The Merits of American Style (1/72 Arma Hobby P-51B Mustang)

[Jackson Duvalier]

9 hours ago, Procopius said:

I hate Tamiya paint because it's so god damned finicky.

 

 

 

That's 180 degrees opposite of my experience.  After several years using it extensively I'm almost criminally careless with the stuff (I don't thoroughly mix settled paint before spraying, just pull pigment from the bottom of the jar with a cocktail stick), reducing it with unmeasured quantities of any handy-and-compatible thinner* directly in the airbrush cup and get generally splendid results.  What are you thinning it with and how much are you thinning it?

 

Another unsolicited after-the-fact pro-tip that might cause you bang your head against the wall: Tamiya acrylics clean up very easily with alcohol; if you need to remove some off of a cured enamel finish, it ought to wipe right off with an IPA-moistened cotton bud, leaving the enamel undercoat undamaged.  No sanding or invoking the wrath of the almighty required.  

 

I wish I'd seen this earlier, it might have spared you this thoroughly annoying side quest.  Lo siento, güey.  

 

Anyway, interesting to hear of your grand's service career, and good to see the early, pre-Malcolm Ding Hao! represented.  Press on!

 

 

* Tamiya X-20, GSI Mr. Color Leveling, 70 percent and 90 percent IPA from the druggist, hardware store lacquer thinner, even Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey-- just to prove the point; though I suspect a nice Plymouth gin might be more Britmodeller-ish.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Jackson Duvalier

[Procopius]

6 minutes ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

 

 

That's 180 degrees opposite of my experience.  After several years using it extensively I'm almost criminally careless with the stuff (I don't thoroughly mix settled paint before spraying, just pull pigment from the bottom of the jar with a cocktail stick), reducing it with unmeasured quantities of any handy-and-compatible thinner* directly in the airbrush cup and get generally splendid results.  What are you thinning it with and how much are you thinning it?

 

X-20A, and "skim milk consistency", probably, but as I'm mildly lactose intolerant, I haven't had a glass of milk in probably twenty years, so who knows.

 

7 minutes ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

 

Another unsolicited after-the-fact pro-tip that might cause you bang your head against the wall: Tamiya acrylics clean up very easily with alcohol; if you need to remove some off of a cured enamel finish, it ought to wipe right off with an IPA-moistened cotton bud, leaving the enamel undercoat undamaged.  No sanding or invoking the wrath of the almighty required.  

 

God dammit.

[Johnson]

5 hours ago, Procopius said:

I sanded back to primer, and then decided: won't get fooled again. I broke out my Colourcoats Anti-Flash White and applied it

A good repair Edward, best wishes for the remainder!

[perdu]

11 hours ago, Procopius said:

I done screwed up.

I went to mask off the tail and paint the ID band on the tailfin, but I completely forgot to lay down another gloss coat over it. This was a big mistake, because I was using Tamiya XF-2, and as I noted, I hate Tamiya paint because it's so god damned finicky.

 

PXL_20220430_193552958 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

As you can see, it did its old trick of cracking on contact with any other paint. 

 

I'm spitting mad right now. Two atomic bombs were not enough. 

Dear old man, why fight Tamiya paint?

 

I love the stuff and cannot possibly see why anyone would have negatives about it.

 

I would have used a strip of white decal for that anyway, much better than masking and demasking over already decalled entities.

 

But I see no reason to worry, Edward is back in control, just remember to allow the Colourcoats to dry including flash off time before you do anything more.

 

On consideration of your build I popped into stash room two for a look at the unbuilt P51B of the Airfix variety, hidden deep into its box...

 

It may soon see the light of day but first I have to find undercarriage legs.

 

Not being WW2 oriented under normal circumstances I whipped its main gear legs away to be used on the Marines H-19 I did a few years ago when overcoming some of the Airfix Whirlwind deficiencies...

 

You induced a spark young man, whether I will thank or cuss you is in the wind.

[Procopius]

6 hours ago, perdu said:

 

 

On consideration of your build I popped into stash room two for a look at the unbuilt P51B of the Airfix variety, hidden deep into its box...

 

It may soon see the light of day but first I have to find undercarriage legs.

 

 

What I'm hearing is I should send you an Arma Mustang. That's what I'm hearing, isn't it?

