P-51D "Short Fuse", finishing the job

[Shin]

Hi all, just finished my first group build and thoroughly enjoyed the process. Saw this was going on and figured I had a model in the stash to enter. 

 

Backstory: My local model shop inherited a large stash from someone who had passed away and was having a sidewalk sale on the excess inventory. All items were sold as is, as it seemed that the departed modeler/collector had started some projects and combined some kits into different boxes, which meant there was the potential for incomplete kits. I saw it as an opportunity to get some kits for cheap to experiment with, as I'm still relatively new to the hobby. One that caught my eye was a boxing for a 1/48 Tamiya P-51D (8th AF version) as I thought it would be a great opportunity to try out a natural metal finish aircraft. Upon initial inspection it seemed the major parts were in there, so I added it to my shopping basket.

 

After reaching home and further examining the kit, it appears the modeler had started this kit and had a specific idea of what he wanted to do with it. There were weapons from another kit included, as well as an aftermarket decal sheet for a specific aircraft, the "Short Fuse". In fact, the major parts were already cut from the gates and some parts of a resin cockpit had been put together. I'm going to attempt to finish this aircraft for our fallen comrade, hopefully I do it justice. I'll be using the parts included in the box as intended to be built by him, and hopefully there aren't any missing pieces that I'm overlooking to make a complete aircraft.

 

A quick Google search history of the aircraft - it was flown by Richard E Turner of the 354th Fighter Group, an ace in WWII before serving in the Korean War. Apparently his plane originally had art depicting "Short Fuse Sallee", but after finding out Sallee was with another man, he had the name removed.

 

I'm open to any tips, pointers, comments, and critiques, but am more interested in doing a good technical job than digging into historical accuracy. I'm most apprehensive at this point about how decals will do over the metallic paint, but we'll get to that eventually. Planning on extremely limited weathering on this one, as it's my first natural metal attempt as well as my second 1/48 warbird model. 

 

Thanks for reading and following along!

 

all the plastic inside the box

 

aftermarket resin cockpit, sidewalls already installed

 

bombs and rocket launchers (?) from another kit, it's in a different color grey plastic

 

the rest of what's in the box

 

[Biggles87]

It’s surprising ( to me ) how many Tamiya Mustangs are in this GB with all the newer kits available, but it’s still a nice kit.

Good Luck.

 

John

[Redstaff]

12 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

It’s surprising ( to me ) how many Tamiya Mustangs are in this GB with all the newer kits available, but it’s still a nice kit.

It's still a cracking kit all these years after it's release, it's a great feel good kit as you know there are no real problems with it, the same can be said about Tamiyas Thunderbolts as well  

That resin looks nicely detailed and some careful painting will bring it to life

Only things missing at first glance are the drop tanks

Looking forward to seeing progress

 

Ian  

[rob85]

I like the option he chose, looks cool. Love the idea to get it built seeing as he’s get it ready would be a shame not to finish it for him.

 

Good luck

 

Rob

[Retired Bob]

Hi Shin,  I often wonder what will happen to my unfinished projects after I have shuffled off to that stash in the sky.  There are some after market items that can improve the Tamiya P-51 or just make life easier, like a vacuum form canopy, but it will still look good with what you have.

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good morning Shin

Welcome aboard and have with your build , Richard E Turner's Short Fuse is in my list of Mustang kits to build in the future ..

 

https://search.aol.com/aol/image;_ylt=AwrEzed3pkNelhIAMgRpCWVH;_ylu=X3oDMTByMDgyYjJiBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?q=richard+turner+short+fuse+P+51D+MUSTANG&v_t=webmail-searchbox#id=34&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cybermodeler.com%2Fhobby%2Fkits%2Ftam%2Fimages%2Ftam_92215_decals.jpg&action=close

 

All the best

Patrice

[Shin]

Thanks for the comments all! Unfortunately life got in the way so I'm doubtful I'll finish by the deadline, but let's see what I can get done by then.  

