Revell 1/48 P-51D Mustang Finished!

Another neat choice, Keyda!

Are you going to use the kit decals as well?

Oh this should be a good, entertaining thread. I'm sure many of us have this kit in the stash besides myself.

I have been quietly working on the old Monogram "Miss Detroit" boxing I finally found in Portland a few years back. The parts fit isn't perfect, but it is a sharper molding.

However the Revell kit you have has some amazing markings in that box! I was impressed with that. If you go with the box art scheme be aware that the solid black tail is actually also black and white checkers if you want the accuracy. 

With enough elbow grease this kit will still shine brightly. Just be mindful of all of the gaps lol. 

Good luck, and I'll be watching closely.

-Mike

Nice choice. Got one out the bench myself. Backdating mine to a D-5. Not sure on markings yet...

Greg, yep I will be using the kit decals.  I might just paint the checkers on though, as Mike has suggested below, lol.  I've never painted checkers, but those decals make me nervous.

Mike, I haven't seen any pictures with the tail being checkered, but I did notice the wing tips are checkered, and the decals give are just stripes.  All the pics I've seen online just show the tail being black.  There were several planes painted with the scheme, only older picture I seen of the original bird you couldn't see the tail.

Shipwreck, fingers crossed!

cbaltrin, I got the two markings to pic from, and I just don't care for the weird two toned, green over natural metal look.  Besides, red and black go together so well!

Was just looking, and came across an article from 2016 in sofrep, fightersweep.  They gave a rundown on the original, as well as markings replicas in honor.  The article makes no mention of the wintips, but did say the rudder was all black.  There is a picture of ground crew checking the plane with prop turning that you can see the bottom and top of the rudder, no apparent checkerboard.  No to say they didn't change later.

Nothing definitive, but a start if someone wants to dig.

Have the old airfix 1/24 in the stash to build someday, I hope

If it doesn't have a checkered tail then I have been misinformed and I apologise for the confusion. I don't recall where I read that information.

Anyways, the wings tips are lol.

Keyda, that O.D. over aluminum actually strikes my fancy lol.

goldhammer, thanks for the info.  I'll just do the wing tips and the cowling.  I have some thin tape, and it looks to just be a bit time consuming placing tape, but probably a technique I should add to the basket!

Mike, Something about the yellow and green together that makes me go yuck, lol.  Red and black always catches my eye though, something about the combo. 

Nice progess, Keyda!

It's a nice kit, and when Monogram released it, it was cutting-edge.  Revell had its own 1/48 P-51D, but that didn't make it into the merged catalog.  I never got to build it back then, but I've got one now, and the Monogram kit, and I'm going to build them side-by-side, to compare how each company dealt with the subject.

Hey, Keyda. I was messing around with my 'Stang and I ran into a problem with the nose pieces not fitting flush. Thought you might want a heads up if you haven't already figured this one out.

I had to use some card stock as spacers to eliminate the poor fit. It all lines up if you do.

M. Brindos

If it doesn't have a checkered tail then I have been misinformed and I apologise for the confusion. I don't recall where I read that information.

Anyways, the wings tips are lol.

Keyda, that O.D. over aluminum actually strikes my fancy lol.

 

the Baron, it does look like it was pretty fancy when it first came out in 1977, lol.  Compared to some kits I've seen from roughly the same time frame it really isn't too bad.

Mike, I'm glad you mentioned that, cause I went and checked my pieces.  Only issue I had was the one piece was missing a big chunk.  So I had to install it, and put some filler in there. 

tempestjohnny, that sheet is available from 1001modelkits.com, said it was in stock. 

Past couple of days have been spent doing the putty, sand, prime, repeat, which just makes my tennis elbow flare up, lol. 

First coat of primer, wasn't looking too shabby, but I did a few more rounds.

First coat of gloss black in prep for the AK extreme metal paint.  Never tried it before, so fingers crossed. 

I landed up doing a bit more sanding as the black brought out all the imperections, and some I just couldn't live with.  There are still some, but I'm going to leave it as is.  Soon as I get too picky things will take a turn for the worse, and I'll really screw something up.  Hoping to get paint on it tomorrow!

I'm surprised you didn't attach the forward nose piece. You'll have to putty the piece in to blend it to the rest of the nose.

If you go back to my picture you'll see I used melted sprue so I can scribe those panels in.  The nose on this kit is almost as bad as the P-40B. I'm finding I have to be very careful how I plan my assembly.

I have the propeller hub assembly as a separate piece and I had to thicken the shaft so if fits by friction so I could get that nose all solidified.

I am curious. What is your plan?

You're making good progress on this classic 'Stang kit.

M. Brindos

I'm surprised you didn't attach the forward nose piece. You'll have to putty the piece in to blend it to the rest of the nose.

If you go back to my picture you'll see I used melted sprue so I can scribe those panels in.  The nose on this kit is almost as bad as the P-40B. I'm finding I have to be very careful how I plan my assembly.

I have the propeller hub assembly as a separate piece and I had to thicken the shaft so if fits by friction so I could get that nose all solidified.

I am curious. What is your plan?

 

The nose piece was listed further along in the instructions, so I hadn't paid attention to it at the time.  I did install it, and used some putty to fill in the missing chunk.  I sanded down the main seam along the nose, even though there is a natural seam line there.  It was looking pretty bad.  Then I just scribed a line down the middle, and used a pointed scribe tool to add screw heads back in along either side of the panel line. 

