P-51 Mustang - Tamiya 1/48

[Kitchen Modeller]

On 11/8/2019 at 1:52 AM, James G said:

Super work! NMF looks great.

Thanks James

 

On 11/8/2019 at 4:57 AM, Biggles87 said:

This is giving me an irresistable urge to start a Mustang, good job there's a GB coming up next month.

 

John

P-51's seem to be very popular builds at the moment - and why not, with it being such a beautiful airplane  Are you going to do this kit? 

 

On 11/8/2019 at 6:51 AM, shortCummins said:

very nice blue and weathering, looking really good

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

Thanks John

 

On 11/9/2019 at 12:38 PM, opus999 said:

Your blue turned out beautifully!  I have a "blue nose" in the stash and I've often thought the darker blues that have been called out in the instructions just don't look right to me -- this seems spot-on.  I will likely book mark this to shamelessly plagiarize in the future!  

 

Also, the sludge wash on the wings is very effective!  It really looks realistic.  Very nicely done.  Can't wait to see the finished product!

Thanks Opus!

[Kitchen Modeller]

Moving on little by little... 

 

After leaving the model alone for a couple of nights to allow the oils to dry a little more, I masked off the fuselage and put a matt coat on the nose - I used tamiya XF-86 - flat clear, thinned with X20A. I have some if this pre thinned sitting in a jar on my bench so went with this purely out of laziness. I would normally use some testors dullcoat from a rattle can but I have to decant some more and I couldn't be bothered so tamiya it was.  It did a nice job in any case. 

 

 

Some of my chipping from earlier has disappeared so I might go back over those again later - but otherwise, I'm pretty happy with this as is - the colours and washes have blended nicely. 

 

Next on the list was sorting out the exhaust stacks - while looking around for references, I came across this image: 

 

 

Isn't it gorgeous? Obviously this is from a modern refurbished Mustang but what's not to love there? This would be a challenge to recreate at this scale but I thought I'd give it a crack.  

 

The exhaust on this kit is odd in that it's moulded into a part of the cowling - so I painted this the base colour first - then I attempted to drill out some holes. 

 

 

Sorry for the crappy photo. I then masked off the blue sections and sprayed Alclad aluminium as a base boat - then alclad exhaust manifold over that... 

 

 

 

They were installed at this point - I then applied some thinned down Vallejo Rust colour in places - just dabbing it on...  I'll weather them further when I go to finish weathering on the fuselage. 

 

I did some touch ups on the canopy - 

 

 

The canopies came out okay after taking the masks off - there was a little stray paint in the corner of the main windscreen but I was able to remove this easily by scratching at it with a toothpick. I did a few touch ups with silver paint where the aluminum was uneven and tidied up some of the blue. 

 

 

The rear canopy was a little messier - The way the kit is designed, the canopy is glued directly to the plastic part - so you can see the where they attach through the glass. I tried painting the base part of the glass but that seemed to make things worse. Not sure how to proceed with this so I'll leave it for the moment. I polished up the canopy with tamiya polishing compound so at least its nice and shiny. 

 

Next up, I'm going to weather the fuselage - it will be quite light as I want it to retain a decent amount of difference to the wings - so it will be more staining specific sections rather than the whole thing. 

 

One more thing - Looking at the antennae wires - I can't find any examples of this plane with wire antennae's - I know quite alot of them didn't use them so I'm inclined not to put them in - would love to hear your thoughts...!

 

Cheers

 

John

[Squibby]

Looking good,

 

I think a lot of the newer ones had VHF radios, so didn't need the long antenna. It may have been inside the dorsal 'fin'. Given your plane has no invasion stripes of any kind I'd wager it probably flew later in the war.

I'm no expert on this though, so maybe someone more knowledgeable can weigh in?

Edited November 10, 2019 by Squibby

[shortCummins]

if you can't find any reference photos with antenna wire then it would be perfectly reasonable to omit it however I think it would add a little bit more interest so if it was me I'd add one, either way I'm sure she'll look good

I'm not sure that's helped 😳

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

[Andrés S.]

Hi

I've been disconnected from aviation jobs for a while now. Error. That has prevented me from seeing the great work you are doing with this Mustang. I liked the work done in the cockpit, in the application of metallic paint, and in the landing gear wells. Put the treatment you have given to the blue of the engine hood I love it.
Very very well done !!

 

Regards.

 

Andrés.