[The Spadgent]

12 hours ago, Procopius said:

 

 

Swaddled and back in the game.

6 hours ago, perdu said:

 

 I popped into stash room two for a look at the unbuilt P51B of the Airfix variety, hidden deep into its box...

 

Wwwwhhhhooaaa.  Whhhowa wind that back a little Bill. “Stash ROOM two” ?? Room! How many sash rooms do you have?  Enquiring minds needs to know.

3 minutes ago, Procopius said:

What I'm hearing is I should send you an Arma Mustang. That's what I'm hearing, isn't it?

I think it is. For stash room 101.

[Procopius]

30 minutes ago, The Spadgent said:

How many sash rooms do you have? 

Perdu knows a discerning gentleman can never have too many sashes.

[perdu]

There is a severe paucity of space in either stash #1 or #2 so thanks but no thanks Edward.

 

I expect I can make the necessary pieces by scratching them.

 

[opus999]

Sorry to see the absolutely annoying side track with the Tamiya paint, and happy to see you worked it out with a minimum of fuss.  The landing gear bay is incredible!  I really wish I could do that.

 

Your pin wash looks nice.  I gave up completely on pin washes because I was spending a ton of time with terrible results.  I exclusively use a .02mm Pencil now.  I still use oil washes on control surfaces and for stains, just not pin washes anymore.

 

This model looks lovely as Ding Hao! I have shied away from Ding Hao since it was the most common P-51B model among all of my friends -- being the only Monogram scheme available.  However, its been years since I've seen it (no modelling friends anymore -- except for here ) and I think it looks terrific.

 

You've really sold me on this Arma kit . Having done 2 P-51B's and an A-36 in the last year or so I was resisting the urge to get one.   but..... 

[Cookenbacher]

Aaaaargh, paint woes this late in the game are the worst. You're exhibiting excellent fortitude my friend.

[Hook]

4 hours ago, Procopius said:

Perdu knows a discerning gentleman can never have too many sashes.

Indeed. How else to sashay?

[Navy Bird]

Good recovery Edward.    

 

I'm with you concerning Tamiya paint - it is definitely not my go-to choice. That means the two of us can be the required Britmodeller contrarians. Suits me well - how about you?

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Procopius]

7 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

I'm with you concerning Tamiya paint - it is definitely not my go-to choice. That means the two of us can be the required Britmodeller contrarians. Suits me well - how about you?

 

At last, associated with Bill! It's not in terms of talent, but I'll take it.

 

10 hours ago, opus999 said:

You've really sold me on this Arma kit . Having done 2 P-51B's and an A-36 in the last year or so I was resisting the urge to get one.   but..... 

 

It's absolutely worth it. Their best kit yet, which is saying something. HOWEVER, I am feeling very salty about the flaps, since I just went through my references to see if the portion that's exposed when they're dropped was the upper fuselage colour or not, and found, since I needed the opposite, dozens of photos of P-51Bs on the ground with the flaps up. I feel this is something the aftermarket world could stand to address, or which perhaps might be included at least for their hopefully forthcoming P-51D/K.

 

That brings me to the flaps. After running 3.5 miles at not great speed (9 minutes and fifty seconds a mile, atrocious), I made it down to the grotto full of piddle and vinegar. Can we say piddle here?  Hm, no, apparently not. Side note: when I headed to Telford in 2019, I was terribly worried that people would think less of me after they discovered how often I swore in person. They hid it well.

 

I added Alclad to the parts of the flaps that are exposed only when dropped, based on (DANGER WILL ROBINSON) some photos of a restored flying example. 

 

PXL_20220502_031728019 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

At the  same time, I opted to paint the 75-gallon drop tanks Aluminium as well. 

 

PXL_20220502_031736830 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

The kit advises to paint them neutral grey, and I think there's some evidence to support either paint scheme, but (a) I didn't want to change colours again, and (b), it adds "visual interest".

 

I also did the wheel hubcaps, but didn't take a photo of them.

 

I then masked off the prop tips and painted it Gunze gloss black. 

 

PXL_20220502_031741454 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

Tomorrow I'll mask it off again and use rubber black on the cuffs. The difference in real life is so subtle I don't think I've ever noticed it on the approximately one billion P-51Ds I've seen at airshows here (though I don't really care about P-51Ds and a lot have uncuffed props nowadays, so I may have missed it), but it will hopefully look cool and make me seem like a very competent modeller, which I am not, as this thread has shown several times over.

