WIP GF's Tamiya 1/48 P-51D (3/3/18)

An update, started with the metallic paints (Alclad) and am having problems. Made a post trying to get advice for corrective actions in the "painting and airbrushing" section, so rather than redo everything here, I'll attach the link for those curious. Thanks everyone.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/18/t/178211.aspx

7474,

Check out my little screen shot tutorial. It may or may not help.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/feedback_help_and_testing/f/43/t/173158.aspx

I hope it makes it a little clearer but I tend to run off at the mouth, computer keyboard, etc., etc. so who knows.

Thanks Fermis for the help to post photos, and thanks Toshi for the compliment. I appreciate it.

Nice start, I like the AM items.

Your friend, Toshi

For Flickr...

select your image, click the download icon on lower right..."view all sizes"...right click on image..."copy image address"...then "paste" into "source" back here as you normally would.

A bit of an update. And as always, comments, critiques, and anything else is welcomed. Trying Flickr but cant get imbed the images.

Drilled out the exhausts, and fitted them to see how they look

Drilled the coolers (?) The right side undrilled vs. the left

Drilled the blast tubes

Assembeled and polished the airplane using the Micromesh set

Couldn’t resist doing a dry fitting of the whole thing and putting it on the base

Applied Alclad II black primer and micro filler, I sprayed my Iwata Neo gravity fed airbrush at 18 PSI but it came out really grainy. Any idea what went wrong and how I can fix it? I will fix the blemishes, respray and polish the primer, add rivets then will spray Alclads gloss black primer (or maybe Tamiya’s gloss black from the spray can) and hopefully it’ll be ready for the real painting. I’m going with Tamiya chrome silver (bottle) as the base metal. I’m going for a look in which the pilot and his crew took a lot of pride in keeping their airplane as clean as possible, minimal weathering. 

I painted and weathered the gear bay, but realized it’s not accurate so I’ll correct it.

7474

That's not a bad idea, I'll run it by the woman. I bring the ideas and she picks as it will be hers. I would stil do the anti-glare panel OD. I don't want to use decals so that's why i was thinking of the schemes I proposed, simple to paint. 

 

BTW Semper Fi to you guys. USMC '00-'04 then Army until '12. 

 

Hey, 

There is actually is simple way to get the checkered pattern without a decal. First you paint the whole nose with yellow (lightest color first so easier to cover). Next, using some tamiya masking tape, cut little squares with the xacto knife. You will probably have to cut 40-60 or so, and the way to cut them in consistent size is just to use a cutting board and cut at the same line. Then take these little squares and put them over the nose in a checkered pattern. This ends up creating a checkered pattern between the tamiya masking tape squares you made, and the yellow paint. Then airbrush red paint onto the nose to over the exposed yellow paint. Lastly remove the masking tape squares and you will have a nice checkered pattern of red and yellow. You may want to place masking squares on nose as you go, just so that they don't lose their tack while being stuck to the table. From their you can go ahead and put the lettering on the nose and outline with black. This is just a suggestion, go your own way and see what works for you. 

Kien

That's not a bad idea, I'll run it by the woman. I bring the ideas and she picks as it will be hers. I would stil do the anti-glare panel OD. I don't want to use decals so that's why i was thinking of the schemes I proposed, simple to paint. 

BTW Semper Fi to you guys. USMC '00-'04 then Army until '12. 

That's not a bad idea, I'll run it by the woman. I bring the ideas and she picks as it will be hers. I would stil do the anti-glare panel OD

Kien

I know this might be a little bit too late, but if you haven't painted yet, wouldn't a checkered pattern look nice on the nose of the plane? Like the nose pattern on some p47s, but instead do the checker with red and yellow (the same red as on the rudder). You can then have the writing on the nose written in white and outlined with a thin black line. I think the checkered pattern would look nice, and white text with a thin black outline would really stand out. 

Kien

 

Got to agree - that's a good idea.

Nice start. I really enjoy the Tamiya Mustang. Engineered like a dream! =]

Keep 'em comin'.

I know this might be a little bit too late, but if you haven't painted yet, wouldn't a checkered pattern look nice on the nose of the plane? Like the nose pattern on some p47s, but instead do the checker with red and yellow (the same red as on the rudder). You can then have the writing on the nose written in white and outlined with a thin black line. I think the checkered pattern would look nice, and white text with a thin black outline would really stand out. 

