All invasion stripes done, with some test weathering just for fun at the wing and horizontal stabilizer tips. 

Looking great.  Starting to come to life!  Love the invasion stripes. 

I know that I might be boring you but as this is a very slow progress I am posting every little step.  

Invasion fuselage stripes done. Next are the wing and horizontal stabilizer white stripes. Then the clear coat and on to the decals. Yay!

Ah, yes, and the red checkers on the yellow... 

Back to the bench

That's a nice looking Mustang you have going!

Also apologies for not chiming in on your complimentary color preshading technique that you have been developing in the other forum. I have found it very interesting and it has made me realize I need to start learning some basics about how color works. Looking forward to your next photos.

 

Thank you! Appreciated. Glad that you like it so far. :)

Colours are very fun for me to work and experiment with in any medium, especially in scale modelling. :)

Best,

Nikola

That's a nice looking Mustang you have going!

Also apologies for not chiming in on your complimentary color preshading technique that you have been developing in the other forum. I have found it very interesting and it has made me realize I need to start learning some basics about how color works. Looking forward to your next photos.

I love how she's coming along!

lawdog114

Coming along nicely Nikola. Interesting preshading color choices. Are you planning on painting on the red nose checkers?

 

Thanks LD! Glad you like it so far. Yes, I am planning on painting the checkers. It's going to be a b#&ch but nowhere near as complicated as you had it on your P47. :)

Any tips for that?

As for my pre-shading, I started experimenting with complementary colours some time ago. If you are interested here is the link to the thread that I started in 2019:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/18/t/183439.aspx

Best,

Nikola

This is I think as close to reality as I could get with phone camera. I guess we'll have to wait until proper photos in the end. :)

Mopar Madness

Now I can see it better. I sure do like an olive drab Mustang.

 

The hardest part for me now is judging how much to cover initially knowing that weathering and subsequent coats will affect it. It's just like regular pre-shading only more difficult because if it is with black, no risk of too much of it showing through since it only gives a darker tone of the base color with no hue modulation. Still long way to go until I master this one.

In reality, the red is more subtle but it's very hard to get it right with phone camera and regular room lighting conditions so you guys can see it properly. I'll keep trying to take better shots without all the fancy setup. 

Best,

Nikola

Now I can see it better. I sure do like an olive drab Mustang.

And a few more where the effect of complementary pre-shading can be seen slightly better:

Best,

Nikola

I can see some of the variation in paint you've built in, looks great!

Wow! That looks great!. Awesome work, Nicola!

OD finished.

My phone camera and the dining room light bulb just can't capture the subtle differences and tonal variations that well, but they are there, trust me. 

Oh well, pics below. 

Neutral Grey base over blue pre-shading on the belly finished. I try to keep the pre-shading effect very subtle initially and then modify where required with post-shading afterwards.

Well, here is some contradictory information for you:

The painting instructions say that the checkered pattern only goes to the front end of the exhaust stack:

The decal disagrees since it has a cutout to go around the stack past the front end of it:

And if I see it correctly the truth is somewhere in the middle as the pattern only slightly goes past the stack front end:

So, I painted the nose yellow and will either bite the bullet and paint the damn thing or cut out only the red squares of the decal and apply them to the painted yellow (this should make the decal easier to conform to the shape as well. I'll see.

Hi gents,

White primer and complementary pre-shading done 

Looks like you blended that canopy in really nice! Definitely on the way to being a beautiful Mustang 

She is finally ready for priming! 

I had to do some windshield-cowling gap filling, and panel line and tire threads re-scribing, added some rivets where I thought appropriate...

I will go with white Tamiya Liquid Primer or white Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500, followed by desert yellow shades, my complementary pre-shading using various reds and aluminium where appropriate for future chipping. Then goes the OD base coat. I chose to go with white primer since it will require less coats to achieve good OD coverage without it looking too dark.

Best,

Nikola

Hio Guys, concerning Model Photographie.... Please look at my Models in the Air. Model Aircraft Photos by Heinz Johannsen. Most 1/32 and 1/48 and 1/24. If you would like to get infos How I did it, come back to me  Get more out of your Models !!! Make them look real !! Put them in the Air !  stay healthy   Heinz Johannsen Look at Galleries Nr. 5--7--8--13--43--28--38--48--62--63--67--73--77-- on Readers Gallerie.Thanks for reading

Hio Guys, concerning Model Photographie.... Please look at my Models in the Air. Model Aircraft Photos by Heinz Johannsen. Most 1/32 and 1/48 and 1/24. If you would like to get infos How I did it, come back to me  Get more out of your Models !!! Make them look real !! Put them in the Air !  stay healthy   Heinz Johannsen

Cool tip, that looks perfect.

Hi gents,

Very slow progress on this one (as I promised). 

Nothing special done but I just wanted to share a small tip about tackling a slight canopy misalignment with those who are yet to build this one. I am generally not happy with the quality of the clear parts. Among some other issues, the windshield is slightly deformed meaning that it is slightly narrower that the fuselage and shorter by a millimetre. The bubble canopy has deformations within the ''plexiglass'' part (I will post some pics later).

I couldn't avoid the gap between the windshield and the cowling but regarding the joint with the fuselage luckily there is a way to keep filling and sanding to a minimum as there is space to insert a piece of toothpick fixed with CA which will not be seen later and keep the windshield at the proper width until glued to the canopy:

learmech64

Nicola, You are doing a great job on this. I built this kit about a year ago and really enjoyed it. I have 2 more in my stash. One question, do you have a link on where I may be able to purchase that stand that is in your photos?

 

Thank you very much Learmech, appreciated. Glad that you like it so far. I agree, it is very fun to build. :)

As for the berth (jig), here is the link:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/223618646971

Best,

Nikola

Nicola, You are doing a great job on this. I built this kit about a year ago and really enjoyed it. I have 2 more in my stash. One question, do you have a link on where I may be able to purchase that stand that is in your photos?

Fellow modeller and I apparently got a bad batch since we both have bad shaped rudder (another fellow's kit had no issues) so there was some fixing to be done. 

Not perfect but good enough. :)

Best,

Nikola

Before:

After:

7474

Wow, that's looking fantastic

 

 

Thank you 7474. Appreciated. Glad that you like it so far.

Best,

Nikola

Wow, that's looking fantastic

Well gents, it's finally starting to look like an airplane. :)

Wings are on, as well as the rudder, horizontal stabilizers, elevators and ailerons.

Wheel well is mostly finished with some touch ups and details to be done, but that's basically that, OOB.

The fit is very good, but I must say that the wings required some persuasion to fit in place since I had to do slight sanding and hard pushing in place (very tight fit). This is as close as I could get it. Some sandpaper will finish the job. 

The engineering of the stabilizer connection is interesting as they interlock between each other within the connection to the fuselage (pics below). Basically, there was no aligning required, although I think that the left stabilizer is off by a hairline. Not sure. I couldn't do anything about it though.

Thanks for looking!

Best,

Nikola