Hobby Boss Easy Assembly 1/48 P-51-D, ''Yellow Nose'' - Work in progress

Lookin good! 

Jim 

Stay Safe.

Nice work! I built one of these as an F-6 photo Mustang recently, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Nikola

One very strange thing is that the vertical stabilizer is off center line for some reason (pics below).

That was a common feature on several more modern fighter designs of the war. The Mustang's vertical stabilizer had an incidence of 1° left built in to help offset the torque from the powerful Merlin engine.

Nice build so far.

I really like the Hobby Boss Easy Assemble kits. Their P-38 was really easy to build. 

gregbale

That was a common feature on several more modern fighter designs of the war. The Mustang's vertical stabilizer had an incidence of 1° left built in to help offset the torque from the powerful Merlin engine.

 

Ah, gotcha! Thanks for the info! Makes sense. I did doubt that it was a mistake but didn't know the real reason.

Best,

Nikola

JohnnyK

Nice build so far.

I really like the Hobby Boss Easy Assemble kits. Their P-38 was really easy to build. 

 

Hi Johnny, 

Thanks!

Good to hear about your experience with their P-38. I have one in the stash and thought it to be my next quick build.

Best, 

Nikola

Hi gents,

I just realized that HB made one major f'up with the landing gear - the torque scissors are at the front! Pic below.

I'll see how it can be fixed... Or just leave them as they are.

Best,

Nikola

Nikola

I just realized that HB made one major f'up with the landing gear - the torque scissors are at the front! Pic below. I'll see how it can be fixed... Or just leave them as they are.

Forgot to mention that. I just (carefully) clipped mine off with a nail trimmer, and glued them on on the proper side.

Two more 'fixes' needed, if they bother you.

HB didn't mold any trace of the prominent cooling exhaust vent on the underside of the fuselage, just forward of the tailwheel. It's highly noticeable in photographs. I added mine with a folded piece of pie-tin aluminum, but there's no great harm if you simply wish to ignore it, or just scribe an outline as though it's 'shut tight.'

The other missing item is another minor one -- no holes under the wings behind the MGs, for the ejection of cartridges. I must confess, I didn't notice this one until my NMF had been carefully applied...so I just cut little black decal rectangles, and 'faked' it. If you should wish to drill or file them out, any Mustang drawing will show the location.

The good news is that HB did a nice job with the perforated breather plates on either side of the nose...which is the first time I can recall having seen a manufacturer do this, even in larger scales!

Cheers

gregbale

Two more 'fixes' needed, if they bother you.

Thanks for the tips!

I don't think that I will bother with all that, except maybe the scissors. 

Again, this is more of a painting excercise. :)

I'll see.

Best,

Nikola

fox

Lookin good!

Jim 

Stay Safe.

 

Thanks Jim! Appreciated.

Best,

Nikola

Nikola, this "Yellow Nose" Mustang, is it Bruce Carr's airplane, Angels' Playmate? I'm curious because I've been looking for 1/48 scale decals of his airplane for a long time. I knew Col. Carr and I've wanted to build a model of his Mustang as a tribute.

fotofrank

Nikola, this "Yellow Nose" Mustang, is it Bruce Carr's airplane, Angels' Playmate? I'm curious because I've been looking for 1/48 scale decals of his airplane for a long time. I knew Col. Carr and I've wanted to build a model of his Mustang as a tribute.

 

Hi Fotofrank,

Unfortunately no. One option is for Betty Lee III flown by 2nd Lt William Kemp and the other for Lt Col Glenn Eagleston's plane.

Best, 

Nikola

Thanks, Nikola. I actually did find decals for Carr's airplane. I'll be ordering them very soon.

Hi guys,

One of the biggest lies in BJJ sparring is saying ''let's roll light''. It never ends that way.

Same here. This is supposed to be a very quick build but I just couldn't let some details not get addressed.

I had to fill in the side seams between the front fixed canopy and the fuselage as HB has for some reason left about 0.5mm of unnecessary plastic above the proper seam line.

Also had to rescribe some panel lines including the one running along the center of the cowling top side, as HB does not show them in the completed aircraft drawing in the painting instructions.

The seam is obviously there in the photos of the real thing.

I hate rescribing over filler putty as I can not yet achieve a perfectly strait line. I also went too deep in some spots and I hope that extra primer and paint fill fix those areas. Does anyone have a suggestion regarding this issue?

Thanks for looking!

Best,

Nikola 

I do have one suggestion for filling cracks, seams, sinks marks, or panel lines for scribing; melted sprue.

I've been using it more since I started my Corsair and I've come to seriously appreciate the fact that I can scribe it like fresh plastic. 

