cger Posted September 2, 2021 Share Posted September 2, 2021 Hi guys, here are some pics of one of my recent builds. I have always been attracted by the P51As in the CBI Air commando group markings, in particular by the huge exhaust stains. In 1/48 scale, there are unfortunately few choices available: the best one is clearly the old Accurate Miniatures kit, which is hard to find today, and quite expensive on Ebay. Being somewhat tightfisted, I chose instead the ICM kit, which is well-known for its many problems. The ICM kit is a strange beast, some parts are nicely detailed and molded, some others are full of flash. The most visible problem is the air intake which does not have the correct shape for a P51A . The air intake of the kit was sawed off and a new one was made with plasticard, cut with a Silhouette Portrait machine. The second problem is the transparent parts, which are ugly. I kept the windscreen and the back parts after polishing them, and heat formed transparent plastic to make the two movable panels. The framing was cautiously attached with minute drops of CA glue. The inner gear doors were rebuild with brass sheet (I know that they are supposed to be closed on Mustangs, but I wanted to show them open). You can see other problems that I forgot to correct, for example the spinner is too large. Anyway let's hope that Eduard will some day release all the Allison powered Mustangs, for which there is plenty of nice marking options. There are two tricks that I learned during the build and that v should be shared: the exhaust stains were airbrushed with artist oil paints, thinned with artist quality white spirit. After a few hours of drying, the rainmarks were done with a sharp brush dipped in white spirit. It is quite possible to airbrush oil paints, if you use very light coats and go slowly. The second trick was used to produce the marking Carols Daddy: I tried several times to cut a mask with the Silhouette, but the mask kept tearing apart and deforming. Then I had the idea to cut the markings with the Silhouette in white decal film: the various letters were then carefully placed one by one on the kit, with a nice result I think. The other markings were done with masks as usual. Finally the painting was done with Gunze and Tamiya acrylics, and the weathering with oil paints. To do the base I cast several resin copies of Tamiya barrels and of sheets of PSP plates. This was glued on a foam block with sides made with balsa. I hope you will like it, best, Christian. 54 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CheshireGap Posted September 2, 2021 Share Posted September 2, 2021 Excellent work, cger! Particularly enjoying the rain effects on the exhaust stain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmerboy Posted September 2, 2021 Share Posted September 2, 2021 That’s drop dead gorgeous! Love what you have done with the paint and weathering, good job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForestFan Posted September 2, 2021 Share Posted September 2, 2021 Fantastic, and great weathering effects! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted September 2, 2021 Share Posted September 2, 2021 I agree with all the above and will add that I really like the way the model is displayed. Very nice diorama. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autle Posted September 2, 2021 Share Posted September 2, 2021 Excellent looking model despite the kit fighting back. The weathering is the star of the show and something I've wanted to create myself, not sure my version would be as good as this though. Glad you shared the pictures, brilliant workmanship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverkite211 Posted September 2, 2021 Share Posted September 2, 2021 Very, very nicely done, those exhaust stains are superb!👍 And, by the way, if I remember correctly the inner gear doors on the P-51A/A-36 Apache operated differently from the later versions of Mustang and would be in the open position on the ground, I know when I built my AM Apache that's how the doors are positioned and I have an unbuilt Mustang Mk-1A that would have you do that, as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Brantley Posted September 3, 2021 Share Posted September 3, 2021 That is a great looking Pony! Well done x two for the weathering work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winenut Posted September 3, 2021 Share Posted September 3, 2021 Wow ....that really is amazing Congratulations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokyo Raider Posted September 3, 2021 Share Posted September 3, 2021 Really nice model... I can see how interesting this subject is! Nice to see an early type Mustang! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmaks Posted September 3, 2021 Share Posted September 3, 2021 Love the stain effect and the overall weathering. We are getting spoiled with some of the kits nowadays that seem perfect out of the box. It's always a pleasure to see less than desirable kits made to look so good - that's where a lot of a modeler's skill comes in. Fantastic 👏👏 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cger Posted September 3, 2021 Author Share Posted September 3, 2021 (edited) Yes you are quite right, we are spoiled. After several Eduard And Tamiya kits, tackling an old ICM kit was a big change ! many thanks for the kind comments, Christian Edited September 4, 2021 by cger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanond Posted September 3, 2021 Share Posted September 3, 2021 Fantastic! Love the exhaust stain very much, in addition to everything about the model. Very well done. Nanond Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiet Mike Posted September 3, 2021 Share Posted September 3, 2021 The attention to detail on this is off the scale, love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulfman Posted September 3, 2021 Share Posted September 3, 2021 Beautiful build on the Mustang, love the weathering ! Wulfman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogtail2 Posted September 6, 2021 Share Posted September 6, 2021 Excellent result. I think the engine has been running a bit lean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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