Tamiya 1/48 Mustang
Hello, fellas!
This is the well known Tamiya Mustang finished in the “clown suit” markings - no disrespect meant to the men who flew and mantained it, it is just that the flamboyant pattern applied to the cowling reminded me of a clown outfit! And it is great that Tamiya provides you with two decal options: one is solid, with the red background; the other is transparent, with only the blue diamond shapes, which precludes complicated color matching with the other red parts of the airframe. The NMF was by way of different shades of Vallejo Air metallics, which only adhere to a fully primed model. These paints look great, but are very fragile. Red was Humbrol, a shade that I very much like (but can't recall the number right now).
This boxing of the Mustang has a few extras: a command car, two figures and paper tanks. I built the car and painted the figure of the officer standing next to it, just didn't get around to taking pictures of them. The car is a very nice little kit, by the way.
If you're planning to build this kit with these markings, I recomend you cut the cowling decals in smaller sections and apply them and adjust as you go, it is much easier to get a good finish and avoid silvering, wrinkling etc. For Tamiya decals, known for being thick and a little harder to work with, these went suprisingly easy.
As always, all feedback is welcome.
Cheers!
beautiful ...love those blue diamonds
Thanks, Bob!
Yes, Bob’s right, it’s a beauty! Flawlessly built
Thank you, Pedro!
Nice work on this "old reliable" kit.
Thanks a lot, Mr. Cleaver! Indeed, it almost builds itself!
Love the markings. Which Vallejo metal paint are you using, the small bottle or the newer large bottle. I have not problem with the larger bottles sprayed over bare plastic as long as I let the paint set up for 24hrs or longer.
Thanks, George. The paints are old, I have bought them maybe 8 or 9 years ago. I like their system of fitting the bottles with the “eye drop” thingie, but even drying for that long, in my experience, they are very frail without some base coat underneath. Here I used the old lacquer based grey primer.
Great job on this. I've built this kit and have another in the stash but not with the extras yours came with ,that pilot figure looks great.
Well done.
Thank you, Neil! This being a limited edition by Tamiya, it may be a little harder to find nowadays, but make sure you grab one if you have the chance: it has great marking options and very well sculpted figures, specially the new pilot figure which I used, superior to the “clunky” original.
Your Mustang looks fantastic ! I like the nose colors that were used by this group and have one started that was flown by “Wild Bill” Crump. My Mustang was named Jeep after his pet coyote. Yours is an inspiration to get mine done, thank you.
On another note, years ago I became friends with a pilot who flew P-47’s over Europe in WW2. He flew two missions in support of the Normandy invasion on D Day. His name was Ed Malo and he flew in the sister unit that our Mustang models are marked after. Ed flew in the 356th Fighter Group, 359th Fighter Squadron from Martlesham Heath.
Ed told me that they were transitioning from the P-47 to the P-51 when he rotated back to the States.
His P-47 was marked as “OC *P bar”. The last letter P had a horizontal bar under it to denote it was the second aircraft in the unit that wore the letter P.
Ed wrote a book about his flying service in England and gave me a copy of his book and an autographed poster of his P-47. The poster was commissioned art work and is pretty cool.
Sadly he passed away about 6 or 7 years ago.
Thanks for sharing this build with us and it has been very inspiring for me.
“Liked”
Thanks a lot for the kind words, Louis, and for the great info! I wonder how a P-47 would look like with the “clown suit” markings on that huge cowling!
REPLYEDITDELETE
It's my pleasure to leave comments on your wonderful Mustang... Here's a few photos that I scanned of the art work and the book that Ed wrote. His book was called "Kesgrave Hall 1944". I edited the address out to give his family some privacy. I met him since my wife delivered his mail and she introduced us. We immediately hit it off... he was a good man.
Here's a reduced sample of the art work that depicted his plane.
He gave me several photos of his actual plane. Ed shared the P-47 with another pilot named Airus E. Bergstrom. Here is Ed sitting beside the nose of his P-47. On this side he named the plane "Phyllis". He would eventually marry Phyllis, and they remained married until his death many years later.
Here Ed is in the cockpit of his P-47. He's wearing the flight cap and goggles. The pilot he shared the plane with is standing outside on the wing and is wearing the typical officer's "crushed" hat...
This nest photo shows Bergstrom standing beside his half of the plane which has been named "Carmen".
In this last photo the ground crew and both pilots are sitting on the wing. Ed Malo is sitting closest to the fuselage, while Bergstrom is the man closest to the outer wing tip. Both pilots are dressed in flying gear.
Sadly Ed passed away almost 7 years ago on November 26th, 2012... He is missed. Someday I plan on building a P-47 model of this plane as a tribute to him.
That's a beautiful Mustang, and wow - what markings! You did an excellent job making them really look organic.
Outstanding job on the Mustang, one of my favorites. Color is terrific and the pilot is very realistic.