Completed 1/48 Tamiya P-51D Louisiana Heatwave

Thanks again for all the kind words, y'all, it's very encouraging!

For those who say they don't see any mistakes, I admit I was a bit mental about trying to cover or correct them. Most of the mistakes stemmed from trying techniques with which I was unfamiliar, or from leaving masking on too long. 

For instance, I had to repaint the wings twice, as I left the masking (Tamiya tape) on when I put it in the dehydrator to speed curing. For multiple cycles.  I had wonderfully clean, sharp demarcations...but I also had marks that showed through when I repainted. So, another resand, another mask job, another repaint, then spot repairs because I forgot to vacuum out the paint booth before hand, lol.

I tried using BMF for the first time as a canopy mask. Again, great lines, but even though I removed the masks soon after paint was sprayed, I had bad residue left behind on the clear portions. I chalk this up to using 10-year old BMF. I'm at a loss, otherwise. Anyway, I cleaned up the residue with some paper towel slightly dampened with alchohol, but that wrecked the Future coating. *SIGH* Re-dip in Future, redo the affected area, then scratched the inside of the windscreen somehow. Can I stomp on it, now?? But no, I took the more mature road, and carefully applied yet more Future with a very soft brush to the affected area, and hey, whaddya know, it became almost presentable.

And the one that I'm still scratching my head about: after it was ALLL done, I'm showing it to a helpful LHS employee and I notice a fine crack, aft of the canopy, foreward of the antenna. I've honestly no idea how it got there, because it wasn't there even after I dropped it. It just appeared one day.  I thnk this crack might be visible in the pics if you can zoom in.

I think the biggest lesson learned from this return to aircraft modeling is this: what really made a difference for me was realizing that my chances of completing a build with ZERO mistakes are somewhere between nil and zilch, so it's how I react to and deal with said mistakes that will make the difference.

Anyway, thanks again for the encouragement!

TF

No way, 30 years?  That's amazing, and what mistakes?  I see a very well made P-51 sir!

Toshi

Super-duper job on that Mustang. Can't tell that you made any mistakes on it. 

Wow! It certainly doesnt look like you were out of the aircraft scene for 3 decades. Great build!

mississippivol

Nicely done!

 

Thank you very much!

Thank you for the kind words, guys!

Tempestjohnny, it's my first aircraft kit I've completed in 30 years, but I started one about 7 or 8 years ago and barely got the cockpit done before losing it in a move. I have also built a few autos in the last several years and learned a few things from those, particularly laying down a nicer finish.

hogfanfs, you're very kind to say so, but I worked really hard at repairing or covering up the mistakes! I touched up the paint in a couple spots, threw it in the dehydrator before taking it down to show the finished product to a very helpful person at my LHS, only to realize that I accidentally upped the temp on the dehydrator. This made the gear legs a bit soft, so my poor little plane sagged a bit on the right gear. Gave me fits trying to get it back to normal, hehe.

Thanks again guys!

TF

You did a great job! I'll take your word for it that you made mistakes. I can't see any! 

NUTS! I almost forgot! Special thanks to mrmike and Don Wheeler for helping with some vexing airbrush issues, allowing me to complete this project!