1/32 Tamiya p-51D-5

[Kov1985]

Hello everyone.

 

I recently started work on my 1/32 mustang by tamiya. It’s painfully obvious that the engineering of this kit surpasses almost everything else I’ve built. The only thing that’s comparable to it’s perfect fit and detail are other modern tamiya 1/32 kits. It’ll be a while before any manufacturer tops this for renditions of mustangs in my opinion.

 

obviously I didn’t bother posting anything here until I had a bit of work to show for it. The first couple pages of the instructions entail the engine, cockpit, sidewalls and underside radiator assembly. Usually when I do a plane like this, it’s at this point I discover that I must then hack cockpit floors with a hobby knife here, or apply putty with a shovel there to fill a void of doom with. This kit fit perfectly. And that doesn’t ever happen for me. So kudos to tamiya.

 

I used HGW belts that came with a resin dingy (yellow chair mattress thing). I was putting together the torment of the fabric seatbelts until the dreaded PE “ping” promptly crushed my dreams. I assume you’ve all had the “ping” experience, which was even more awesome when there’s only one copy of that particular buckle. 
 

lucky for me I also put an Eduard “look“ instrument panel toward the build, and it came with a pre painted PE seatbelt. So it got used instead of the pinged fabric one. I had to dirty it up a bit with some oil paint but It works. 
 

 

 

 

For the floor I sprayed it wood deck tan (tamiya) and then spread a bit of burnt umber oil paint across it with a little piece of packing foam to achieve the plywood look. A few dabs and twists to simulate timber knots, and I was happy with the result. So happy in fact I wasn’t too keen to go and cover it up with black paint for the non stick they had. I reckon a few, particularly the earlier ones like this wouldn’t have had it, but I’m perfectly happy being wrong about that. I like the looks so I left it.

 

 

 

Like on the battery box behind the seat, I added a few lead wires here and there to spruce things up a bit. I’m happy with the result, I don’t normally do things like this but the quality of the kit demanded I go the extra mile.

 

for painting, like always I black base with mr surfacer 1500. Then with SMS’s interior green I sprayed lightly with an angle from above to achieve shadowing effects, until I reached an appropriate opacity. For scratches and wear I dry brushed with a light green citadel base paint (“ogre” something or rather). It complements the interior green perfectly. Blast the tamiya clear gloss on for the barracuda stencil decals, enemal panel washes then a hit with Gunze flat coat.

 

 

quite happy with the result so far and can’t recommend the barracuda placards enough. The whole thing pops and looks awesome with them in place. Worth the time to do.

 

As for the engine I didn’t really go too overboard with it as I don’t really intend on showing it off. But it got mostly the same treatment.

 

 

hope you enjoy my saga with this build, I’ll post a do things worth posting. Been a top notch kit so far 👍

[Stef N.]

Just spotted this on hph.com. Looks high quality, beautifully detailed and painted. It will be interesting to follow along. All the best in your build.👍

[spitfire]

That is looking very tasty, the Tamiya 1/32 kits are renowned for their quality, I have several in the stash but have not got round to building any yet.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Norman]

Looking Good !