 

Cockpit work: tried hairspray chipping for the first time to try and simulate the wear in the rubber coating, and tried to make some wires twisting a few strands from an unused HDMI cable. 

Paint is Mission Models Interior US Green & NATO Black + Black and a British AFV tan for the belts. The browns were Scale75. Vallejo Metal Color aluminium for the belt pieces. 

 

 

 

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good evening Shin

You have done a very good job on the cockpit , if you cannot finish it in time to place it in the Gallery you can still finish it ...

 

All the best

Patrice

[Redstaff]

Looking good Shin  

 

Ian  

[srkirad]

Chipping turned out great - it looks very realistic.

 

Cheers,

S.

[Dansk]

Looks fantastic 👌

[Biggles87]

Nice cockpit.

 

John

[Courageous]

Stunning work on the cockpit.

 

Stuart

[Johnson]

That's great work Shin.

 

On 2/11/2020 at 8:24 PM, Redstaff said:

Only things missing at first glance are the drop tanks

I'm guessing here Ian and Shin, but maybe the original owner never intended to use drop tanks? Were they much used in Korea? I see that there appears to be a additional sprue with bombs, so maybe that's what he intended to use. Prop aircraft were often used in close support and interdiction roles in Korea.

 

Cheers,

[Biggles87]

The drop tanks were used in Korea, but often filled with napalm for the close support role.

 

John

[Shin]

Thanks all. I'm definitely finishing this, even if it isn't in time for the deadline. I might have had a chance to make the deadline, but hit a major snag outlined below. Correct that there are no fuel tanks in the box, I'm going to try and fit the bombs in the pylons. 

 

Progress:

Tamiya Yellow/Green for yellow zinc chromate in the wheel wells. I read a lot of differing accounts of what the color should be - bare metal, interior green, green zinc chromate, yellow zinc chromate, interior green, and combinations of these colors as well for different parts of the bay. Said screw it and blasted it with YZC.

 

Did some detail drilling into the front as well as exhaust pipes.

 

 

The bad news is after i installed the exhausts and left them for a few hours, I discovered that I had installed the wrong type of exhaust for this bird. I debated leaving the installed ones in, but I knew it would bother me. However drilling them out and trying to fix the mess would hit the limits of my modeling skills. Best way to learn is to try, so busted out the rotary drill and went to work. Currently trying to fix the errant drill cuts with Apoxie Sculpt. 

 

While that's setting, decided to test out some metal colors for the fuselage. Painted over Stynelrez gloss black primer, left to right is Mission Models Chrome, Mission Models Faded Aluminum, and Vallejo Metal Color Aluminum. 

[Shin]

A little more progress, and probably all I'm going to get done before the deadline. Filled in the panel line and rivets with Mr. Surfacer 500 to mimic the puttying of the wings, and sanded the heck out of it. The areas around the raised rivets I wiped away with isopropyl alcohol, which resulted in a little more that wanted removed out of surrounding panel line areas, but wasn't sure how else to approach it.

 

 

Finally attached the wings to the fuselage, and now waiting for the Mr. Surfacer on those seams to dry before sanding. After attaching a few more pieces it will finally be ready for some primer. I look forward to seeing how well I did with repairing the area surrounding the exhausts, but as you see I was able to butcher and brute force the correct ones in there. Finally starting to look like an aircraft!

 

 

Thanks everyone for the comments and following along. I'll pop this in RFI once it's done. 

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good afternoon Shin

Too bad but you can continue your build and finish it here  ..

 

All the best

Patrice

[Shin]

For completeness sake, if anyone is looking at this in the future, the build has been completed and posted to RFI. I've included a few more WIP shots I took during the build below which show the rebuilt exhaust area, my first attempt at paint (the wings got toned down considerably afterwards as the original paint I used ended up shinier than the "bare metal" paint), and then decals on.