 

Oh, right, and one other thing:

 

PXL_20220502_031830739 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

That sordid part of this saga is now hopefully well behind us. Jeepers Fancy Christmas. 

 

Also: researching "Black Friday", the 29 December 1944 massacre of III/JG54, for my next build. I am certain prior researchers looked at all the same combat reports I'm poring over, plus had access to some still-living participants (well...on the RAF side, anyway), and whatever German records survived, but I think I may (if I don't get lazy) be able to produce a fairly detailed narrative from the Allied perspective of somewhat greater length than the ones in 2nd TAF Volume III or either the Smith/Creek Fw 190 or Crandall Fw190D books, and I almost wonder if it wouldn't be worth trying to turn it into a magazine article of some sort, though I haven't the foggiest idea how to approach that.

[AliGauld]

On 29/04/2022 at 04:05, Procopius said:

1970s episodes of Doctor Who

That's what I call telly.

Pertwee, Baker or both you can't go wrong.

 

Fantastic work on the Mustang as well.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[Procopius]

7 hours ago, AliGauld said:

That's what I call telly.

Pertwee, Baker or both you can't go wrong.

Mostly Pertwee, surprisingly! I'm a Sylvester McCoy man, myself, but his episodes are less kiddie-friendly. Shame the show ended in 1989 and never had any further episodes made after Survival.

[AliGauld]

14 minutes ago, Procopius said:

Mostly Pertwee, surprisingly! I'm a Sylvester McCoy man, myself, but his episodes are less kiddie-friendly. Shame the show ended in 1989 and never had any further episodes made after Survival.

I can't disagree with that. "Fenric" is quite possibly my favourite story ever.

You've got to love the manipulative little Scottish git.

Enough thread hijack from me.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[HAMP man]

13 hours ago, Procopius said:

 

At last, associated with Bill! It's not in terms of talent, but I'll take it.

 

 

It's absolutely worth it. Their best kit yet, which is saying something. HOWEVER, I am feeling very salty about the flaps, since I just went through my references to see if the portion that's exposed when they're dropped was the upper fuselage colour or not, and found, since I needed the opposite, dozens of photos of P-51Bs on the ground with the flaps up. I feel this is something the aftermarket world could stand to address, or which perhaps might be included at least for their hopefully forthcoming P-51D/K.

 

That brings me to the flaps. After running 3.5 miles at not great speed (9 minutes and fifty seconds a mile, atrocious), I made it down to the grotto full of piddle and vinegar. Can we say piddle here?  Hm, no, apparently not. Side note: when I headed to Telford in 2019, I was terribly worried that people would think less of me after they discovered how often I swore in person. They hid it well.

 

I added Alclad to the parts of the flaps that are exposed only when dropped, based on (DANGER WILL ROBINSON) some photos of a restored flying example. 

 

PXL_20220502_031728019 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

At the  same time, I opted to paint the 75-gallon drop tanks Aluminium as well. 

 

PXL_20220502_031736830 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

The kit advises to paint them neutral grey, and I think there's some evidence to support either paint scheme, but (a) I didn't want to change colours again, and (b), it adds "visual interest".

 

I also did the wheel hubcaps, but didn't take a photo of them.

 

I then masked off the prop tips and painted it Gunze gloss black. 

 

PXL_20220502_031741454 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

Tomorrow I'll mask it off again and use rubber black on the cuffs. The difference in real life is so subtle I don't think I've ever noticed it on the approximately one billion P-51Ds I've seen at airshows here (though I don't really care about P-51Ds and a lot have uncuffed props nowadays, so I may have missed it), but it will hopefully look cool and make me seem like a very competent modeller, which I am not, as this thread has shown several times over.

 

Oh, right, and one other thing:

 

PXL_20220502_031830739 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

That sordid part of this saga is now hopefully well behind us. Jeepers Fancy Christmas. 

 

Also: researching "Black Friday", the 29 December 1944 massacre of III/JG54, for my next build. I am certain prior researchers looked at all the same combat reports I'm poring over, plus had access to some still-living participants (well...on the RAF side, anyway), and whatever German records survived, but I think I may (if I don't get lazy) be able to produce a fairly detailed narrative from the Allied perspective of somewhat greater length than the ones in 2nd TAF Volume III or either the Smith/Creek Fw 190 or Crandall Fw190D books, and I almost wonder if it wouldn't be worth trying to turn it into a magazine article of some sort, though I haven't the foggiest idea how to approach that.

