Bodney Blue Nose
Bought back around '91 and been with me ever since. This is an original issue Hasegawa 1:48 P-51D which I started just two-and-a-half weeks ago as a side-build to my Tamiya 1:48 F-14. Also served as a test-bed for new (to me) metallic finishes as you can no longer buy my preferred AK Xtreme Metals here in NZ.
Haven't tried too hard, didn't even add any weathering other than the exhaust & cordite stains, this is never going anywhere near a competition table, but just enough so that it doesn't look out of place in the cabinet with my other WWII Allied builds. The blue is yet another Mk.1 eyeball acrylic mix, yellows are Humbrol & Tamiya enamels. Metals are SMS, Tamiya & Mr Color lacquers - I especially recommend Tamiya's LP70 Gloss Aluminium for the painted main wing surfaces as (IMHO) it gives just the right metal grey (not NMF) tone.
Also worth noting is Aeromasters' 30+ year old decal sheet IP 48-09, wonderful quality control back then, they behaved like they'd been printed yesterday !.
As ever all comments, questions and criticism welcomed.
Totally agree about LP-70 as the right paint for the painted wings on a P-51. Don't know why you're complaining about the model and poor-mouthing it. It looks fine!
Not complaining, Tom, but I really could have tried harder - like many I'm my own worst critic (plus it was around 80F yesterday so I was quite grumpy in the 'finishing off' phase !).
Nice job Ian.
I've been using the SMS metallics with good results.
Well done, love the paint work
Excellent looking Mustang, Ian @ij001
Excellent results Ian 👏👏👏👏👏
Looks good enough for a competition table to me, Ian, and the Hasegawa kit stands up well beside the other modern kits as well. Congratulations on this striking bluenose!
Very nice work Ian.
Pretty fine work for a test build. Love those blue-nosed bastards. Thanks for sharing.
Great-looking Mustang, Ian (@ij001). I think your paint choice looks great. Xtreme Metals are also my favorite NMF. Hopefully they didn't stop making them. AK has a habit of dropping one line of paint and replacing with a "new and improved" line of paints.
Excellent result and switching to the new metallics, Ian!