I'm back to an old favorite, the Tamiya P-51, except it's in the F-51 Korean War boxing. I have been asked to build a "bare bones stock" F-51 as follows:
"All silver with a black anti-glare panel. No personal markings, except the call numbers, and standard stars and bars with USAF markings. It has to be loaded out with rockets and have bombs with yellow stripes. Some exhaust staining".
As much as want to build JW Rogers Buckeye Blitz VI, it's just not to be!
This is a surprising difficult task as there aren't many F-51 decal options out there. I found an old Aeromaster sheet on ebay and bought it for the main markings (Tamiya decals are normally garbage). I may have to make something up, which really isn't where my particular interest in scale modeling lies. However, I said I'd do it...so I'll do it and make the best of it.
I digress, here I go with the build. It's supposed to be an out of the box build, but I went ahead and added an Ultracast seat I had in the stash. These are fantastic.
Merlin powered Mustangs had plywood floors painted anti-skid black. I simulated this with AK worn effects. I painted the floor XF-57 Buff with clear orange on top, added the fluid, then XF-1 as a top coat. A little water on an old Testor's paint brush and heres the result. I think it's fairly convincing. I went a bit too far with the scrubing by the seat hole, but that won't be seen.
I built the rest cockpit out of the box.
I used the kit instrument panel and added some Airscale decals. I'm pleased with how it turned out. I added a few placards to help spruce it up too.
Fuselage is together...no issues..
Should be firing down Alclad in no time...