Here's my latest progress on my P-51D:
In this shot, the spinner has been painted and the nose end of the aircraft painted yellow in preparation for the checkboard squadron markings.
I put a lot of thought into how to deal with the checkerboard markings. I finally settled on a version of the method used by lawdog114 (see the post titled 1/48 Tamiya P51 B "Berlin Express" (FINISHED)). I first tried cutting out squares of tape like he did, but I could tell as I was applying them that it wasn’t working out. Then I hit on this: I photocopied the Tamiya decal, cut it out and rubber cemeted it to blue painter’s tape. Then using a straight edge and a really sharp Exacto blade, I cut out the individual “squares” (they’re not really square). I applied them all, then pulled off the tape over the areas to be painted red.
In this shot, I’ve applied the red paint. At this point, I used progressively finer grits of sandpaper to knock down the areas a raised paint where the masking tape had been. The checkerboard isn't great (nowhere near as nice as lawdog's), but I think I can live with it.
Using another copy of the kit decals, I prepared a solid mask to go over the checkerboard, applied it to the model and then painted the top of the nose olive drab. I masked off the antiglare panel and then sprayed the model with Alclad Gloss Black Base. After masking off the ailerons, the elevators, and the rudder (they’re going to get a coat of Alclad Semi Matte Aluminum), I sprayed the model with Alclad Aluminum. At this point, I really wish that I had sprayed the Semi Matte Aluminum first. I think it would handle masking better than the Airframe Aluminum.
Finally, a question. Like a lot of modelers, my preference is to use aftermarket decals whenever possible; I like my models to be somewhat unique. Thus, I searched online for a source. What I found was a set of decals from Kit's-World for the P-51D (serial number 44-72199) flown by Captain Charles Weaver in the 362<sup>nd</sup> Fighter Squadron of the 357<sup>th</sup> Fighter Group in April of 1945. The markings include nose art of a nude woman in front of a splash of red. I ordered the decals and, when they arrived, put them in the box with the kit until it was time to build the model. Once that time came, I started doing research, looking for photographs of the aircraft. That's when the fun started. Most of the manufacturers who have released decals for this aircraft have used the red splash (Kit's World, Cutting Edge, Superscale). Cutting Edge and Kit's World have also both produced sets with a blue splash and Kit's World has a third set that includes a black splash. Confusing the issue even more, two different styles of kill markings were apparently used on this plane: either flags or winged swastikas. One site I found claimed that the blue splash with winged swastikas was used in summer 1944 and the red splash with flags in April 1945. However, Weaver was assigned this aircraft in March 1945! Does anyone have hard information on how this plane was painted?
Sorry for the long post. Best to all,
Larry