A Pair of Ponies - Airfix 1/48 Mustang

[Brad Cancian]

Hi all,

 

The Australian Capital Territory Scale Model Society (ACTSMS) here in Canberra runs an annual competition called "The Kittyhawk Cup", where all participants must build the same kit, out of the box. This year, the kit selected is the series of Airfix 1/48 Mustangs (any of the boxings). Kits must be built OOB, with the option to utilise other decals. I haven't entered the competition for a very long time, and have no real idea about Mustangs, but I decided to enter anyways (and I also needed a nice OOB build after my last build, the Lindberg Bristol Bulldog, here -https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235070808-148-lindberg-bristol-bulldog/).  But not only that, I also foolishly decided to build not one, but two Mustangs, both at the same time (insert recipe for disaster here). I've selected their P-51D and Mustang IV, and will build a USAAF and RAF/RAAF machine respectively. 

 

 

So far I have been very impressed with Airfix's engineering. The parts fit together nicely (including the separate vertical stabiliser), and the cockpit seems nicely detailed. I am not sure how accurate the seat back or seat belts are, but as this is an OOB build, there's not much I can do. I have followed the painting guide in the instructions, so I make no apologies if I have the colours wrong somewhere (did I mention I pretty much know nothing about Mustangs?). Here is where things are at right now - the cockpit is painted up and ready to go. The instrument panel was done with a combination of decals and dry brushing, and I applied a splash of white glue on the dials to represent glass faces.  I think i'll be able to get away with fitting the seat / seat back and radio boxes after painting is done (to aid with masking with the canopy off).  here are some pics:

 

 

The interior colour was Gunze Interior Green, with a bit of dry brushing. Humbrol Leather was used for the seat back as per the instructions, and the wooden floor was done with oil paints. Next step is fitting the interior, radiator / coolers and getting the fuselage together. It looks like this should be relatively trouble free from my test fitting.

 

Anyone have any tips with building the Airfix Pony?

 

All comments and feedback welcomed.

 

Cheers,

 

BC

Edited April 22, 2020 by Brad Cancian

[franky boy]

Hi Brad

 

Great work so far.

 

I built one of the F-51 boxing about 18 months ago. As far as I remember it was the usual thing with modern Airfix just making sure that all of the mating surfaces are free clean and free if paint. 
 

I think it’s a nice kit. 
 

Look forward to more progress. 
 

James

[Brad Cancian]

Thanks James!

[Pappy]

G'day Brad,

 

Excellent choice!

The Britmodeller Mustang GB recently closed, but there are plenty of excellent build ups of this kit in there as well as many other great builds of various brands and scales, no doubt lots of good gouge to be had as well.

 

I built this kit in its RAAF 3SQN guise

 

The kit is hassle free with the usual caveat on the latest incarnation Airfix viz the engineering having very close tolerances to the point that a layer of paint on the mating surfaces can create fit issues. I think that the kit cockpit decals have come up very well. If I build this kit again I don't think I will use the cockpit aftermarket  as the kit's details are very nice and for what can be seen entirely adequate with the exception of the seat belts. The molded on  shoulder straps are good but the lap straps look a little too thick.

 

My tips:

 

1. The tail parts are separate to facilitate different versions (fillet/non-fillet, taller etc.) so adding these to each respective fuselage half beforehand allows these to be added and minimising any chance of gaps/steps.

 

2. The belly radiators can be painted up and added after treating the fuselage seam by trimming down their locating edges so that they can just be slid in afterwards.

 

3. The canopy aft edge has a small guide that runs along a channel in the upper aft fuselage. The back end of the Mustang's kit canopy will tend to sit up high as it slides back (following the plane of the canopy sill), but in reality, it would pivot downwards from the front so that the back would sit down over the fuselage. The Airfix canopy is a little too thick (and the fuselage too wide) for this to happen naturally. You could try thinning down the inner edges of the canopy but the issue really only becomes apparent when the canopy is opened all the way back.

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

Edited April 23, 2020 by Pappy

[Brad Cancian]

G'day Pappy - hope all is well! Many thanks for the tips on this kit. Just checked out your build - a beautiful job as always! 

