Thanks, Spiros @fiveten and John @johnb . To answer your question, John, Windex is indeed the well-known window cleaner that I use to strip acrylic paint and also to clean my airbrush. It is very mild and conveniently soapy and doesn't smell bad or present a toxic hazard like isopropyl alcohol, which some use for clean up of acrylics. Windex, hand soap and tap water are what I use to clean my airbrush, paint mixing bottles and brush bristles.

So today, things are coming along with the build. I got more done on details like the landing gear assembly and mounts for the drop tanks.

For some reason I find work on undercarriage a bit boring and the assembly and painting process for the P-51 gear is quite complex, with photoetch and plastic components to sort out. I am glad the process is done now. Since I wanted to use metalizer on all parts, that meant sanding and polishing very carefully to remove seams, mold lines, etc. before painting. Wheel hubs were painted inside and out before assembly as the open design allows a view of the interior of the hub. I also cleaned up and painted the resin tires from Barracuda Cast. I gave them a coat of Tamiya Flat Black to get shadows, followed by an overspray of Tamiya Rubber Black . Painting of all metal components, including gear doors as well as struts required black primer before the semi-matte aluminum coat, masking of all parts in interior green to avoid overspray. Since most gear doors had already been painted on the outside, I had to mask those areas to spray the inside. I made more use of silly putty to do this and also to mask interior green areas. There were also a few details of actuator arms still to be done in interior green. All the gear bits will be assembled tomorrow after the paint is fully dry.

Beautiful work on the landing gear, Colin @coling.
Thanks for the explenation, seems like Windex can be used for nearly everything, I'm surely going to give it a try.

Thanks, Spiros, John and George. I am learning a lot about these acrylic metallics as I go. Today's upload illustrates some extra work that needs to be done along the way to keep them looking good. I started doing some decaling on the undersides, namely the black ID stripes that need to line up with the white ones on top. I discovered that Micro Sol, a relatively mild setting solution, tends to dissolve acrylic metalizer that hasn't had a protective clear coat. Not drastic melting, but just enough to cause some smudging on the black strips.that I will fix later. After that experience, I made sure I put a thin layer of Tamiya Clear over all metal areas to receive decals. That solved the issue of Micro Sol attacking the finish. I also found that some loose metalized parts that I had handled a fair bit along the way had darkened. These received a new coat of metal to brighten them up, followed by a Tamiya Clear coat. The most serious case was the rudder. It needed a lot of handling to get it to connect to the the vertical stabilizer via three tiny photo etch pieces. I don't like Tamiya's decision to go with this mechanism, which is like Trumpeter engineering.

I thought I would loose my grip on the model and wreck something as I tried to insert all three tiny mounting tabs at the same time. Anyway, it finally worked, but I had to get out the putty masking snakes to repaint the rudder in semi-matt aluminum when already connected to the model. BTW, it doesn't need the recommended CA glue to stay on. The etch bits fit so tightly that it is securely in place with friction. Good thing too, since the idea of putting CA glue on the etch and have it all freeze up on me when not fully inserted was quite worrisome. Bad engineering! While I repainted the rudder in metalizer, I also did the drop tanks with an nice dense coat of aluminum. So many fiddly jobs to do now with the sprues almost completely empty. After clear coating the OD segments (and later the metal ones as well), I did a thorough oil pin wash all over with three blends of oil paint - dark brown for panel lines and rivets, lighter brown and tan for grime and streaking applied with random dots smudged in the direction of airflow. I wanted fairly heavy grime in the white areas behind the prop but less emphasis of rivets and panel lines on the white ID stripes. It was the next day that I started decaling, namely the aforementioned black ID stripes and national insignia underneath and some stenciling (to be completed later on). I got the national insignia on the upper port wing and am still in the process of getting it all to settle down with Micro Sol. Small decals were attached to the prop blades. I will do the squadron and tail codes on the fuselage sides tomorrow when the clear coat is fully cured. After that will be the stencils and kill markings on the port side of the fuselage. The main fuselage insignia are yet another unique challenge of this kit. I need to remove the canopy and its masks to assemble the sliding mechanism inside. That is the only way I can glue in the fuselage insert, which is the "cap" for the slider mechanism. Meanwhile, the same insert needs to be permanently glued down as the backing for the national insignia decal. Once again the kit engineering greatly complicates the painting process. Anyway, at this point I am temporarily mounting the prop and spinner to motivate me to get this project done. It really completes the lines of the P-51 and gives a hint of how this will all come together. Also, it is nice to see the engine detail with the panels off. One can forget that there is a whole detailed engine hiding under there. I did a lot of work on the side panels to show scorching and soot build up on the panel adjoining the exhaust. I did this with very thinned Tamiya smoke and an oil wash with the panel removed. This is how the weathered panel looks in place. Other panels just had the oil pin wash. For more fiddly painting ahead, I will have to extend the invasion stripe pattern over a bunch of small parts connected to the supercharger blow out doors. That's it for now. Hopefully this is interesting. Maybe I can get this done this week, but I don't know how I will approach having to unmasking the canopy prematurely, more complex painting and re-masking ahead, I think

Impressive progress, Colin @coling
I can imagine the stressful moment you had with the tabs on the rudder, it looks very good now.
Decals do look perfect, they seem to settle down quite nicely.

A real perfectionist's job, my friend @coling! Looking awesome!

Results look great, Colin (@coling). I have had MicroSol/Set eat into the paint a couple of times, but I think it was because I didn't give the clear layer sufficient time to dry completely. I now give the clear coat at least 24 hours to dry, and more time if it is humid.

All of your patience in building is certainly paying off, Colin (@coling). I keep trying different clear coats trying to find the perfect one, but I tend to keep coming back to Tamiya Clear Gloss and Flat. AK Real Colors also have a clear that I like.

Those fuel pipes will look amazing, Colin @coling