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Julian Shawyer
34 articles

Big Beautiful Doll

November 9, 2017 · in Aviation · · 33 · 2.6K

This is the aircraft of Lt. Col. John. D. Landers, P-51D, Big Beautiful Doll.
This is the North American P-51D in 1/48th scale which came with
Cartograph decals. The model is painted with various shades of Alclad 11 & Aeromaster Acrylics. I built the kit straight out of the box with no added detail.

Reader reactions:
8  Awesome

9 additional images. Click to enlarge.


33 responses

  1. Outstanding ! What a big beautiful Mustang !

  2. Very nice work, my friend...I wish other Tamiya 48th aircraft included this particular figure/pilot set (it's the only one I know of that has the pilot's arm on the canopy rail in a familiar pose - and the "hands-in-the-pocket" pose for the second one - especially for ground-based dioramas). 🙂 🙂

  3. Julian, this is a (not-so-Big) Beautiful Doll of a model! I'm with Craig in liking both figures. Great poses - although every Military or Veteran knows that hands in the pocket are strictly verboten! HaHaHa!

    Great job, amigo!

  4. Absolutely gorgeous. Another triumph, Julian!

  5. Julian, This looks great. A famous/popular scheme done right is always nice to see. Well done !

  6. Marvelous Mustang ! and figures.

  7. Nice work, Julian. You did it proud, especially hiding the sprue attachment point on the windscreen!

    • Thank you John. If I recall correctly, this release came with a new set of transparencies. The sprue gate was on the bottom edge of the moulding, so the canopy side was untouched.

  8. Absolutely STUNNING!

  9. You can never get tired of seeing a Mustang, especially one that is so well built, Love the paint work and the build, you did a great job, well done.

  10. You say "out of the box" but it is only illustrative how great these modern kits (and I mean since mid-1990s) really are if only finished with care & skill. This looks very good indeed. Note to self: must build OOB more often!

  11. Excellent Mustang. The whole vignette is very well made and composed. P-51 is incredibly well painted. Are the checkers made with decals?

  12. Having seen the headline I was looking forward to seeing some nice nose art, oh well, never mind, it's certainly a great looking Mustang, and those figures definitely add a certain something.

  13. Beautiful work and a really nice result.

    Modelers have complained since it was first released that a major drawback of this kit is that the canopy cannot be opened properly (i.e., with the rear end atop the fuselage, not sticking into the air). One solution is the Falcon/Squadron vac canopy, which is very nice. One can also modify the kit with an easy trick: thin down the edges of the canopy frame from the inside, creating an angle about half the total depth of the frame. Do not do this to the visible end, the rest will not be seen. Then round down the fuselage at the rear of the canopy. Voila! You can now place the canopy correctly, and no one will notice what you did. It's really very easy. HTH

  14. Lovely build Julian!

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