 

I'd already followed your tip re the tail fin and have been rewarded with a trouble-free fit in this area. The fuselage is now together, and I have taken your tip on the belly radiator and left it off to help with cleanup. The fit was indeed quite tight and there are some seams I need to clean up; hopefully I haven't compromised the fit of the wings once I get there by leaving the fuselage a feather too wide. We'll see, I suppose...

 

Thanks also for the tip re the canopy - i'll have a think about how to tackle this, but it might just be a case of not having the canopy slid all the way back.

 

Cheers again,

 

BC

[LorenSharp]

Excellent job on the ponies so far, I just got one a week ago for a future build as a present for someone.  I'm following along to any extra tidbits. 

[Brad Cancian]

Hi all - I have a question re Mustang wheel wells and undercarriage doors. I have seen all kinds of combinations of bare metal and interior green, is there a general guide that I can apply? One machine will be RAAF (and I can see from photos what I need to do) but the other will probably be a US Mustang, either NMF or in Green and Grey - can someone point me in the right direction for colours?

 

Thanks!

 

BC

[Brad Cancian]

I didn't get any responses here to my query, so I went with what I could find online... in the end I settled on natural metal doors and roof, and interior green spars. No idea if it's right, but oh well...

 

 

Cheers,

 

BC

[Roger Holden]

Great paintwork, but the wooden cockpit floor panels were painted with black anti-slip material.  Sometimes it wore through to show some bare wood patches where the pilot's heels were.

[Brad Cancian]

Thanks Roger - I know very little about Mustangs, so in this regard I simply followed the instructions, which say to paint the floor wood coloured. I had seen some other builds with black floors, but some also with wood, so I stuck with the kit instructions. Plus I think it looks slightly more interesting. I am sure there will be plenty more things I get wrong...! 

 

Cheers!

 

BC

[ElectricLightAndy]

Looking good, I tend to build aircraft oob too so it will be interesting to see what this comes out like, it's a beautiful looking kit

 

Andy.

[Brad Cancian]

Hi all - finally got some paint onto them... I wasn't originally going to do two natural metal finishes (one was going to be a USAAF OD green and grey) but found a NMF scheme I wanted to do, so they're both now silver. I tried my hand at a few Alclads (well, 7 in total), and they came up ok... surface prep is so important with these, as you can see every little scratch (annoyingly). I'm probably going to flat coat it in the end as from what I can tell, the aircraft weren't generally polished, plus I want to use an oil wash... which means that it'll probably just look like 'silver' in the end, and i'll probably lose most of the tonal variation ...unless someone can suggest a good clear coat to help preserve some of the 'shine' of the finish?

 

 

Cheers,

 

BC

Edited June 8, 2020 by Brad Cancian

[Brad Cancian]

Well, after spending several hours masking, spraying, and going cross-eyed, I think I can say that i'll never want to play checkers ever again....

 

 

Cheers,

 

BC

[rob85]

That’s some really impressive work, especially those checks.

 

Rob

[corsaircorp]

On 6/8/2020 at 11:02 AM, Brad Cancian said:

Hi all - finally got some paint onto them... I wasn't originally going to do two natural metal finishes (one was going to be a USAAF OD green and grey) but found a NMF scheme I wanted to do, so they're both now silver. I tried my hand at a few Alclads (well, 7 in total), and they came up ok... surface prep is so important with these, as you can see every little scratch (annoyingly). I'm probably going to flat coat it in the end as from what I can tell, the aircraft weren't generally polished, plus I want to use an oil wash... which means that it'll probably just look like 'silver' in the end, and i'll probably lose most of the tonal variation ...unless someone can suggest a good clear coat to help preserve some of the 'shine' of the finish?

 

 

Cheers,

 

BC

Hello BC,

You're right, polished they were, from time to time, depending of the good will of the crew chief....

Aaaand moreover depending of the rythm of operations...

It mean that the polished aspect never lasted too long...

The U.S.A.F Mustang used in Korean war were polished with volcanic ashes by japanese workers

So, when the planes get in Japan for servicing they came back in Korea like shiny mirrors...

But given the nature of the terrain, one week later, it was back at the semi matt aspect...

I use the Flory stuff, easy to correct or modulate, and very realistic results !!

great job on your ponies and congrtas for the checkerboard !! it look ace !!

sincerely.

CC