RFI number four - a Red-Tailed Angel in 1/48

[jackroadkill]

Thanks to a deal with @Steve 1602 I ended up with an example of Airfix's 1/48 P51-D a few months back.  I didn't really have any plans for it and intended to let it work its way gradually up the stash until an idea presented itself.  That was until I heard about the 332nd Fighter Group, also known as the Tuskegee Airmen.  I knew that black servicemen had been involved in WW2 in various countries' armed forces, but hadn't really understood it further.  A bit of reading led me to the understanding that, although these men volunteered to fight the Nazis, many of them were still treated disgustingly on their return home, with racial segregation proving to be dominant over the wider recognition of their service and sacrifices.  With the death of George Floyd in May of this year re-igniting the BLM movement, I felt that a good use of my Mustang would be to build it in the colours of one of the four 332nd squadrons.  I bought a set of Warbird decals that included Creamer's Dream, a P-51D flown from Italy by Lt. Charles White of the 301st Fighter Squadron in 1945.  This is my tribute to him and his fellow African Americans who fought the Axis powers overseas and struggled against segregation at home.

 

Here's the WIP thread:

 

 

I found the kit to be very well detailed, if somewhat awkwardly moulded in places.  These issues were easily overcome and didn't  pose too much of a challenge even to a novice like myself.  The major issue I found was that the styrene reacted very readily to the cement I used (Tamiya Extra Thin) and I had to be careful when clamping parts together lest the combined effects of the clamps and the cement cause deformation.  Again, though, it wasn't too big a deal and didn't stop me enjoying the build.  I used the Warbird decals for the markings and Airfix's own stencils (dozens of them!) and again, these were easy to use and apply.

 

The most significant difficulty I ran into was that the paint I used (Humbrol Metalcote 27002 refused to dry, even when left for more than two weeks.  This led to a big headache of the mojo-destroying variety.  Fortunately, Britmodeller came to the rescue, with @Black Knight informing me of the existence of Rustin's terebene driers, which solved the issue rather nicely indeed.  I also broke one of the undercarriage legs off after cementing it in place, but managed to pin it back in position without too much difficulty.  In fact, I'm beginning to think I might do this on every build from now on where scale permits to avoid having this seemingly inevitable accident.  The whole aircraft was brush-painted, first using a white undercoat (with the odd panel painted black) and then with the NMF before marking colours and the anti-glare panel were added towards the end of the build.

 

I made my own washes using Humbrol enamels and applied these fairly heavily, the 301st operating out of some pretty basic airstrips (reference photos show the tyres and undersides of the aircraft caked in mud, so presumably the runways were grass and the weather inclement!), so as you'll see there is a bit of muck here and there on the model.

 

So, on to the pictures.  My photography skills are a bit lacking, but hopefully you'll get the gist:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, she's not perfect, but she's okay.  I'm reasonably happy that I can use what I've learned during the build in subsequent builds in order to improve them.  Thanks very much to everyone who offered help and encouragement throughout the build.

 

Any comments, criticisms or observations you may have will be gratefully received, as always.

 

Thanks,

 

JRK

[Gary Brantley]

Fine looking Mustang JRK!   And a great tribute as well! 👍  Thanks so much for sharing your very cool build. 😀

[jackroadkill]

19 hours ago, Gary Brantley said:

Fine looking Mustang JRK!   And a great tribute as well! 👍  Thanks so much for sharing your very cool build. 😀

 

Thanks Gary, for your kind words.