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2 x 20th Fighter Group North American P-51D Mustangs


Ratch

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I've not built a 1/48 Mustang before :frantic:

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The first was a BIN on e-bay after Jadlam couldn’t supply. Then I went on holiday and forgot I'd bought the first and got the second one at Youngs in Barnstaple :stupid:

I have the choice of these decals:

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Edited by Ratch
Spelling, see me
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My references:

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My collection of built Mustangs from the oldest to the latest:

Airfix 1/72 North American P-51 B Mustang (02066)
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North American P51 B-15-NA Mustang 1:72 Academy
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My first completion of 2007 - North American P-51D Mustang 1:72 Airfix 02089
Pilot Colonel Robert Montgomery's North American P-51D 'Mustang', LC-D, 79th FS, 20th FG, King's Cliffe, July 1944.
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Heller/Airfix 1/24 P-51D Mustang “Bunnie”, s/n 44-15569, coded 7, flown by Capt. Roscoe C. Brown, Commanding Officer, 100th FS, 322nd FG. Ramitelli Airfield, Italy, June 1944 to April 1945.

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Airfix 1/72 North American P-51D Mustang (02098)
44-13535 MC-R ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo’ 79th FS 20th FG King’s Cliffe November 1944, pilot 1st Lt. Edward F. (Pogie) Pogue, claimed 4 He 111’s, Bf 109 and Bf 110 all on the ground plus 4 damaged.
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Airfix 1/72 North American P-51D Mustang (A01004) 44-13667 MC-T ‘Sneebo’ 79th FS 20th FG October 1944, pilot 1st Lt. Donald A. Sass.
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Airfix 1/72 North American P-51D Mustang (A01004) LC-D "Gumpy" flown by Pilot Col. Robert Montgomery, Group CO 77th FS/20th FG, King's Cliffe, July 1944. 
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Airfix 1/72 North American P-51D Mustang (A55107) 2018
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Edited by Ratch
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No personal connection. About 14 years ago, on a trip to Duxford, I picked up NORTHAMPTONSHIRE AIRFIELDS IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR by Graham Smith. I knew my grandfather was stationed at Sywell, but that was about it. The book revealed a whole history I was previously unaware of, so I started a project to model as many aircraft that flew from the county as possible. So not just the 20th FG, there were 16 airfields across the county and although Wittering is now in Cambridgeshire, before the mid 60s it was in Northants.

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The pilots were painted following the example in The ARMED FORCES Of WORLD WAR II ISBN 0-85613-296-9 Illustration 290 U. S. Army AirForce, P-51B Mustang Captain, 1944. The instrument panels were painted then brushed with Humbrol Clear as a foundation for the decals. The decals were applied with Humbrol DecalFix.

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The quilt of the seats and both pilots were given a Vallejo Game Color 73200 Sepia Wash. Assembly of the cockpit now took place.

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I painted the propeller tips.

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The panel lines on the wings were filled to give a smooth puttied surface.

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I painted the wooden floor that I’d forgotten about yesterday.

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The assembly is novel and precise. With the boxing of the tail wheel well, the separate tail section with its location to the fuselage. Two tail are supplied but they look identical to me whereas I would expect one to be with a fillet and the other without. The only difference I can see is with one panel line on the fillet.

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The decals for the cockpit walls were applied at stages 19 and 20. I also touched in the red knobs with a brush. The air suction grill, fin and cockpit sidewalls were added to each half of the fuselage in stages 21 & 22.

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Stage 23 fixes the cockpit to the port fuselage and stage 24 closes it up.

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One of them closed quite well. It did need a clamp or two, but the fit was much better than the other, that needed much persuasion for the fuselage to meet. Maybe I had not found the ideal position for the inner cockpit, or maybe it would have been better to glue and fit the three parts together to ‘feel’ the correct fit.

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Before I could move on, I had to fill the seams with putty. I fixed the spar to the wheel wells then fixed this to the lower wing. The locating holes for the drop tanks were opened with a 1mm drill bit and pin vice. The clear part for the wing navigation lights was painted with transparent paint on the exterior and the inner surface was painted silver.

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The navigation lights were fixed with PVA before the upper wings were cemented and then the guns added.

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The flaps and ailerons are added next. There is a choice of lowered or raised flaps and the ailerons can be positioned to 15o up or down. When cementing the wings to the fuselage I used clamps to hold them in position; this was just a case of too few hands (rather than any need to force them).

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I fitted the cowling and exhausts. Two variants are supplied; short, stubby ones and larger, sweeping types. Both of my chosen subjects have the shorter, stubby exhausts (these are the type on the instruction sheet) and I glued them in position as I worked through the assembly stages. I smeared some filler along the wing roots; more on one than the other.
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  • 3 weeks later...

I have decided to split these builds from here for fear of confusing some of the details of the two aircraft.
This one will be Sad Sack and seems to be the ill-fitting one. I drilled out the holes for the stand mounting. 
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More construction followed. Sad Sack can be seen carrying 110-gallon paper drop tanks. These are supplied as options in the kit. I made up both types (the others being 75-gallon metal types). 
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These were primed with Vallejo Acrylic 74660 Gloss Black Polyurethane Surface Primer.
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I assembled and fitted the pylons then sprayed the spinners and 110-gallon paper tanks with Vallejo Model Air 71063 Silver (Metallic) and the 750-gallon metal tanks with AK Interactive AK480 Xtreme Metal Dark Aluminium.

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The bands are Humbrol Acrylic 238 Gloss Arrow Red,

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On 27/01/2020 at 16:47, Ratch said:

This one will be Sad Sack and seems to be the ill-fitting one. I drilled out the holes for the stand mounting. 

Hi ratch, looking good, you seem to be ticking along nicely.

Just wondering if you found the fit of the gun barrels a nuisance, as I couldn't get them to fit both the top and bottom flush and just thought it was me cocking up.

All the best 

Joss

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