Another Old Crow - 1/72 Airfix P-51D - Finished!!!

[Johnson]

With only 18 days left, I'm pushing my luck here .

 

But I'd really like to get an Airfix P-51D built. It looks lovely and there have already been some great builds on this STGB builds using it.

 

So, opening shots...

 

Nice Airfix box art;

 

Simple sprues;

Everything looks nice and crisp, good panel lines, nice detail and flaps which drop! I plan a few AM enhancements, and I'll need to make (or source) some unshrouded exhausts.

 

Decals/Markings;

These decals must have been in the spares box for 20+ years... The kill markings are too large and not enough kills. But I can use these to make the right ones (I hope!)

 

And, if I'm lucky, it should end up looking something like this:

This was Capt Clarence 'Bud' Anderson's P-51D-10-NA 44-14450, 363rd, 357FG, at Leiston in the winter of 1944/45 with all his kill markings (he ended with 16.5 kills). It had just had its Olive Drab paint striped off, so would have been fairly clean. The wheels were originally white walled (like his P-51B) but time and wear seems to have worn most of it off.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Edited February 27, 2020 by Johnson
Wrong FG! Mustang Aces of the Eighth Air Force got it wrong!

[TEMPESTMK5]

Good afternoon Charlie

I am looking forward to see the sart of your build

 

Patrice

[gingerbob]

You know, Charlie, I've been thinking much the same thing!  Good luck with build number 2 and a half

 

bob

[Toryu]

Great idea Charlie - go ahead and complement your B-Model.

[Johnson]

A few AM goodies that may help;

 

 

I was very impressed with the Eduard canopy mask for the P-51B, so see how this one fares.

Squadron P-51D canopy, may not be needed if the Airfix one works out.

A lovely little Yahu instrument panel, for the 'P-51D early'. Which may not be entirely correct for a P-51D - 10 - NA?

And...   my last Reheat Models USAAF/USN Seatbelts, dated 1993 and probably bought then (at The Aviation Hobby Shop IIRC).

 

Must get on!

[Johnson]

The interior is about done. Added some bracing to the seat, the Reheat Models seat belts and the Yahu I/P - which is outstanding! You can't really see how good it is without a magnifier, but its incredible, better than the (very good) Eduard Mustang I/Ps at 1/48. Just a shame Yahu didn't carry on the I/P to the lower section where I've used the Airfix decal. I noticed after I took the pics that there are two little throttle control rods going forward, so they've been given a light brush with silver. Excellent attention to detail Airfix! Oh yes, and you can see where the control column broke as I removed it, happens to everyone it seems.

 

 

No gunsight yet, the kit one looks good but if I add it now, I'll probably damage it in the rest of the build. Time to close up the fuselage now.

 

Cheers,

[Cheshiretaurus]

Jeepers that cockpit is so sharp you could almost fly it, Are you sure this is 1:72?👍

[TEMPESTMK5]

Hi Charlie

Very nice looking cockpit ..

Patrice

[Ratch]

Quick work 

[Johnson]

Couldn't resist a quick test dry fit...

 

 

This really is a very nice little kit. Not quite perfect but very, very good. Fit is excellent. The panel lines - always contentious - look OK to me. The rudder fabric is great. And dropped flaps - fantastic! Accuracy? Looks OK, I've not compared it to the plans and I'm never sure that it helps - how good are the plans?

 

But some of the moulding isn't so perfect. A bit of flash here and there, not much, but these days you don't really expect it. And there are faint sink marks on the top wing above the wheel wells, not really enough to justify filling and rubbing down - it would probably do more harm than good - but I'll bet I'll be able see them when its painted. And some odd blemishes along some of the panel lines.

 

And the elevators, Airfix appear to simply have forgotten to add the balance tabs! I see you can buy resin replacements (£4.99!) that just look as if they've taken the originals and scribed the lines missed by Airfix.

 

So, looks pretty good so far. If there's anything wrong by the end, it will probably be my fault. Better get on with it then! 

[Johnson]

And here are the worst bits in the kit;

 

 

Very carefully removed from the sprue - apparently they usually snap!

 

Both are somewhat bent, this is what they were like on the sprue. Or on the LHS - very bent.

 

And on the RHS the door attachments are missing!

 

Any tips on bending wonky plastic?

[Andwil]

The Airfix Mustang really is quite nice, but is let down badly by the control column, radio mast and main UC legs.  The control column problem is simply the result of poor engineering, as it is attached to the runner in two places the stresses resulting from cutting invariably breaks the part.  I even tried using a heated knife but still managed to break it.  The radio mast flash looks identical on every kit, suggesting damage to the mould.
 

Try immersing the legs in very hot water, gently bending them straight and then plunging in cold water, that might do the trick.

 

AW

[TEMPESTMK5]

8 hours ago, Johnson said:

And here are the worst bits in the kit;

 

 

Very carefully removed from the sprue - apparently they usually snap!

 

Both are somewhat bent, this is what they were like on the sprue. Or on the LHS - very bent.

 

And on the RHS the door attachments are missing!

 

Any tips on bending wonky plastic?

Good morning Charlie

 I have already built  several of these kits and like the others I encountered the same problems  the plastic used by Airfix is quite soft and I managed to straighten these parts more or less I think you should be able to do the same ...

All the best

Patrice

[Johnson]

On 3/1/2020 at 11:13 PM, Andwil said:

Try immersing the legs in very hot water, gently bending them straight and then plunging in cold water, that might do the trick.

