Good progress so for Louis (aka Lou IV). Nice technique using the popsicle stick. Since you don't use the red tooth pick any more, maybe you should have the stick in red? Lol. Anyway stepping on what looks a pretty nice Revell kit. Looks so much more detailed compared to the old Revell Mustang, like the P-51B I have in the stash. Looking forward to what you have coming up next.

Louis, I think the premise of these newer Revell 1/32nd kits is to offer reasonably priced kits allowing the modeler to either stick with the program and go stock or you can get after market products. The instrument panel is a good example. I have boughten resin wheels, there are props, and exhaust stacks and of course the decal situation. This kit is not the Tamiya of 1/32nd scale or the Porsche of kits but, it represents the Mopar of model builds you can bolt on cool stuff depending on your budget.

Furthermore, the early Mustang with out the fin fillet was the ride for many Aces who managed to survive through the war. Pilots had to start some where and during their war time experiences they piloted more than one aircraft...considering Mustangs where considered to be throw away aircraft with TBO's of 100 hrs for the engines. Not like the Warbirds that if handle right they can get 1000 hrs out of the engines if they baby it right. Like the pilots the aircraft where constantly changing only the photographers and PR weren't always there to record some of the earlier birds. Such as "Cripes a Mighty", In looking on the net there are more early birds with out the fin fillet that can be done.

Thanks gentlemen for the compliments and comments. I’ll make sure that I post a more appropriate reply to you as soon as I have access to the computer. Right now I’m posting pictures using my phone.

It’s been a while since I have posted an update. Prior to last night, I have been busy with cleaning up parts and building up a few small things.

I have a lot of stuff ready that has not been photographed. It’s mainly a bunch of parts that I will show you later during the assembly phase.

As with most of my builds I have been doing a lot of research.

I found that some of the Mustangs had the seats painted from the factory using the usual “interior green” FS 34151 or a “dull dark green”. I used FS 36096 for the dark green and painted the seat on the left using this shade.

Believe it or not each seat type had a name for it.

The rounded type that I am using for my builds was called the “Warren McArthur” style.

The square type is often referred to as the “Schick Johnson” style seat.

Please keep in mind that both seats will interchange and could have been swapped out in the field, so if you have references it might be a good idea to check it out to be certain.

I also found out that the armor plating behind the pilots seat was painted black. Here’s how they’re painted now.

The new thing (for me at least) that I wanted to try out on this build was “black based” painting. I have read about it and I wanted to give it a try. This is my first time going this route.

Here’s how the interior of the fuselage looks once a very thin coat of interior green was sprayed on top of the black.

I have also been researching the colors used in the wheel wells and various other areas of the Mustangs during construction. I have found that this stuff is like walking around in a mine field ! Luckily there’s a few restoration shops that have documented several original untouched Mustangs as they took them apart during the initial phases of the restoration.

It doesn’t hurt to have a good friend like Jim Harley either ... Jim has helped me with some of this stuff. Thanks again buddy !

I have mixed up a color that is very close to the light “yellow green” Zinc Chromate.

Here’s how it looks sprayed on the interior of the wing.

Here you can see the difference between the interior green and the color I mixed up.

I decided to paint mine using interior green. Here you can see how the two colors look side by side.

This next picture shows the difference between the colors I have used so far.

The seat armor plate is black.

The seat is dull dark green for one Mustang. The other seat is going to remain interior green for the second Mustang.

The interior of the wing is in yellow zinc chromate.

Finally the firewall is interior green.

Here’s how the work bench is looking at the moment. Plastic containers filled with parts that need more detail painting.

As usual comments are encouraged.

Thanks for stopping by. Please stay tuned for updates and I have another idea I want to try out using Bare Metal Foil.

I think you just might like it ...

Your research is meticulous, Louis. I'm afraid that I usually don't do a lot of research on the colors of some of the details and spend more time on the exterior. I am looking forward to seeing how the interiors look with these colors when they are all built up.

Hello George,

Congrats on your Imodeler award ! That's a great Hurricane model you picked out as the award.

I try to do my homework, when I do a build. For me it's just as enjoyable as actually making something. I think that when it's all said and done with, these two should be fairly accurate in colors, inside and out. I'm getting ready to post up another installment, so stay tuned !

Thanks again, and I look forward to seeing your build review on your new kit from the Imodeler staff. I'm sure it will look outstanding as do all of your builds.

Outstanding Louis.

Thanks gentlemen @tom-bebout

and @coondog

for the compliments.

This build has been on hold for a while. I was wondering how I was going to tackle the flaps. The kit provided parts lack rivet details. Since they will be partly covered in Bare Metal Foil, the rivet details will stand out big time. The flaps did not have putty applied to them. They were not smoothed out like some of the other parts of the wing. So they will be covered in foil instead of getting painted.

I wanted them to look good, since dropped flaps on a Merlin powered Mustang go together like peanut butter and jelly... cookies and cream... pepperoni and pizza. 🙂

So I saved up and finally pulled the trigger for these rivet rolling tools. I ordered a 0.55 MM and a .075 MM rivet scribing tool. I can use these for other builds. Depending on how I like these, I may end up saving up for a few more sizes.

Until then,
Comments are encouraged...