I sure you are aware, but JIC have you listened to 'We have ways of making you talk'? Al Murray and James Holland, should be right up your Strassa.

[JosephLalor]

On 5/1/2022 at 3:41 PM, Procopius said:

Perdu knows a discerning gentleman can never have too many sashes.

His valet might draw the line at cummerbunds tho'

[Steve Coombs]

 

2 hours ago, Procopius said:

Mostly Pertwee, surprisingly! I'm a Sylvester McCoy man, myself, but his episodes are less kiddie-friendly. Shame the show ended in 1989 and never had any further episodes made after Survival.

 Nothing beats the Hinchcliffe/Holmes horrors of the mid-1970s, with Tom Baker in his pomp!

[Procopius]

8 hours ago, Steve Coombs said:

 

 Nothing beats the Hinchcliffe/Holmes horrors of the mid-1970s, with Tom Baker in his pomp!

 

You mean Louise Jamison, surely. 

 

10 hours ago, AliGauld said:

I can't disagree with that. "Fenric" is quite possibly my favourite story ever.

 

It scared the absolute bejeezus out of me when I was twelve or so. I've cooled on it a bit as I've gotten older and more anal and unpleasant to be around during historically-themed TV programs. Remembrance of the Daleks is probably my absolute favourite episode from that era. So good, so good. Actually, come to think of it, I like very few of the actual McCoy episodes, I just loved his Doctor (and Ace). Hm. 

 

8 hours ago, HAMP man said:

I sure you are aware, but JIC have you listened to 'We have ways of making you talk'? Al Murray and James Holland, should be right up your Strassa.

 

I'm vaguely aware, and I know who both of them are, more or less, with rather more familiarity with James Holland than Al Murray -- he's the "pub landlord" standup comic and also an armour modeller, yes?

 

Anyhow, pins are on:

 

PXL_20220503_001438145 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

As are the flaps:

 

PXL_20220502_235519841 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

And the spinner:

 

PXL_20220502_235020426 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

The wheels were slightly tricky, even though Arma has very helpfully keyed the legs, primarily because I don't think about Mustangs as often as I do Spitfires and I don't have an instinctual feel for how the aircraft should sit. There was some cursing and moving of the gear about a bit as the superglue set. 

 

 

[AdrianMF]

21 hours ago, Procopius said:

Side note: when I headed to Telford in 2019, I was terribly worried that people would think less of me after they discovered how often I swore in person. They hid it well.

Or maybe not enough…

[Procopius]

Inner gear doors on:

 

PXL_20220503_032124099 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

In an unusual misstep, the kit instructions tell you to model these doors dropped. In fact, most often you will see them closed on the P-51B/C/Mustang III, unlike the P-51D, where they tend to be dropped on the ground. It's quite possible to make them closed with a little trimming of the kit parts, but it struck me as an unusual oversight. HOWEVER:

 

1651548145500-dfff2575-753e-4e49-bcaf-a7da7cf0cc0e_ by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

It could happen.

 

Serial number and drop tanks are on as well:

 

PXL_20220503_031314908 by Edward IX, on Flickr

 

A major major Supreme Court decision has been leaked in draft form over here. My employer is a national legal professional association, and I expect my life is going to be quite miserable for some time.

[Steve Coombs]

5 hours ago, Procopius said:

 

You mean Louise Jamison, surely. 

Ah, one of the few TV actresses who needed to apply makeup to her backside, by all accounts.

[rob85]

I appear to have dropped in right at the end. Sounds like your life with two boys is just as hectic as ever, and now you will have a girl! Lord, number 3, congratulations hopefully. 
 

the kit looks fantastic, foolishly I don’t have One as bought one of their hurricanes instead. I need to rectify this error.

 

it looks brilliant, really nice paint work and tone variation!

 

Rob 

[Fritag]

This is one jolly accomplished P51, PC.  The finish looks mighty fine in those last few photos.

 

Oh and good luck with the fall out from the alleged draft SC decision.  It’s big news over here too.