I have been posting up some upcoming builds that I have made plans for a while now. This happens to be another one that I want to get cracking on very soon... 🙂

This one was recently inspired by several of our fellow Imodelers who posted up some excellent P-51 Mustang articles. Here they are in no particular order...

Tom Bebout @tom-bebout

Jim Harley @jimh who has actually had the privilege of flying real life Mustangs

and Marc Barris @marc

Thanks gentlemen for the inspiration...

This is the kit I'll be using.

Too bad they have stopped production on this one as it really looks to be a nice kit, especially when you look at the price. Mine was less that $30 including sales tax out the door... not bad at all considering what you get for your money.

I wanted to build mine up as a "Blue Nosed Bastard of Bodney" since this happens to be my all time favorite P-51 Group ever... I ordered a set of decals from Eagle Cals. They come with a very nice book that details the different P-51's that were flown by Major Preddy.

The decals come in two separate sheets, and mine were flawlessly printed. There are enough decals on the sheet to build up any of the Mustangs that were flown by the Major.

This is the particular plane I will be modelling. This is an early D model and lacks the additional fillet on the fin.

I obtained a set of aftermarket seat belts for it. These are a combination of printed fabric and PE parts. They look very nice and should be a welcome addition to the kit.

Next I picked up a "Yahu" instrument panel for the plane. I wanted to pose the canopy in the open position, so I thought why not ?

I did a review on the IP as a previous article.

This plane will be finished using various shades of Bare Metal Foil and "aluminum" colored paints.

Please follow along on this journey... I hope it will be a good one.

As always, comments are encouraged...

Thanks.

Craig, @craigindaytona

This is an excellent excuse to watch it then...

What is the DVD titled as ?

Maybe... just maybe I can move this article over to the "Imodeler at the Movies" GB if our friend David LS @dirtylittlefokker

didn't mind...

Thanks

I have this kit lurking on my shelves. The kit in the box looks very good, so I am looking forward to your build.

Me too Louis!

Let's get this party started !

Today I spent some time preparing some parts for assembly.

These parts will probably be visible under the canopy, since they are mounted above the rear fuel tank.

Here's another group of small parts ready to go. There was a light mold seam present on some of the parts. It took a little extra work to remove the seams, but it wasn't too bad of a task.


Throttle quadrant is a two part affair. One of the levers is a separate piece.

The coolant and hydraulic lines will be visible in the wheel wells. They look really nice and have hose clamps molded in place.

These various components get mounted on top of the rear fuselage fuel tank. The details are nicely represented.

Here you can see the joystick, trim wheel, and throttle quadrant.

Pilot's oxygen hose...

Once these parts were ready, I started test fitting some them. Some parts were permanently glued in place.
The first assembling I did was to glue the outer shell of the under fuselage scoop together. I wanted it to dry overnight so I can remove the tiny glue seam tomorrow. This was done ahead of how the instructions would have you do this...


I test fit the lower console under the instrument panel next. It fit very good.

This part was then removed, and the majority of the details were scraped and filed away from the surface of the IP in preparation for the "Yahu" panel.

There are two different style seat provided in the kit. One is more square while the other has a rounded seat pan and back.

I would really like to hear from you if you know exactly which type was used in Preddy's Mustang...
Here's I'm test fitting the seat parts. All systems are "GO" !



The rudder pedals are also well represented... The manufacturers logo is even visible...

The radiator tunnel was made ready. It has some nice details cast into it.


The fuselage tail insert was glued in place.


There's a very small step present where the two parts join together. This should be easy to sand down. I made sure the seam at the top and bottom of the fuselage was lined up so no filler should be needed. I'm hoping this area will be easy to sand down and eliminate the step.

By gluing it the way I did, I'm hoping there will not be a need to use filler along the spine or the radiator tunnel. There's not much surface detail to worry about here.

There are a few ejector pin or molding marks present on the inside of both fuselage halves...


Don't worry with these unless you are having a fit problem. They are covered.

I started test fitting the various radio and accessory panels to the cockpit side wall frame works.

These next pictures will show you just how well the ejector marks are covered. Here I have "mocked up" the cockpit sidewalls in place ...




I test fit the cockpit side walls and floor. Things fit very well. In fact I had to pry a few joints apart once I pressed them together.

The joystick is mounted on top of the wing...

This is how the floor fits around the control stick.

and how it looks with a sidewall in place as a mock up fit is completed.

Now this brings my question for you ...

I have two of these kits in the stash.

I'm building this one as "Cripes A Mighty 3rd"... and wanted to build up the other as "LOU IV" / "Athelene" using the kit supplied decals...