It sometimes takes a while to set and that depends on how thick you apply it.

 It's a simple solution of extra sprue and either Tamiya Extra Thin cement or at one place I worked at, acetone. I have some melted in an extra bottle of Tamiya Extra Thin. For a few years now I've simply used stretched sprue to fill small lines and just melted it in place with glue, but having enough if it ready as filler is becoming most convenient.

 Give that try. The results are quite satisfying without so much putty.

Oh, and I've got an HB P-47 that's of similar simplicity. A touch of scratch building works wonders. 

Nice work so far.

M. Brindos

I do have one suggestion for filling cracks, seams, sinks marks, or panel lines for scribing; melted sprue.

Thanks Mike! Excellent suggestion. I'll give it a try.

Best,

Nikola

Hi guys,

Finished priming with Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 and marbled using Uschi Triniti Splatter template with Tamiya Nato Black.

Next step is the moment of truth - the metal coat. We'll see how that goes.

Thanks for looking.

Best,

Nikola

B-17 Guy

What is supposed to be the point of the marbleized texture?

 

Shipwreck

Nikola, I Saw your Uschi Trinity Splatter Template; and I had to have one! I have spent hours trying to achieve that effect. The best Could do is $20 shipped from the Ukrain.

 

Hi Shipwreck, 

This is the first time I am using it. I've used salt technique until now. I will also try freehand marbling at some point. We'll see how this turns out once the topcoat is on.

Best,

Nikola

B-17 Guy

What is supposed to be the point of the marbleized texture?

 

Hi B-17 Guy,

Like Shipwreck said, keep watching and you will see that it will create variance in reflection properties of the aluminium top coat. It should anyway. :) 

Best, 

Nikola

Hi gents,

Well, the marbling technique worked like a charm. I got exactly what I expected. Very happy about that. I think that Nato Black is a good choice for marbling over pure black as anything lighter that that would give too much contrast.

One thing which I am not happy about though is how Vallejo Metal Color behaves. It also clogs the airbrush a lot (although I haven't used their flow improver which I probably should have) and it is somehow too grainy.

It might be something to do with the primer underneath or my poor technique as an NMF beginner.  As we all know metallics are very sensitive to sanding and buffing, but I have one thing in mind that might fix that although I am not sure that it will work. We'll see when this is dry completely.

Anybody else had similar experience with Vallejo metallic? Any other suggestions for improving the finish?

And yes, it is true what they say, this stuff shows every single imperfection!!!

Anyway, here is the result.

Best,

Nikola

I've been using the Vallejo Metal Series and I have had the same issue with a slight grainy effect. I suspect it's a pressure problem. Low and slow is how I'll try it next, but so far I haven't lost too much of the sheen after a clear cote with Vallejo clear. But then, I'm still learning how best to use the gloss. I've mastered the flat.

M. Brindos

I've been using the Vallejo Metal Series and I have had the same issue with a slight grainy effect. I suspect it's a pressure problem. Low and slow is how I'll try it next, but so far I haven't lost too much of the sheen after a clear cote with Vallejo clear. But then, I'm still learning how best to use the gloss. I've mastered the flat.

 

Hi Mike, 

Thanks for the reply! Appreciated. 

I will try a gloss primer next time. I used Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 thinking that it's gloss without actually checking. It turns out that it is somewhat satin...

Also, I will try and thin the paint down a bit and spray light coats, letting them dry in between, as a felow modeler suggested. 

I am generally thinking of ditching Vellejo for spraying and using them only for brushwork. They do behave better with a flow improver, but since there are other great options out there... 

Best, 

Nikola

Hi gents,

She's all metalized! 

Vellejo Metal Colors - Aluminium for the most part - fuselage, ailerons, flaps, vertical stabiliser, rudder, mg housing panels...; White Aluminium for the filled and painted parts of the wings; Duraluminium for the panels at the exhaust.

These metallics are very difficult to photograph! :)

Thanks for looking!

Best,

Nikola

A little surgery to correct HB's mistake and bring the torque scissors to the back where they belong. 

I shouldn't be doing this Hobby Boss!!!

Best,

Nikola

Before surgery:

The cut:

The result - the patient survived and the doc is happy:

Nice thinking with swapping the locator pins I stead of cutting the scissors off. That's ingenious.

M. Brindos

Nice thinking with swapping the locator pins I stead of cutting the scissors off. That's ingenious.

 

Cutting the scissors would've been way too much work for this kind of a model. :)

If I didn't have an option of rotating the pins I would've just left them as they were. 

Looking good!  I like the way the marbling worked.

Mike