Revell 1/48 P51D- finished

I'm pretty happy with this one, and feel a little redemption after my first two bad experiences with the Monogram version. I went with the Big Beautiful Doll scheme, and built this one from the box, but with a few scratch built details. Fit issues were minimal- most seams were taken care of with Tamiya super thin cement and some sanding. The finish is Vallejo Model Air aluminum, and the final varnish is 4 parts Vallejo gloss, 3 parts Vallejo satin and 3 parts thinner. The nose decals actually went on pretty well. I followed the directions and put the appropriate cuts in the top and bottom pieces. Everything lined up and fit quite well. Solvaset did the rest of the work. The wingtips were done with tape, a sharp knife and patience. "Music wire" was used for the brake lines and gun door prop rod. That wire was a bit difficult to work with, as the pinholes in my fingertips will attest, but the result was passable. The few period photographs I found of this plane showed it was either new or meticulously maintained, so the weathering was minimal. I used Tamiya Weathering Master for the exhaust, guns and gun bay. I used a drop of Vallejo fuel stain blown with an airbrush on the wing fueling points. I applied the decals from a wartime photo, and the only issue I noticed was the kit's nose decal extends back farther than the checkering on the actual aircraft. As such, the name is a little close to the checkering, but I can live with it. This build ventured into some new territory, but it was pretty fun. Included are photos in natural and indoor lighting, plus one I had a little fun with!