1/48 Eduard Mustang Mk. IV (Natural Metal Finish, RAAF, January 1945)

[Chris Baer]

I'm pleased to present my most recent build, Eduard's 1/48 Mustang Mk. IV in a natural metal scheme depicting KH716 as flown by Squadron Leader Murray P. Nash of No. 3 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, in Fano, Italy, January, 1945. The model is presented on a pre-made base by Zoukei-Mura, which remains the best $20 I ever spent in this hobby.

 

 

The build overall was smooth, with only a couple difficult areas, all of my own doing. The Mk. IV version requires a few features to be removed from the base P-51 fuselage, and I made a right hash of excising an extraneous hatch under the air scoop, resulting in several rounds of filling (with putty and super glue) and some haphazard re-scribing. Please respect the rivets that were lost forever in the process and avoid too a close examination of the area.

 

 

The propeller, spinner, and various flappy bits (elevators, ailerons, etc.) can all be added at the end of the build with no issues, making the painting easier. I used some, but not all, of the included PE parts, and after taking pictures I realized that the starboard gear bay landing light is still stuck to a piece of blue-tac atop a toothpick in my spray booth.

 

 

The finish is a combination of Mr. Color C-8 Silver for the puttied/painted wings and fabric covered elevators and Mr. Color Super Metallic SM-201 Super Fine Silver 2 for the natural metal. Mr. Color lacquers are my go-to paints, so I opted this time for their metallics as opposed to the Alclad I used for my prior NMF build.

 

 

I started with a primer base of Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Grey, and then taped off a few fuselage panels to get some tonal variation on the cheap before covering the aircraft overall with Mr. Color GX-2 Ueno Black, a very durable and glossy base coat for the metallics to come. Since I view every new build as an opportunity to buy new stuff, I picked up Mr. Rapid Thinner, which Gunze recommends for their metallics. The C-8 Silver sprayed neat and true, and I thought the SM-201 Super Fine Silver did the same . . . until I masked over it to pick out the exhaust panels with dark iron paint.

 

 

Sheets of the Super Fine Silver came off with the tape, down to the gloss black undercoat, as frightening display of paint lifting as you're likely to see. I sanded down the Super Fine Silver, which required distressingly little encouragement, and then resprayed and prayed, using my standard Mr. Levelling Thinner instead of the rapid thinner. I then sprayed a gloss coat -- Alclad Aqua Gloss -- on top as soon as it dried to protect it, which pretty much did the trick. A few areas still chipped on me with further handling, but they've been hidden as artfully as possible in the pictures.

 

 

I'm not sure if the lifting came from not completely degreasing the black gloss undercoat after handling (I know, I know!), the rapid thinner, the paint/thinner ratio, the ambient temperature (on the cold side), or my just failing to properly propitiate the gremlins who live in my airbrush. I'm assuming it's a combination of all of those factors. The final colors look metal enough, but I think I might go back to Alclad for my NMF needs in the future.

 

 

This build saw my first experience with Eduard's "removable film" decals. They were hit and miss for me. I wound up with some tearing/chipping on a few of the decals, including the "CV" code on the port fuselage and the red/blue flash on both sides of the stabilizer. The tears at least look sort of like organic paint chipping/wear. I'm an inveterate decal wiggler, trying to get them just right, and I think I didn't get the problem decals bedded down sufficiently. When they worked, though, they worked a treat. For the most part, I found that a nice dollop of MicroSol left overnight did the trick, and I just worried around the edges of the film with a toothpick until I peeled up enough to grab the film with tweezers. But it was nerve-racking.

 

 

Can't argue with the results, though -- the decals with the removed film look sharp and almost painted on, both the main decals and the stencils, the latter of which I applied perhaps 80%. I covered over the decals with a further coat of Aqua Gloss, as I was uncertain how the exposed decals would react to the white spirit and oil paints in the next step.

 

 

I wanted a fairly dirty finish, to reflect the wear and hard living of a plane in-theater, so I doused it with a wash of thinned Payne's Grey and Black oils. I tried to leave some build-up in panel corners, and I think the overall effect helped give some dimension and staining to the natural metal finish. Pencils and pigments rounded out the weather process.

 

 

On the whole, I'm pleased enough with the final result. It should look good on a shelf with the striking red spinner and sky blue rudder adorned with the Southern Cross. I certainly learned a few things about working with a natural metal finish, and while it's nowhere near my best build -- the faults being my own rather than with the kit -- I'm no longer apprehensive about NMF schemes. (Though I still think I'll reward myself with an overall grey USAF bird next just to recover . . .)

 

Thank you for reading and for taking a look.

[georgeusa]

What a pretty Mustang all shiny and everything.  Thanks for sharing.

[Bell209]

Very nice indeed! Thanks for some of the learning tips, too.

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 1/12/2023 at 6:16 PM, Chris Baer said:

I realized that the starboard gear bay landing light is still stuck to a piece of blue-tac atop a toothpick in my spray

 

🤣🤣

 

Never mind the model is still beautiful.

[Pete in a shed]

Thats a beauty. A fine finish even after the problems along the way.

Pete

[Chris Baer]

Thank you for the kind words, all.

 

I'd like to think I try to live by Boatie McB's tag line there, and "Model Bravely!" Definitely the right attitude to have with a hobby than can humble and inspire and amaze all within the same session at the workbench . . .

[Darwinism]

Great work Chris. I’m still unsure as to whether I love or hate the new Eduard decals but I think you’re right about the chipping looking organic.

[Jay Gee]

Lovely job there Chris, the NMF looks great. What shade of blue did you use on the rudder? 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Jay Gee

[BerndM]

Lovely Mustang.

The NMF came out fine.

[Chris Baer]

9 hours ago, Jay Gee said:

What shade of blue did you use on the rudder? 

 

The rudder is Mr. Color C34 Sky Blue, sprayed on top of a grey primer and covered with Winsor and Newton Galleria Matt. It's the color specified by Eduard, so it should be a close match to the color of the squadron codes on the fuselage.