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North American P-51K Mustang Mk IVa (Airfix 1/48th scale)


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Supposed to be a quick build, and I guess for me it is. Second one in a year! Another 'lockdown' build.

This is the Airfix P-51K Mk IV Mustang - the Dooleybird boxing. It's also my first NMF attempt.

I chose a NMF RAF Mustang other that Dooleybird. The model represents a Mk IVa from 93 Squadron based in Italy in 1946. From my research the squadron only had the Mustang for a very short time and post war so I kept the weathering down, a bit i.e. no extreme gun port smoke/oil. Decals are from the Xtradecal sheet X48176.

The model is OOB - I only added decals and the radio aerial (which I'm not sure was fitted). I used a mix of Alclad2, mostly Polished Aluminium for most of the airframe. There are patches of darker Alclad2 and the leading edge/front half of the wings have been filled to remove panel lines, and painted in Tamiya's LP-11. Again I struggled with the final coat choice opting to use Tamiya's X-22 with some rubbing down. Generally not that happy - my last two builds have been difficult and have been lacking in the final result based on my hopes. But hay, I now know that LP-11 will be my paint of choice for a High Speed Silver Meatbox.

 

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Cheers,
Paul.

Edited by CplPunishment
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  • CplPunishment changed the title to North American P-51K Mustang Mk IVa (Airfix 1/48th scale)

A brilliant Mustang, certainly one of the best I've seen. The weathered aluminium and the high speed silver both look very authentic, and the weathering is convincing, not least the exhaust stains.

 

Your evocative photography, with the vehicles artfully arranged so that they're just hinted at in the compositions, shows the plane to best advantage.

 

Marvellous modelling and photos!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

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3 hours ago, Spitfire31 said:

A brilliant Mustang, certainly one of the best I've seen. The weathered aluminium and the high speed silver both look very authentic, and the weathering is convincing, not least the exhaust stains.

Your evocative photography, with the vehicles artfully arranged so that they're just hinted at in the compositions, show the plane to best advantage.

Marvellous modelling and photos!

Kind regards,

Joachim

Totally agree!

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18 hours ago, Spitfire31 said:

A brilliant Mustang, certainly one of the best I've seen. The weathered aluminium and the high speed silver both look very authentic, and the weathering is convincing, not least the exhaust stains.

 

Your evocative photography, with the vehicles artfully arranged so that they're just hinted at in the compositions, shows the plane to best advantage.

 

Marvellous modelling and photos!

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

Very kind words, Joachim. Thank you. 

As with most things, my ambition outruns my capability... I spent ages trying to airbrush in thin heat colour changes at the edges of the exhaust stains - the straw, blue and violet colours that metal goes when heated. But failed, Spent nearly an afternoon on just that. In the end, I just sprayed a wide blast of yellow tan then smoke then some rubber black. 😐

Cheers,

Paul.

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10 hours ago, SteveMc said:

A nicely finished Mustang Paul, and it looks good in your diorama.

I have this kit in my stash. Hope it turns out as good.

Thank you! 

It's not really I diorama though. It's a bit of scrap sheet ply with a handful of dry mortar mix spread over it. The other bits and bobs are from the Airfix Battle Of Britain Ready For Battle set. Some one pointed out in one of my other submissions that a set of chocks would have made all the difference. I thought that was a pretty good idea so I got some and the other bits too. That's about as far as it goes; I don't have the patience or skill for a diorama (but I have thought about having a go). 

Thanks for the comment.

Cheers,

Paul.

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10 hours ago, FalkeEins said:

Very nice .. love the models on your site too. Although you do seem to be rather hard on yourself!

Food for thought, very much so. Thanks for the comment.

I tend to be 'glass is half empty'. No surprise. But, '...where's the bar?'.  In other words, I'm critical with a view to looking for how to improve. There's always room for improvement. I can always see mistakes or things I'd like to do better with. For me, a model that goes well is one where I only spot the imperfections afterwards. One that goes less well is when I can see that I'm creating a mess, or not achieving my goals, as I go. The last two were in that latter category. 

This Mustang was a bit of trial with NMF - been scared of it for ages, having seen so many other great attempts by others. I'm gearing up to do a tatty Meteor F.4 in HSS. As it's the scarce Classic Airframes kit, I don't want to screw it up!

Cheers,

Paul

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15 minutes ago, Jeff G said:

I thought at least one of those was a reference photo at first. Fantastic work!

😄, Thanks for the comment. I do usually throw in a black-and-white photo. 

Here's the photo set up.... the camera, on a timer, is set to an f stop of 32 and ISO of 100 or 200 (in some of the above I have it a bit too high). 

IMG_20201105_142313cropped-scaled.jpg

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Outstanding, that really is beautiful, and the photography certainly does it justice too. A fantastic set of photo's, love this!

 

Eng

 

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I thought I had posted my comments on your outstanding Mustang, but guess I forgot to hit "Submit reply!" What the others have said already pretty much covers what I had intended to say, but I would add that the oil stain from the breather vent really added to the realism- quite frankly,  your photos could have passed easily as period images. Well done! :like:

Mike

Edited by 72modeler
corrected spelling
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