanded it out. The black gloss coat went on next. 

 

pSjddLF.jpg

 

I used Mr Color GX2 which is easily the best black gloss I've tried so far. You spray it on pretty heavy but it levels out very nicely - this was probably my best result yet - however I've since learned that alot of people don't bother with the primer when using this stuff, as it acts like a pretty good primer on it's own - so I'll try this next time - I suspect that the finish might have been even better sprayed directly onto the plastic. 

 

There were some issues that I just noticed at this point - nothing crazy, just some rough scratches I hadn't noticed before - I was able to spot repair these by sanding them out and re-applying the GX2 to those spots. It blends in very nicely. However my ghost seam was still there - I tried a number of times to repair this but it kept re appearing. At this point the plastic had almost been sanded through and it was only them that I copped on that this join hadn't been glued properly - so no wonder it wouldn't disappear. I ended up attaching some plasticard to the entire area: 

 

pOU2WvJ.jpg

 

And then sanding it down: 

 

EJkQVGB.jpg

 

It wasn't going to be perfect but better than before. This was painted and I was just about ready for paint. 

 

E3ub61q.jpg

 

The base colour I was using for this was Alclad Airframe Aluminium - this was sprayed on in about 3 light coats: 

 

NMVVwG1.jpg

 

Xknk6ZI.jpg

 

pZ8sVgh.jpg

 

I left this over night and then did a little post shading the next morning: 

9WBr5IS.jpg

 

I wanted the gun covers to be reasonably dirty as these are panels that get handled fairly often - so masked these off and sprayed some Alclad steel around the panel edges. 

 

vtB05kh.jpg

 

I then went and did a few touch ups with the base colour around the model where the paint was a little uneven - this worked as a post shading layer as well - because the paint is quite translucent, it settles differently to the base coats. I tried using this to my advantage, creating slight variations in the finish. You might be able to see this on the photo above. It's subtle but it's there. 

 

xQrA2rz.jpg

 

So rather than continuing with the painting, I'm going to put a clear coat on this - Although the paint is reasonably robust, it still very easy to create blemishes and scratches just handling it - the clear coat will protect the base layer so at least that's safe. 

 

That's it for now - more updates soon... :)

 

Cheers

 

John

 

 

 

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Black gloss looks lovely John, i might have to give the gx2 a go as I've found the alclad gloss a bit of a battle in the past. Have you ever tried buffing with a dremel or some such - this is on my list of things to try with the next nmf? Cheers,  Sam

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1 hour ago, SaminCam said:

Black gloss looks lovely John, i might have to give the gx2 a go as I've found the alclad gloss a bit of a battle in the past. Have you ever tried buffing with a dremel or some such - this is on my list of things to try with the next nmf? Cheers,  Sam

Thanks Sam - same - I had awful problems using alclad black gloss base and had to strip the model down on a couple of occasions. No such worries with this stuff. One thing I forgot to mention was after putting down the last coat, I fill the airbrush with mr leveling thinner, mixing it with whatever’s left in the cup and spray a coat of that over the still drying gx2. This helps it level out and really gives it a shine. I’ve never used a Dremel on a model before - I’m thinking about getting one but don’t really know what I’m looking for. If anyone has suggestions - especially for this part of the world I’d appreciate it!

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Great work on the paint, I see you've bested those horrible gaps in the radiator duct as well 😄

 

I love watching a NMF come together.

 

In terms of black gloss base, I've always used Tamiya X-1, thin it 1:1 with X20A. Start by spraying down a thin mist coat (onto primer). Then once that's had a few seconds to dry off hit it with a nice heavy coat. It'll lay down smoother and level off without pooling or running because it sticks to the misted paint.

Be sure to spray off the model before coming back for another pass so you don't over-saturate the edges (did this even make sense?)

 

The other challenge is to keep bits of dust off it during spraying and drying, but good luck with turning off gravity 😜

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3 hours ago, Smithy said:

Really looking brilliant John!

Thanks Smithy! 
 

2 hours ago, Squibby said:

 

Great work on the paint, I see you've bested those horrible gaps in the radiator duct as well 😄

 

I love watching a NMF come together.

 

Thanks Squibby! I’m a huge admirer of your work so I’m very pleased you approve 😊 As I’m sure you’ve seen, I’ve stolen your ideas - sorry, was inspired by your ideas on your p-51 - I only found your thread after I’d finished the cockpit but my work on the wheel bays was very much a poor imitation of what you did.

 

I was very happy to see your recent return to your mustang - discovering that you had a wee one to look after certainly explained the abrupt cessation:) (congratulations on that btw) it looks like we’re taking different directions on the external paint - ie paint type - but I’m pretty sure my efforts will pale in comparison to yours! Looking forward to seeing your build progress - I’m sure I’ll be drooling all the way😛

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