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

[Angell328]

Going to have to get some Lp11 on the shopping list, just hope I can handle it half as well as you have to get that finish. Just the right level of sheen for an in service girl.

That airflow arch from the breather is the icing on the cake, you have captured it perfectly.

 

Matt

[CplPunishment]

4 hours ago, Angell328 said:

Going to have to get some Lp11 on the shopping list, just hope I can handle it half as well as you have to get that finish. Just the right level of sheen for an in service girl.

That airflow arch from the breather is the icing on the cake, you have captured it perfectly.

 

Matt

Hey Matt, thanks for the kind words. Couple of folk have mentioned the oil spray from the breather. It's kinda fun to think that it was a fairly last minute add after seeing it on a couple of photos, and only took a couple of dabs of lamp black oil paint and a dry brush to spread out the dabs in a few seconds.

After re-reading your comment I wondered if it wasn't clear that most of the airframe, and what you can see in most of the photos, is Alclad2 Polished Aluminium. LP-11 is on the leading half of the wings only, only really visible in one shot from above. The sheen is mostly a result of rubbed down X-22, i.e. polished with wet polishing cloth of up to 12000 grit.

Cheers,

Paul.

Edited November 15, 2020 by CplPunishment

[Angell328]

1 minute ago, CplPunishment said:

Hey Matt, thanks for the kind words. Couple of folk have mentioned the oil spray from the breather. It's kinda fun to think that it was a fairly last minute add after seeing in on a couple of photos and only took a couple of dabs of lamp black oil paint and a dry brush to spread out the dabs in a few seconds.

After re-reading your comment and wondered if it wasn't clear that most of the airframe, and what you can see in most of the photos, is Alclad2 Polished Aluminium. LP-11 is on the leading half of the wings only, only really visible in one shot from above. The sheen is mostly a result of rubbed down X-22, i.e. polished with wet polishing cloth of up to 12000 grit.

Cheers,

Paul.

Ahhh I see, never got on well with Alclad, I need to work on the undercoat to get more out of it, but then part of the fun of this hobby is learning new techniques.

Many thanks for the detailed explanation, I have a Mk24 Spitfire on the workbench right now and I am torn between metal finish or late camo, I think you may have pushed me towards trying a new approach to metal finish.

Matt

[CplPunishment]

1 hour ago, Angell328 said:

Ahhh I see, never got on well with Alclad, I need to work on the undercoat to get more out of it, but then part of the fun of this hobby is learning new techniques.

Many thanks for the detailed explanation, I have a Mk24 Spitfire on the workbench right now and I am torn between metal finish or late camo, I think you may have pushed me towards trying a new approach to metal finish.

Matt

Oh cool! I'm working towards doing an RAF Meteor in silver. I also have another Airfix P-51 that I plan to do as a post-war Aussie machine, but both in silver 'paint' all over rather than bare metal. For this I am definitely going to use LP-11 as I think it'll be a good representation of the silver paint, 'High Speed Silver', the RAF used - most RAF 'silver' schemes being HSS rather than bare, polished metal. LP-11 has a more 'grey' look to it rather than shiny silver, if that makes sense. Worth checking references, but your Spit 24 may be HSS rather than bare metal.

And - shock/horror! - I didn't undercoat my Alclad Polished Aluminium! I did end up with some variation in the finish but I kinda liked that as it added to the interest, IMHO. It was a bit risky. The other 'no-no' was then adding layers of varnish on top of the Alclad which lost some of its shiny metallic advantage. As I noted, I ended up with the sheen I have by bringing it altogether at the end with the polishing.

Looking forward to seeing the Mk 24.

Cheers,

Paul.

Edited November 15, 2020 by CplPunishment