I'm stalled out on my Race 45 conversion waiting on the scribing tools. Tracking said delivery was to be on the 28th, now December 1st. So, in the mean time I broke out a Tamiya B model to start the Stars conversion. This one is really simple. In researching the airframe I've found several incarnations of the paint and the rear canopies. I'm going to offer 2 versions. The video featured on the 354th Fighter Group website shows "Ike" getting out of the freshly modded 2 seat conversion. This will be version 1, the second will be after the repaint and when the nose art was applied. The 2nd version also had an updated rear canopy. This weekend I got all the parts made and cast...4 total in resin. They include the rear floor, the fuselage bulkhead that serves as a seat mount, the canopy bow, and the second seat. I also made the rear canopy, cast a master in resin and used that to vacuum form the actual part. All that needs done is assembly and paint. The decals will be a mash up MIcro-Scale AC48-0020 for the Stars Look Down noseart, the squadron codes will come from AMDG Decals for another 354th Mustang that better matches the font. More to come!

7 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Thanks Louis! When the tools didn't show up Friday I tore in to this one. Should have it done early this week. I've got fuselage just about ready to prime. There is a video of Ike and Quesada arriving at Cricqueville Normandy on July 4th. Over the years I've heard that Ike flew over the D-Day beaches in Stars. The narrative from 354th pilot Richard Turner who was flying escort for him in the vicinity of St. Lo, said this was the first time a Ground General had observed a frontline recon mission from the air. I'm digging around to find a complete history of this airplane. back to the airbrush 🙂

One more for the night, this is such a beautiful kit. Can’t wait to start painting!

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Yet another great conversion! One might almost be tempted to try one out. . .

Well done Jim (@jimh)!

She’s coming along! Final priming and filling is complete. Now for color. I was going to do the Ike version first with no noseart but after looking at the Stars decals it’s going to be the later version. I’ll build the earlier version later. In hindsight I should have done both at the same time but ya’ll know how it is when you want to see something done 🙂 more soon!

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Jim @jimh, there always seems to be far too few hours available for important things 🙂
Nice progress here!

Looking REALLY nice, Jim @jimh!

(Adding to Erik's @airbum abov comment) Yep, there's never enough time, especially for doing somehting you love. Strange (or not so?) thing, though that the less time we seem to have, in order to perform things we love, the more productive we become (or is it just me?).

Looking forward to your chipping and invasion striping!

Burnt some midnight oil the last couple days. Blew through some serious tape 🙂 but she’s in the homestretch!

7 attached images. Click to enlarge.