What say you ? Should I do it ? The ground work has been laid out and the painting has not yet begun...

As always,
"Comments are encouraged".

Good night !

This is going to be fun to watch...can't wait to see the bare metal foil.

You always seem to build in squadrons—8 Spitfires come to mind—so you might as well have a squadron of P-51s. If you have the time, go for it.

where did you locate the “Yahu” instrument panel? I have an old Monogram "ghost" P-51 i'd like to add some detail parts to as well.

George, @gblair
Today I installed the Yahu panel and I'm very pleased with how it looks... The center console still needs to be detail painted. I wanted to use the kit parts here, since they looked so nicely done and were more 3 dimensional than a flat PE part is. I think this is more of a accurate representation of the real plane.

Hello again Jim ! @jimh

Thanks for posting another update on your Mustang build. It's really looking sharp and the gloss black will be a perfect base for the next step. It looks flawless... 🙂 Those resin parts have definitely jazzed it up some...

Also, thanks again for the information on the colors used for the wheel wells. The pictures you sent me were also perfect. I'll be posting up a few of the latest photos I took during my last visit to the hangar in just a few. Thanks again !

Hello again David. @davem

I will be adding "LOU IV" to this build journal. I have always wanted to build this plane since I share the name with it... 🙂

I have just modified the heading to reflect this change. Thanks for the support !

Matt, @coondog

You know me well... 🙂 Almost nothing on the table as a single build here lately. I have a F9F Panther jet, a Me-262 and a Bf-109 as such, but all of the others are "more than one". Thanks for the encouraging vote, and I have changed the heading to show that "LOU IV" is now in the mix as well. I don't have a Squadron of Mustangs built just yet. So far I only have 3 of them completed in the display case... and way too many more unbuilt kits in the stash.

This is why I have been building multiple subjects of the same plane in an assembly line manner. Otherwise, I'll never get most of the stash built.

As far as the Yahu panel, they make several different ones. They vary by the kit manufacturer and scale. This one I'm using is specifically made for the Revell 1/32 new tool Mustang. There are about 3 more of them made for the other various manufacturers. You will have to do a little research to see which one you think will work best for your plane. Is yours a 1/48 scale Monogram P-51B ? I have one in the stash marked as the "Ghost Squadron" along with a P-39 that has the same "Ghost Squadron" box markings. Or is yours the larger 1/32 version with clear "see through" exterior ?

I picked my Yahu panel up from a vendor on EBay. I did a quick online search and found that the mail order company "Squadron" is also showing some in stock.

Sprue Brothers does not have them at the moment. I'll try doing a little more research for you and let you know what I find... Hope this helps.
This is a very cool picture I found online earlier today.

Hey Stephen @stephen-w-towle

Your observations on the main spar are spot on. I had the fantastic opportunity years ago to see an original "almost" unmolested Mustang during the tear down phase. Other than an exterior repaint, and the removal of some military hardware it was pretty much as it was when it left the factory. It had been re painted on the exterior, but the majority of the interior parts were all still original.

It just so happens that our fellow Imodeler friend Jim Harley saw it back then too. This one still had the original wiring in it for the .050 caliber MG's. I took some pictures of it during this phase, but so far I have not been able to find mine. Luckily Jim was better organized than I and sent me some of his pictures.

In order to be fair to Jim, I'll not post his photos here without his prior permission.

Here are some of my own photos that I have taken over various Mustang restorations. This first one is an early A-36 Apache that was restored by American Aero Services several years ago. They go through painstaking efforts to ensure their planes are properly painted using the closest color matches available. They use a camera and a computer to match the colors and have received some very prestigious awards for their work. This plane took the "Golden Wrench Award" at Oshkosh when it was completed.

This next picture I took of the landing gear and main spar.

Notice the yellowish green color used. This is typical of the earlier Mustangs. From what I have been told, the colors varied during the production runs...

These next photos are of a later TP-51D model that was configured as an Air National Guard plane. This one also won an award...the Grand Champion Award for restoration at Oshkosh in 2016... It's currently on tour in the US.

Notice the different shade of green, and how the inner doors are done.

Granted this is a restoration, and not original, but it's as close as we have available to us for references now. Hopefully these detail pictures will help someone who wants to scratch build in some of the details on their kit...

I hope this helps to answer your questions... Your comments were on the money. It varied between types and even as to when or where the plane was built.

Other than getting the Yahu instrument panel done, nothing else got done on the Mustang.

as usual,
Comments are encouraged.