Thanks aggieman!

You handled that like a pro. Excellent. I'm sorry for doubting your talent. I kinda feel like a jerk now lol.

M. Brindos

You handled that like a pro. Excellent. I'm sorry for doubting your talent. I kinda feel like a jerk now lol.

 

No worries Mike!

Yep, well-played with the spinner!

the Baron

Yep, well-played with the spinner!

 

If Mike hadn't mentioned it, it would likely have gone unnoticed until later on, and I would of been swearing about it, lol. 

Got quite a bit of painting done today.  I also did a little experiment.  Glad I did.  Painted with AK Extreme Metal Polished Aluminum.  My first time trying the stuff.

I wondered what affect clear gloss would have on the finish, so I opted to paint the scoop that goes underneath with a quick coat of gloss, the results were not good.

Compared to the plane you can clearly see it turned the paint into a shade of gray.

So I opted to test out what Model Master Metalizer sealer does.  The drop tank on the left is just the metal paint, the one on the right is with MM metalizer sealer, and the scoop with Testor's gloss clear.

I will have to use the metalizer sealer on top of the decals.  I'm glad something works without totally messing up the finish.  There is a slight difference, but I'm okay with it.

So once I figured all that out it was time to mask off for a bunch of stuff, checkered wing tips, black tail, wing root walk ways, and the OD anti-glare.

Halfway through the checkers.

All done for the night.  I am going to have some touch ups, and I'll need to paint some very thin red lines in a few places, but that is for tomorrow.  With any luck I'll be done before the weekend.

That is top notch work with those checkers! I really hope you can keep the finish the way it is. That's flat out gorgeous.

Second Mike there.  You have nailed the AK metal for a first attempt.  I see more of that finish in your future.

Thanks Mike!  I'm going to try.  I need to touch up a few spots, paint my red lines, then likely go for decals, and then the metalizer sealer to keep it as shiney as possible but still seal the decals. 

Thanks goldhammer!  I would actually like give bare metal foil a try one of these days too.

I may be living on the wild side but I don't usually put a clear coat on decals when it's a natural metal finish.

Looking great! You did a nice job with the gun doors, I've built this kit twice and couldn't get them to fit as well as yours. 

Incidentally, my dad says the gun doors on this kit are not like the ones on the P-51's he worked on in the PA ANG. If I recall correctly, he said they would load with the ammo box, not belts, so they would not open the long panel. He also said the guns were not cocked until the plane was on the runway positioned for takeoff. 

jeaton01

I may be living on the wild side but I don't usually put a clear coat on decals when it's a natural metal finish.

 

With my luck I would stick my finger on a decal while I'm doing weathering and final assembly, and pull it off.  I've done it before.  So I feel like I need to seal the decals with something. 

Thanks UnwaryPaladin!  The gun doors fit fine, lol.  The one landing gear door however, but it will be gear down, so it doesn't really matter, just used it to mask off my already painted gear bays.  I will keep that in mind, and not leave the long panel open, just the small one.  If I display it open. 

Spent the entire afternoon working on painting, and doing touch-ups. 

Started off with painting the red lines around the wing tips, and on the sides of the fuselage.

Then spent a couple hours working on decals.  There are a few wrinkles in the checkerboard on the nose, which doesn't surprise me.  Honestly not as bad as I thought it was going to be.  Might even lay down after I let it dry for a while longer.

I have to say I'm not a fan of the fact that I had to layer decals.  Never had to do that before, and you have to do it with the "Big Beautiful Doll" script, the WZ and I, and a few smaller ones. 

Other than throwing a coat of sealer over the decals I'm done for today.  Maybe finish it up tomorrow.

UnwaryPaladin

Looking great! You did a nice job with the gun doors, I've built this kit twice and couldn't get them to fit as well as yours. 

Incidentally, my dad says the gun doors on this kit are not like the ones on the P-51's he worked on in the PA ANG. If I recall correctly, he said they would load with the ammo box, not belts, so they would not open the long panel. He also said the guns were not cocked until the plane was on the runway positioned for takeoff. 

 And I am wrong! Just had dinner with my parents, asked my dad about the gun bay doors. He said the doors are the same, but in doing his job he never had to open the long panel. Another crew would load the ammo belts, his job was to feed the first round and *** the guns just prior to take off. So they probably wouldn't have both panels open at the same time, but that's how I did mine!

 

Your painting turned out fantastic!! Very inspiring, gonna have to try it on the checkered tail and prop hub of the p-47 currently occupying the bench.

UnwaryPaladin, I landed up just leaving the gun doors closed.  The checkered pattern was actually relatively easy to do, just a bit time consuming and tedious.  Helps if you have different width washi masking tape. 

So I finished this up last night.  I didn't do a ton of weathering, kept it mostly clean.  Although being in the warbird community myself I find most warbirds are leaking oil from somewhere, lol.  The few P-51's I have seen were pretty clean though.  I'm assuming their owners spend a lot of time fixing and cleaning, lol.

Not perfect, but what is?  There are still a couple wrinkles in the checkerboard on the nose.  I'm not over the moon with the paint either.  It isn't a very durable finish.  It rubbed off in a few places that I later touched up.  I suppose the next P-51 will have to be a Tamiya kit, lol.

Nice job!