[phildagreek]

That looks fantastic!

[SaminCam]

She's stunning John, you must be really chuffed with that! Great "how-to" on alclad nmf as well. What's planned next?!?

Edited November 10, 2019 by SaminCam
Typo

[Kitchen Modeller]

15 hours ago, Squibby said:

I think a lot of the newer ones had VHF radios, so didn't need the long antenna.

This scheme is from 1945 as far as I know, so it makes sense that it would have been equipped with VHF - the only reason I asked the question is because of the cover art:) Hardly a reliable source I know... 

 

14 hours ago, shortCummins said:

I think it would add a little bit more interest so if it was me I'd add one,

Another reason I'm reluctant, is adding one would involve drilling a hole in the canopy. Am I too scared to do that? Well yes... yes I am. 

 

8 hours ago, Andrés S. said:

Hi

I've been disconnected from aviation jobs for a while now. Error. That has prevented me from seeing the great work you are doing with this Mustang. I liked the work done in the cockpit, in the application of metallic paint, and in the landing gear wells. Put the treatment you have given to the blue of the engine hood I love it.
Very very well done !!

 

Regards.

 

Andrés.

Thanks Andres - glad to have you along

 

7 hours ago, phildagreek said:

That looks fantastic!

Thanks Phil

 

7 hours ago, SaminCam said:

What's planned next?!?

Not sure Sam - but I'm leaning towards a Mk5 Spit in 1/48 - I need to do something that isn't NMF

 

 

 

[greatgonzo]

It is not 1945 matter. It is ETO radio equipment standard which means VHF radios . And there is SCR522 behind the seat mounted already, so there is nothing to attach the wire antenna to. The only task left is to find out if the canopy of this bird had the hole for the wire blanked with dedicated plug. Shouldn't be difficult with such a popular aircraft.

 

[Smithy]

That's brilliant work John, boy oh boy that's nice!

[Kitchen Modeller]

Done a little more this week... I went about doing some more oil weathering - specifically, stains and dirt. 

 

My tool box for this: 

 

 

Some stains from the gun ejection ports: 

 

 

This is mid way through the process so still a little rough in this photo. 

 

Exhaust stains - I wanted to try and do these with oils as opposed my my usual airbrush method - the airbrush can give a nice result but it's touch and go - and very easy to muck it up - oils will take more time but there's lots of room for error - if I don't like it, I can just wipe it off and start again. At the first attempt, I layered up dark brown and blacks - starting with a light brown and finishing with almost a total black colour. 

 

 

After mixing the oils to get the correct colour, I load up the brush but then wipe it on a paper towel until there's just a little on there - then use a dabbing motion to apply it to the model - then blend it with a soft dry brush - then take some paint away with a brush with thinner, or use a cotton bud - then repeat this with different colours multiple times. 

 

I wasn't too displeased with this - it was certainly the effect I wanted - however, still, it wasn't quite right... 

 

On the starboard side: 

 

 

Again, not too bad but wasn't sure - It took quite a few attempts to get to this point - I think I might have wiped it clean and started again about 3-4 times. But I still wasn't 100% happy.  I showed this to a few friends and it was suggested that I go back to the reference photos... 

 

 

Apparently this is a colour photo - so it wasn't colorised - so I can take it that these colours are reasonably accurate. Looking at what I did, there were a few things wrong - it was a semi convincing effect - but the shape and colour were off... So I had a another crack. 

 

 

This is a little better - colour and shape are more in line... 

 

 

Again, I'm happier with this - these were taken just after I'd finished - and these didn't take too long to do as at this point as I got the technique down. I'll give these some time to dry and then feather the effect with a blending brush - which should tone down the hard edges. 

 

So I had fun doing that - always nice to experiment - this technique is time consuming but you get alot more control. I'll post some final photos of these effects in the next update. 

 

I've also been working away on the undercarriage - structs, wheels etc - so I don't think I'm miles away from completion. No deadlines for this so I'm taking my sweet time...! 

 

Thanks for looking in... 

 

Cheers

 

John

[Kitchen Modeller]

Nearing the end with this build - just a few bits and bobs - sorted out some bits:  

 

 

These were sprayed with Vallejo metal color aluminum- then given a wash of enamels from ak interactive- finally some further dirt added with pigments. 

