Tamiya P-51D Tuskegee Airmen WIP

Looking good so far. I've not dealt with that kit in a long time, but I remember it being a good one. I'm not sure about that black patch on the sidewalls where the battery compartment is.

Do you plan on using Tamiya decals? You may find them acceptable if you're kind of new and are looking to get some experience, but they are generally horrible. They are thick and won't sink into the detail. Most everyone replaces Tamiya and Hasegawa decals with AM. You may consider that.

Nice job on the cockpit.  Looks like this one is going to be a winner!

Really nice cockpit. If I might ask, what did you do with Hasegawa wind screen after scrapping the kit?

Pete, that cockpit looks real good. I am building P-51B 43-12102 as it was being hacked into a D type variant. I am just about where you are in the build. I am looking forward to building my Tamiya P-51D Tuskegee next.

I painted the fuselage fuel tank chromate green. Mainly because I could not confirm that it was black! Was your black a Tamiya paint call-out per the instructions, or did you actually find a source that indicated that it was black?

It's lookin' good so far. Please keep us updated.                  Bob

Shipwreck

I painted the fuselage fuel tank chromate green. Mainly because I could not confirm that it was black! Was your black a Tamiya paint call-out per the instructions, or did you actually find a source that indicated that it was black?

The fuselage fuel tank was black rubber, not chromate green.   And if it isn't too late, 43-12102 was not equipped with a fuselage fuel tank.

Thanks for comments thus far. I'll post updates as I make progress. Sadly, I'll be out of town from July 14-26 so no bench time.

I'll plead ignorance on the both issues. I'm following the directions for the painting, although I don't remember the Hasegawa directions calling for black inside the fuselage. As far as decals, I'd be glad to try something other than the stock. Care to share an item #? Thanks!

Hey Pete!  Great job!  The front office looks awesome!  Can't wait to see the rest of the build.  What scale is the -51?  Again, great job!

Eagle90

Being Monogram, that would make it 1/48th. I started oned one in 1988 and still have yet to finish it. Have recently picked up where I left off. For the age of the mold, it is still a very nice kit even if the newer kits have more details.Have thought about trying an ICM Mustang. Does anyone know how they compare to others?

AT6, did I miss something?  The title of the article is Tamiya P-51D.  He mentions using a few pieces from a "True Details cockpit set for a Monogram model", which then, I would agree makes it 1/48th.  Pardon me if I'm barking up the wrong tree, its early (for me) here on the west coast!  As for comparison, I remember seeing a "chart" somewhere that put Tamiya at the top and my Fujimi somewhere below; so I went and bought the Tamiya kit for a successful warm up to the possibly challenging Fujimi kit.  My other Fujimi "T-38" still sits in its box after 25+ years due to lack of detail and "sunken" areas of structure coupled with raised panel lines that all need to be sanded off.  Too many corrections and much detail parts and scratch building needed to bring it up to snuff.  (sorry, I'm meandering off topic here)

Thanks for the info Bronto. I used the D floor board which includes the fuel tank. The cockpit is firmly glued to one side of the fuselage with styrene glue and CA; but I am pretty sure I can still cut the fuel tank out and replace it with B components. I just love to do things at least twice!

PeteG- that's looking really good.   Nice touch with the extra bits added and with the floor scuffing.

You may want to go back and shoot some dullcoat in there as the Tamiya smoke leaves a wicked shine.

My bad. I thought he had switched to a Monogram kit when I saw the name in the post.

Good job on the cockpit. I noticed you painted the floor a dark gray color instead of the wood color.

constructor

Good job on the cockpit. I noticed you painted the floor a dark gray color instead of the wood color.

The floor should be a dark gray /black color.  The wood was covered with a non-skid surface. 

