North American P-51D мустанг

[Mike]

Go Col! Where was the camera in the end?

[Fifer54]

Go Col! Where was the camera in the end?

Yes, tell us! The Britmodeller massive has a right to know!!

Great work,Col.

Edited September 15, 2010 by MadNurseGaz

[Col.]

Precious little progress to report gang Made a new pitot probe and splashed some colour on to test seams, tonight the 'pit and wheel wells have been masked with wet tissue, the compressor and airbrush are set up in the garage ready for paint to be pointed at it tomorrow.

Now as for the camera; while I was sure I'd used it since we came home from the Lonach Gathering it turned up in a bag of second-hand books we'd bought there and forgotten about. So the down-side is no excuse for a new camera - the up-side is finding some interesting books we found on the cheap.

[Col.]

Topside green (Humbrol 101) on the seams. Did the same underneath with a much newer tin of 89 that didn't brush on nearly so well. Excuse the continued use of crap photos. Daylight tomorrow may yield better images.

That was a few days ago and after setting everything up for spraying I got impatient and fired on the first colour. Revell SM 301 white on fuselage sides and tail for reasons that will become obvious later once its dry and masked.

You can see the chosen colours laid out in a rough order of application behind the model in the last photo. What began as a quick search was throwing up some interesting information on Soviet camouflage and paint, to say nothing of several controversies, which led me to investigate and plan potential schemes for a few days.

[Col.]

A short update since it's late and I should have been in bed hours ago. Went up to the in-laws for supper and didn't get home until much later than anticipated but the idea of getting the underside sprayed led me out to the garage and produced this

Sure the neighbours think I'm nuts for firing up the compressor at 2300 hrs but tough. A coat of Humbrol 89 as it seemed the best match for a middle-ground to the conflicting information I've come across. Sure I can think up a suitable story to justify the colour if its wrong

[TaiidanTomcat]

Nice smooth finish on the underside

[Col.]

Nice smooth finish on the underside

Cheers but a bad photo hides a few blemishes

Been working away slowly over the weekend and got the upper surface green laid down on Friday evening using Humbrol 101

A couple of areas where coverage was a touch thin dictated where the black disruptive pattern was going. This was done by brushing on Humbrol 33 although with hindsight spraying may have been a better option since I've read in real life only a light coat was applied to VVS machines and the underlying green often showed through to an extent.

The right side masking looks to have been a bit more successful but I'll resist any touching up until after the final colour is sprayed.

[Col.]

Hmm, fired on the final colour yesterday afternoon since I had the day off and it still hasn't dried, since I can't touch her progress has ground to a halt

I'll resist showing a photo as I don't want to handle her if at all possible until the paint is dry. Quite frustrating as all that needs done is a little touching up then some work on the undercarriage and exhausts.

[CPNGROATS]

Have you tried a hand held hair dryer on a low setting..? I've used it from time to time to "speed" things up..

Cheers,

ggc

[Col.]

Cheers for the idea ggc. Will be tomorrow evening before I get back to her but shall keep that in mind.

[robw_uk]

looking good... TBH I like the "battered" LHS markings - just look like the plane has been used (of course if you are not going to weather the rest to match it might look a bit odd)... how did you create the numerical masks - did you copy form an image or look for a good match?

[TaiidanTomcat]

Oh wow! That is some awesome paint masking. Great colors too

[Col.]

Cheers chaps, not had a chance to do much over the last few days but at least the red has now dried, still plenty to do but at least the main colours are down and it looks as I had hoped and planned. As for the masks Rob; spent a while looking at various Soviet slogans, translating them, researching if any common fonts were used etc. before planning out a rough draft on a profile of the fuselage. This was then tidied up and a piece of cellophane stuck over it with low-tack masking tape then stuck to that and the letters and numbers traced on. Once removed the characters were cut out and used to mask the initial coat of white paint. Same was done to make an outline mask for the red stars and all colours were sprayed in several thin coats at a relatively low pressure. Still got a bit of creep under the masks along panel lines but nothing major and easily tidied up. Happy enough with the results for a 1st attempt.

Hopefully get some time tomorrow evening to make a little more progress on the undercarriage and slightly disappointing exhausts.

[Muller]

Love the scheme, it looks right on a mustang!

I'm thinking of changing the green I had planned to use on my F-15, it was going to be OD and WEM US Dark Green, I might go wth Hu101 instead

[Col.]

Cheers Keith. Took a while to pick a green but a bit of research convinced me it was accurate and happy with it now.

Got the red panels on and a bit of touch-up painting done.

Gave the black a light dry-brush with Humbrol 66 then used more to weather in some gun-smoke and exhaust staining.

[TaiidanTomcat]

I love the red!!

[Col.]

Cheers TT, me too was in two minds about only using it on the nose for a while but the outer wing panels saved another four stars masking up twice

Nothing much worth photographing at the moment but made tinkering progress on detailing the undercarriage legs and adding or touching up some small details so she's still moving forward. Hope to be finished within the remaining 12 days. Doubt I'll do too much more in the way of weathering as the final instalment of the back-story - yes there's even more to come on that - will explain.

[Daniel]

Now that's a cool colour scheme!

Dan

[Col.]

Although both this model and the Group Build were finished a while back I felt the need to finish this thread properly with a final 'In-progress' shot.

A bit of reshaping and addition of extra detail to the main undercarriage legs as shown above left only the scratch-built landing light and modified exhausts to add for this one to be called finished. In the end that was done at 23:45 on the eve of deadline

White 27 as seen during the spring of 45 over Northern Korea.

With the white over-spray that worked so well to camouflage the aircraft in winter skies and snow-covered ground newly washed off they momentarily regained a fresh look that did not last long during the hard use of constant combat. With Allied troops fast approaching the Korean peninsula and Japanese mainland the Soviets fought hard to gain as much ground as possible before the eventual fall of Japan. As gains were made on the ground so fighting in the air reached ever greater levels of ferocity. Japanese air elements were being seen in greater numbers as they tried to cover a full-scale retreat from Korea deemed necessary to protect the homeland from an inevitable invasion that must soon come as Allied troop took the last few occupied islands. A paradox of the situation was the Japanese employing bombers to attack Soviet troops and having to fight off Soviet fighters without the protection of fighter escorts while Japanese fighter pilots tried to defend their country from US bombers.

When Japan finally surrendered under the weight of atomic bombs being dropped on two of its major cities the Red Army had made considerable gains in both Europe and Asia, bringing the new Communist Doctrine with it in a way that pleased Trotsky's ambitions for global evolution, although the toll extracted by a long and hard war ensured there was little opportunity for such a spread to continue until after economic recovery. By the time the USSR was able to think of further expansion a more moderate regime had come to power and ambitious eyes were turned to the heavens as the space race began.

While the contribution made by Western types such as the P-51 was undeniable the official Soviet history books made no mention of them and pilots were forbidden to reveal they achieved victories in combat while flying such types until recently. That the Red Army needed military assistance from the west was seen as an embarrassment to the Soviets and thus little record now exists of their use.