 

 

These wheels are the brassin resin ones from eduard. Little wheel is from the kit. The resin wheels were nice if a little tricky to cut out and put together. I’m still learning how to do resin - they are a decent step up from the kit offering. The rims were painted with metal color aluminum- then given a wash of Tamiya panel line. Rubber is Tamiya rubber black... and again, dirtied up with pigments. 

 

 

I used oils to weather the propeller blades -another experiment that I wasn’t that happy with. I put a light Matt clear coat on in an effort to finish with a satin finish... half successful. 

 

 

 

 

I added some pe parts to the wheel struts - hardly noticeable but maybe make them

look Slightly less mundane... added a wire brake fluid line also. I painted the hydraulics with a chrome ink pen. 

 

As for the rest of the build... as ever, it’s a stop start situation- I do something. Then decide I don’t like it and do it again. Oil stains on the underside for example - tried doing these with mig engine grime which is a enamel- I’ve used this successfully in the past but this was the best I could come up with here...

 

meh. I ended up taking this off and doing it with oil paints. 
 

 

Not that much better but I decided to cut my losses and went with that. You can see I installed the undercarriage which went in without much fuss. So after a few more little touch ups she is mostly done. 
 

 

 

I really love the scheme of the bnbs - and I’m very pleased with that colour on the nose. Works so well with the nmf. The colours look positively dull in these pictures but she looks more lively under better light. 
 

 

These where taken on the kitchen table which will have to do for now - my beauty shot set up is not adequate for 1/48 airplanes so it might be a while before I can get some shots done for the RFI - I’m playing with the idea of making a lightbox as I haven’t been happy with the last few photo shoots I’ve done of finished models - so this might be a good investment. 
 

I’m overall pretty happy with the model - tried a lot of new things - some of which actually worked out😀 others not so much. This is probably my best work to date but yet again I feel like I can do better. It was my third nmf project in a row and I feel this is the best one so far - I have lots more I want to do but I’ll take a break from shiny things for now. I was battling illness (strep throat and various infections) for a good chunk of time during this project - but I still really enjoyed it so I guess that says it all. And it’s great having a nice P-51 in the collection - one of my all time favorites😎
 

It was also nice to work on a 1/48 - only my second ever at this scale (I’m a 1/72 guy normally) This scale does seem to work better for aircraft of this type - you can really go to town on the detail but leaving some things basic seems to work as well. 
 

As ever I really appreciated you guys following along on this build - your comments, suggestions and encouragement where brilliant as usual. They really egged me on and it’s nice to share in the fun of it all. Special thanks to @Squibby who’s work on his own mustang was a great inspiration for me here - and didn’t seem to mind me blatantly plagiarizing his ideas.   
 

Im still mulling over what the next build will be - I’m looking with lustful eyes at the many 1/48 spitfires in the stash so it might be one of them...😊 I’m thinking very weathered RAF camo - I’ll see you in the Wip section soon enough!!!

 

Cheers

 

John

 

[TimT]

That looks spectacular, John; the nose colour, the subtle weathering, the variation across panels - you nailed it!

Seems healthy to have a feeling of accomplishment at the end of a build, and still feel you could do better. However, it's hard to see room for improvement here.

[Biggles87]

Nothing to add to that, Tim’s said it all.

 

John

[Smithy]

Absolutely wonderful John and I've loved watching this. You have in my eyes quickly become one of the most proficient scale modellers on here and one of my favourites to watch build and paint stuff 

[SaminCam]

Wow John, just wow! Hope you get the beauty shots sorted soon as I want to see her in all her glory!

[SaminCam]

And now I've recovered my composure(!), I'll follow up by saying this is one of the best nmfs I've seen on here, I'll definitely be referring back to the hints and tips you've carefully written up for us. As you know I'm a fan of oil weathering and this looks great,are you creating the faded two tone effect by putting some white down before the brown streaks? Final thought that occurred to me reading through your last couple of posts, have you ever tried spraying thinned oils? Might make for good exhaust fumes with the advantage of being able to wipe off if they don't work, worth a try? 

[fubar57]

Doing a great job. If I may....one of the areas most modellers miss while building the P-51 is a small hole located on the lower right-side of the cowling. I've never found out what it's for and shots of the Mustang from the right are hard to come by. Here's some photos of what I'm referring to...

 

 

 

 

Edited November 18, 2019 by fubar57
Freakin' negative typos man

[Thom216]

She looks fantastic! Great job on the paining, esp the fading/weathering on the nose.