 

On 3/2/2020 at 7:49 AM, TEMPESTMK5 said:

the plastic used by Airfix is quite soft and I managed to straighten these parts more or less I think you should be able to do the same ...

Thanks AW and Patrice, I haven't tried to straighten the legs yet as I wanted to get on with the main work.

 

Here's a bit of progress, an idea I couldn't help pinching from @Cheshiretaurus, thanks CT!

 

 

I primed the area with matt grey more to make sure it looks OK before the coat of gloss RAF green goes on. And looking at the final pic I may have to fill those wapping great holes in the cowling that Airfix added and make smaller rivet holes.

 

I took the seat out, it was getting knocked and I knew I'd damage it if left. It will make painting easier too.

 

Cheers!

[Cheshiretaurus]

3 hours ago, Johnson said:

 

Here's a bit of progress, an idea I couldn't help pinching from @Cheshiretaurus, thanks CT!

That went very well 👍

[Andwil]

Nice work!

 

AW

[Johnson]

Whoopie! New Decals!

 

I just happened to be looking at the King Kit site  ...  and noticed in the 'Discount Decals' section a second hand set of Super Scale decals devoted to Bud Anderson's 'Old Crow' P-51s. These are 2006 and more accurate than the 1993 set I was going to use. They look excellent quality and I've always been pleased with the results I get using their decals.

 

 

Interestingly, for Bud's P-51D, they specify a 'slimmer' version of the name Old Crow for the plane when it was stripped of its paint. This was discussed on the P-51 Mustang STGB IV Chat page 15 and we concluded that the paint and name from it's camouflaged days might have carried on to the final NMF finish. This seems to contradict that theory, and it is backed up by the pics I have of Old Crow, though the camo pic I have is very low resolution. Does anyone have a better one?

 

To try to keep any ensuing discussion on this simple, I'll post this question on the P-51 Mustang STGB IV Chat page.

 

Cheers. 

[Johnson]

357th FG nose checks;

 

 

Went OK. I did attempt the spinner, but not very successfully. So a repaint and try again tomorrow.

 

Next up, the 'invasion' stripes under the rear fuselage. Not as simple as it seemed!

 

Cheers,

[Ventora3300]

15 hours ago, Johnson said:

357th FG nose checks;

 

Went OK. I did attempt the spinner, but not very successfully. So a repaint and try again tomorrow.

 

Next up, the 'invasion' stripes under the rear fuselage. Not as simple as it seemed!

 

Cheers,

Looking great, Charlie - so you masked/painted the chequers rather than using the decals? Same for the invasion stripes? All the best. Mike

[Johnson]

Hi Mike,

Thanks!

Yes, the checks were masked with very small bits of Tamiya tape. A bit fiddly, but I wasn't happy with the decals.

I've just finished the 'invasion' stripes and finished painting the spinner, which went better than the other day, but not much!

I'll post some pics later when everything has dried.

Cheers,

[Johnson]

The 'invasion' stripes weren't as simple as they seemed. Looking at the photo, they appeared small, not the regular 18 inch stripes. How wide? A bit of maths, measuring the length of the plane - 9.93m full size -  and its length on the photo, then the length of the stripes gave me 13.48" each. When drawn on a copy of my old MAP plans they seemed right and I added a copy of the Stars and Bars which confirmed their size and position;

 

 

Oh yes, Airfix got the position of the panel line wrong where the forward black stripe ends. This threw me for a while as the photo shows it in front of the black stripe, but checking on the MAP Plans (and another off the web) shows the kit to be wrong.

 

Most of the non-NMF painting is done. I used Xtracolor RAF Dark Green for the cowl, this being on the assumption that they didn't bother repainting the cowl/name when they stripped the camouflage and what was left was the original RAF Green. Next up, Alclad for the NMF. Adding all the enamel paint first might seem the wrong way round, but I'm confident that I can mask the enamel, but judging by others experience (and a bit of my own) with Alclad, it can peel off with even low tack masking tape.

 

 

Lastly, can anyone tell me, should the instrument shroud be olive drab or black?

 

Cheers,

[Andwil]

Most people use black, but @airscale in his superb 1/18 scale model painted his a very dark green (not OD).

 

AW

[Johnson]

Thanks AW.

 

I've always used black, but I read somewhere on here that they were OD. I just wish I could remember where I read it.

 

Just too much going on sometimes!

 

Cheers,

[Toryu]

Dull Dark Green for the P-51B and black (like the inside of the canopy frame) for the P-51D wartime versions.

[Johnson]

 

On 3/1/2020 at 11:13 PM, Andwil said:

Try immersing the legs in very hot water, gently bending them straight and then plunging in cold water, that might do the trick.

Your hot water idea worked AW. It took several lots of boiling water, bending them gently with tweezers whilst immersed, and even then they were reluctant to bend. But I think they will do now.

 

 

 

Final stages of painting.

 

 

She's had several coats of Alclad II Aluminium, and is just getting some Dark Aluminium on the exhaust surrounds. Eduard canopy masks on the front screen (Airfix) and the rear canopy (Squadron). The Airfix rear canopy is pretty good too, and closes perfectly.

 

 

 

With the Squadron canopy open ⬆️ and Airfix closed ⬇️.

 

 

Decals next.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Edited March 12, 2020 by Johnson
Not happy with layout