I started this build and another P-51A just over a year ago for a Mustang GB and never quite got to finish. I didn't want to rush them and set them aside. Having just finished my redo of O'Hare's Wildcat, I pulled them back out to put the final touches on them. I'm waiting to cut another block for the other Mustang before posting. This particular Mustang was an F-6D reconnaissance variant that I thought would be fun to try and craft. There isn't any AM gear for this out there in the 1:48 scale, but with a little effort it isn't too hard to pull off.
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Naturally, I'm building William Shomo's F-6D from his MOH flight with his wingman Paul Lipscomb. Shomo was flying with the 71st Tactical Reconnaissance Group and more specifically the 82nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron which had just replaced its P-39s with the much more nimble Mustangs. On January 11, Shomo and Lipscomb were out patrolling along Atarri and Laoag airstrips when they encountered a lone Betty bomber, 11 Ki-61 Tonys and a single Ki-44 Tojo. Shomo immediately jumped into an 11-2 outnumbered fight and after a very short tussle had completely decimated the lot of them with the help of his wingman as well. For these efforts he was awarded the Medal of Honor. The F-6D was the plane he flew during this flight. Later photo ops show him in a brand new P-51D that was allocated to Shomo and given a nice fancy paint scheme for the press coverage. I'll be building this one also some time later. Thanks goes out to Stik for sending me the decals! =]
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
So here's Snook's 5th. I'll include a few WIP pics just to show what's going on here. I did build up the camera bay which took a fair amount of scratch building. There's a lot of AM here this time as well since I wanted to see how some of these parts would look next to the Tamiya kit parts. Normally I just upgrade the exhaust and canopy. So here we go. =]
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
The canopy braces came with some of this set which I got a pretty good deal on ebay. Tamiya does a decent enough job though. A little sanding and drill some holes...easy peasy.
Cockpit
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Here you'll note an extra device on the floor. The Intervalometer was an added piece of equipment for recon aircraft to trigger and time exposures.
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Tail gear got some love.
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Fashioning the camera bay.
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
K-24 Aerial Surveillance Camera
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
A couple of NMF pics before all the extra weathering.
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
There's a little more going on here than just Alclad over their grey primer. I put down a bit of preshading with Alclad's Magnesium over the panel lines along the cowling and in a few other appropriate places. It goes a long way to add some depth to the metal when putting down whatever color you choose. The wings are in Duraluminum which I find does a great job of replicating the silver lacquer paint. Cowling is done in Aluminum or White Aluminum as per photo reference. The fuselage is done in varying coats of thickness in Aluminum and Polished Aluminum towards the rear. The vertical stab was pick out in Aircraft Aluminum for something shinier as seen in photos.
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr
You'll note the crosshairs painted on the wing. These corresponded to whichever port the camera was installed based on mission parameters and the photos needed and whatever altitude required to get them. They lined up with smaller crosshairs etched onto the canopy glass for the pilot to use as a reference. Pretty nifty huh! On Shomo's mustang this was apparently not present...nor were the stars and bars on the left wing.
I'll end this part of the post here and will continue with the finished pics on the following post.