My bench time this weekend was a bit limited with some much needed nice weather, but I did manage to get fuselage, wings and horizontal stabilizers on and ready for paint. I'm going to go with a base of Alclad Aluminum (ALC-101) and then hit panels with other Alclads for depth. My question is do I use a regular primer or gloss black. When I did my Nieuport 17 I used Mr Surfacer 1200. Alclad's web site calls for a regular primer, but I know some builders use gloss black. What is the advantage to using gloss black for ALC-101?

Any thoughts and input is appreciated. I hope to complete the paint and get photos up before going out of town for two weeks.

Pete

PS The floor of the cockpit was done in Tamiya Flat Black and some wood was dabbed in to show scuffing.

You only HAVE to have the gloss black for the high shine (chrome, airframe aluminum, etc). I just use it anyway since I like to prime in black for shadowing anyway. He advantage with using gloss black wih any Alclad for me is that it's much easier to ensure coverage.

For NMF I prime with Mr. Surfacer which is great for microfilling and then hit it with black. However, hey make black Mr. S now so that will be unnecessary.

The Alclad gloss black primer is really nice stuff, but Krylon can be decanted and will AB equally well. You just need to remember with decanting that you need to do it a couple of days ahead of time. Spraying aerosol paint out of an airbrush that hasn't degassed will make you very unhappy eventually. It isn't a problem every time, but do it enough and it will be.

Hello again,

Well, before I leave the build for two weeks, I thought I would give an update and share some photos. The plane is nearing completion with all of the major steps completed and a lot of the little parts painted up. Too bad I have to leave because I could probably have it done this weekend. Oh well.

Anyways, I am attaching some photos of the priming, black undercoating and metal painting. The initial priming was with Mr Surfacer 1200. I then undercoated with Model Master Gloss Black Lacquer. Although I knew I would be using Alclad Aluminum which supposedly doesn't need black, I decided to follow opinion and practice of others and see what would happen. I'm glad I did, because the Mr Surfacer went down rough which showed up in the black paint. I used all my micro-mesh pads to smooth out the black as best I could.

For the metal finish I used Alclad Aluminum on the wings and started to hit the fuselage with Alclad Aircraft Aluminum. After it set a few minutes I hit it again with just Alclad Aluminum to tone down the brightness. A few hours later I masked off panels and hit them with Alclad Magnesium, Duraluminum and Dull Aluminum. I then hit some of the panels again with the straight Alclad Aluminum. So far I'm happy with the results. I like how turning the plane a certain way shows different metal "tones."

As always I always welcome comments and critiques.

Cheers,
Pete G
Buffalo, NY

 

The finish looks good.  If its not too late, repaint the gear bays in aluminum.  They weren't green on the P-51.

I have this kit, a long with a few other tamiya mustangs and the accurate miniatures C version for the red tails. I cant wait to see the end result.

Hey Bronto, did all mustangs (including the allison engined versions) have aluminum wheel wells?

Yes.  All P-51 variants had aluminum gear bays.  Allison Mustangs would have had aluminum painted, then later in the production they were left in bare metal.  On the first ones with bare metal bays, the wing spar would have been chromate yellow.  After a while this was left in bare metal also.  Unfortunately I do not have the exact serial # when these changes took place, but it was during the P-51B/C production.

Nice looking finish!  I'd like to admire that up close!  Uh-oh, now I'll have to build one!  I could only hope to achieve those results!

Very nice, great looking NMF.

That one's looking good so far. Please keep us updated.                                        Bob H.

Nice finish.

Looking great so far; will definitely be following your build!

Hello all-

I'm back on the build this week (when not working on the honey-do list) and hitting some of the smaller parts. I have a question for those following. The instructions call for Tamiya TS-49 True Red to be used. To my knowledge, it is only available in spray can. I had hoped to airbrush the red. I have never decanted paint for later use, but would be willing if someone could give me a quick tutorial. Also, if there a good match from Testors for this?

Hate to say this, but wishing for rain so I could spend more time on the kit.

Thanks,

Pete

If you are using Testors MM enamels, Insignia Red is often used on military kits, it has a little deeper appearance which may need to be lightend up or go with their standard "Red".