[Kitchen Modeller]

22 hours ago, TimT said:

Seems healthy to have a feeling of accomplishment at the end of a build, and still feel you could do better. However, it's hard to see room for improvement here.

Thanks Tim - you’re very kind. I think it’s normal to only see issues and mistakes when you’ve finished a model... I always feel like there’s so much that I could have done better... but after it’s been on the shelf for a while, it’s easier to see the stuff i did right. But it’s a good thing really as it’s means I’m pumped to do a better job next time! 
 

20 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Nothing to add to that, Tim’s said it all.

 

John

thanks John and thanks for following the build 😊

 

12 hours ago, Smithy said:

Absolutely wonderful John and I've loved watching this. You have in my eyes quickly become one of the most proficient scale modellers on here and one of my favourites to watch build and paint stuff 

thanks so much Smithy - I’ve appreciated all your help and suggestions since taking my first modeling steps here on britmodeler - many a time you’ve got me ploughing into new reference material and techniques - it’s very much appreciated 😉

 

11 hours ago, SaminCam said:

I'm a fan of oil weathering and this looks great,are you creating the faded two tone effect by putting some white down before the brown streaks? Final thought that occurred to me reading through your last couple of posts, have you ever tried spraying thinned oils? Might make for good exhaust fumes with the advantage of being able to wipe off if they don't work, worth a try? 

Thanks for your kind comments Sam - you’re doing some amazing work yourself so right back at ya. The 2 tone effect is basically many layers. So starting with 2 colours, mix a little of one into a lot of the other, apply, blend and then mix colour a little more - repeat until you’re mixing the other way round... hopefully you’ll end up with a blended effect - doesn’t always work but you can always wipe it and start again - as I did many times in this build. I feel like I’m getting better though. It’s become my favorite part of the process I think. Oil paints in the airbrush? Never thought of that - might be worth some experimentation! And here’s a shot I took outside this morning- 

 

 

ive bought materials to make a lightbox so hopefully will get some nice shots this weekend. 

11 hours ago, fubar57 said:

Doing a great job. If I may....one of the areas most modellers miss while building the P-51 is a small hole located on the lower right-side of the cowling.

Thanks for that - and for these awesome references- they were so good I couldn’t resist a little more oil brush work...

 

 

I think Tamiya might have the hole in the wrong place - I didn’t go too heavy with this stain as I didn’t want to overwhelm this section but I think it adds a little visual interest... 

 

10 hours ago, Thom216 said:

She looks fantastic! Great job on the paining, esp the fading/weathering on the nose.

Thanks Tom - I’m pretty happy with that part at least ! 

[Squibby]

Incredible finish! really looking forward to seeing the RFI pics.

 

The exhaust looks much better now, although if I may suggest you add some light chalky white / grey in there near the exhaust stacks to represent the lean exhaust staining.

 

A few seconds work with a pin-vice should sort out that hole. In fact I need to open it up in my build too.

[fubar57]

Cool, your are now the 1%. I found this diagram when I did my build, Tamiya as well. It looks like Tamiya was right with that hole but forgot to include whatever hole the oil/waste/sludge is leaking from. For future reference, diagram is at the bottom...https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/done-1-48-p-51d-pacific-theatre-of-operations-ii.39962/page-2#post-1099156

 

 

Edited November 19, 2019 by fubar57

[opus999]

On 11/18/2019 at 2:30 AM, Kitchen Modeller said:

The rims were painted with metal color aluminum- then given a wash of Tamiya panel line. Rubber is Tamiya rubber black... and again, dirtied up with pigments. 

Those wheels are incredible! They look like the real thing.  Nice job!  I've always wanted to get this effect with my wheels but haven't quite figured it out yet.  So... with the pigments, do you just brush them on with a dry brush and seal them with dull coat?  

 

This whole build looks incredibly realistic.  Nicely done!

[Kitchen Modeller]

17 minutes ago, opus999 said:

So... with the pigments, do you just brush them on with a dry brush and seal them with dull coat?

I mix in some pigments with a little water - so you’ll have a wash type of consistency. That gets brushed onto the wheels and allowed to dry - then I just wipe off the excess with my fingers which seems to work better than using a brush. You can seal it afterwards but I just leave them as is - I do this at the end of The build so the model doesn’t get moved around too much after that. Super easy😀

[One 48]

Stunning workmanship, well done, your Mustang looks fantastic 👍