Kien

I started on the Mustang before I went to work and have been REALLY impressed with the parts fit, the wing just clicked into the fuselage. Parts were cleaned up and built into subassemblies. I attempted to use Lawdawgs cockpit painting tutorial, the cockpit didn't work out, just for the wheel wells. I started out using Tamiya Rubber Black, then Mr Color Cockpit Interior, then Model Master Green Zinc Cromate. I get back home on Friday, so I can try to get the fuselage assembled after I do some detail painting and washes. I masked the windscreen and canopy with Bare Metal Foil, but again the initial color was the Yellow Cromate from Mr. Color. The Instrument panel is ready for the gauge decals. I'm also doing a video build of this, so I'll post it after I'm done with this and the video. 

I was wondering if there are machines to cut out stensils or if any one can print the decals out for me? 

Parts before painting 

Everything test fitted before painting 

After Tamiya Rubber Black

With Mr Color Interior, masked off the radio prior to painting 

Instrument panel ready for decals

After repainitng the cockpit bits Green Zinc Chromate 

Cockpit looks better to me. I'm trying to make it somewhat accurate.

Test fit after painting, the main wheel weel looks good with the Tamiya Rubber Black base coat and Mr Color Yellow Zinc. I'll do some detail painting and washes.

I think it's looking halfway decent. Just want to get the details to stand out, and glued up with the few days I have at home before my next work trip patrolling the (un)friendly skies. 

I like the purple nose art lettering, and I like the black letter squadron codes with the red outlines.  

It's a very cool build.  It's not the usual mustang.  

The green lettering with the black boarders looks best on the yellow.

Just my 2 cents.

I like your lady already, anyone who comes running to the sound of a Merlin at full song is my kind of person.

I'll be watching this one with interest, and love your ideas to personalize it to her.

Very nice! I'm a bigger fan of the first one. I'm also a Louisiana boy so you can call me a tiny bit baised to the Purple and Gold. =] This all looks very nice. Can't wait to see what's next. 

The kit and the goodies I ordered arrived the day before I left to go back to work, so it'll have to wait until I get back home. I ordered Eduard 1/48 USAAF Steel seat belts (I'll get 4 kits out of it), Brassin resin P-51 wheels, Quickboost flaps (which I didn't need as the kit comes with separate flaps), and Airscale instrument decals for the panel. I wasn't flying over the weekend, and being in a hotel in Louisiana I decided to do some concept art work of how it would look with the different letterings for the codes, I sortta like the red with the black outline. I didn't like the green lettering for "Chanel's Chariot" on the yellow nose, so I changed it to purple. Purple is a complimentary color to yellow. I revised the decal sheet to show the new nose art, different codes and using the decal sheet from the Tamiya kit I was able to set the height of things in GIMP. Also redid the lettering with the USAAF font I found. What do you guys think?

Thanks guys, especially bvallo. It's just the rough idea for the decals, so I can change things up, I'll try to get the heart centered, and maybe increase the circle size. I keep thinking about it, and I really like the name with the black outline just to be able to read it. I'm trying to find more authentic font for the codes and production number.

The kit will be here Tuesday, and tomorrow will be a hobby shop run to get some extra things I need. This is also my first NMF, so a lot of firsts for this that I'm looking forward to diving into. 

Joe is right and I'm pretty sure we're all thinking the sane thing. You'd better not do anything to screw that up! =] 

Critiques are no stranger to me. My first degree is in Fine Arts. I'd be happy to share some thoughts. Making my own decals is a venture I gave up on after my Corsair. So I'll be happy to learn more on how you go about that. As far as you colors go on your selections so far, I would sit on it for now. There's no real rush. The black border reads well on it own. Without seeing the red border on the plane itself, it's a bit difficult to tell which would come off better. That red is going to vibrate more with that tone of green. And maybe that's okay for you. It's just something to recognize and be okay with. If you're looking to keep all the same red on the plane, then maybe look at some different  greens. There's a couple of ways to go about a change like that. For the victory flags, there may be no easy change about it. Just from eyeballing it, the heart appears to be sitting higher due to the curve of the heart. It seems to be centered based on the crease at the top and point at the bottom. Perhaps dropping it down a bit would help to shift it to a more centered looking position. I think it's fine as is, but perhaps down the road you'll look at it and wished you changed something...about it who knows. So unless you've already settled on it, fooling with it now might help you put that to rest.

Half of what I do for a living is critiquing what I see. So if you're happy to hear from me, then I'm happy to share. 

I'm willing to bet a handful of guys on this forum will be living vicariously through this post. =]  I'll be one of them. Good luck!

This will be an excellent gift for your GF!  

Toshi

I like all the thought you are putting into this. Looking forward to seeing it come together.

Nice idea, this is going to be nice to watch.