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D-Day build – 1/48 P-51B Mustang

Started by Editor · 18 ≡ · ↻ 10 years ago

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Editor said 10 years, 8 months ago:

I don't think I have ever completed a model in under three months and so the prospect of actually getting this finished during the remaining time frame for this Group Build is daunting. Well, at least I will be able to offer some in-progress contributions!

My newly-arrived choice of kit is the Tamiya P-51B.

I think that an American-built plane in RAF colors flown by a pilot from one of the occupied countries may well represent the great multinational effort leading to the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. (Techmod decals)

However, I haven't completely made up my mind about the choice of markings - and my plan B would be "The Flying Scott" - an NMF machine (Eagle Cals sheet).

4 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Gregor d said 10 years, 8 months ago:

Like it :). Look forward to seeing this one progress Martin.
neil foster said 10 years, 7 months ago:

Hi Martin, looking forward to seeing your choice ,you've gotta a go a long way to beat a blue nose mustang for me though.
N.
Editor said 10 years, 7 months ago:

Yeah I know, that's why it is so hard to choose...
Simon Whitney said 10 years, 7 months ago:

It builds nice Martin, just watch out when you join the wings to the fuselage, a tight fit if I may say so.
Editor said 10 years, 7 months ago:

Sarted with the interior.

I've made a quick use of the Eduard Zoom set (belts + instrument panel) that I had lying around, and only then realized that I've made an April Fool of myself by forgetting that this Group Build calls for OOB!

Oh well, I suppose that the p/e stays where it is, I'm showing it (slightly ashamed) for everyone's enjoyment!

For whatever its worth, these pre-printed sets seem to be real time-savers even compared to conventional painting of the kit parts. I'm going to use more of these in the future as I don't like spending much time on the interiors.

State of the project today - dry-fitting the fuselage.

4 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Gregor d said 10 years, 7 months ago:

Looking good Martin. Your off to a flying start!
Editor said 10 years, 7 months ago:

@superfreak wrote;

It builds nice Martin, just watch out when you join the wings to the fuselage, a tight fit if I may say so.

Thanks, I'll be watching for that. The upper wing mating area is indeed very small on this kit
AL HOFFMAN said 10 years, 7 months ago:

Look forward to seeing this as a finished D-Day entry despite your despite your little slip on the Eduard pieces.
I built the "D" model version of this & despite being a Tamiya kit with it's usual friendly engineering I managed to get a gap at both upper wing roots. Still haven't figured it out how but I think I should have spread the fuselage in that area.
Erich Goldbach said 10 years, 7 months ago:

Martin, Looking good-for someone who "don’t like spending much time on the interiors" yours is looking darned good! Look forward to seeing more in-progress and the final build...made up our mind of whether it will be an RAF or Blue Nose bird yet?
Editor said 10 years, 7 months ago:

Still not decided about the color scheme. What puts me off with regard to the RAF choice is that their ground crew often made rather messy paint job on the stripes... While this could be replicated on a model, I'm afraid that it wouldn't make the model look convincing :/

On the other hand, searching on the web I found this RAF Mustang built by a Czech modeler. It "improves" a bit on what was probably the actual paint job on the a/c but the results are just fabulous. Truly inspirational
http://www.modelplac.cz/pages/recenze/p51tamls.htm

2 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Tom Cleaver said 10 years, 7 months ago:

I vote for the Polish-flown Mustang III. You have the symbolism just right in your first post.

As regards the stripes, use my trick of painting the black first, really sloppy, then mask it and do the white. The white ends up looking "messy" without being messy to do.
.
Chuck A. Villanueva said 10 years, 7 months ago:

Martin, don't fret (did I really say that) over the zoom set, I did the same thing on mine. The kit came with them thrown in on the deal from Ebay, so out of habit I just added the bits in the cockpit. The next set of images will see to that when I post the. Funny how we just do as we normally do. They are quick and easy as you said, saves time, besides my detail painting is not as precise as it once was. Anyway, your Mustang is coming along very well. Amazing how quick the airframe takes shape once the cockpit gets done. To me that is the step that takes me a couple of days. But once the cockpit is done the rest of the build is quite quick. The joy of building single set fighters. Looking forward to the rest of the build.

Chuck
Fly Navy
Editor said 10 years, 7 months ago:

Feeling like I'm hopelessly behind schedule for this build... well, at least I'm doing some progress again, for which I'm happy to report.

Inspired by Ludek Spunda's build I decided to add rivets to my P-51. It sounds like a major detailing task but actually added only about 2 hours to the build. Hopefully will also be the last detailing detour during this project.

The resulting rivets look very delicate, not sure if they are big enough to show under the coat of paint.

Next is the assembly of the major components and then - time for some paint!
AL HOFFMAN said 10 years, 7 months ago:

Hard to believe only two hours to do all those rivets. How did you keep your rivet lines equal distant from the panel ilnes?

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Group Build – D-Day

D-Day build – 1/48 P-51B Mustang