Just doing the exhaust stack, just wanna say, and I hope I dont come over as some sort of Stang geekfan compared to Tamiya's Spit (as that is a beautiful build too) .. but the these exhaust are soooo much more satisfying to put together. I remember the Spits were driving me crazy by not staying in place. Seems they have solved it.

(sorry for the slightly naff pic, taken on my mobile phone) Shows how the people at Tamiya have decided to have us put this together, much better IMO.

Furyan  man it must have been rough closing that up all that detail needs to be shown !!! But then that merlin will be seen I bet.

Now I want one too I will have to plan for this caper for sure.

Hey Kbuzz  are you havin any trouble with recoil in flight with that huge cannon ?? F-86 is really lookin good there buddy.

Doogs now you have got to know by now the only thing better than a picture of one jug is a picture of a pair-o-jugs Gettin close buddy gettin close

Krakan you are in and welcome, I will get your build in the line up in short order

I'm in, as I just started an Academy 1/48 F-86f30 Sabre.
Will post pics when I can get some taken, it's just now had the fuselage halves joined.

Loving all the photos guys.. great work.

Yeah Doogs theres few little holes to be done in the Stang, have your modelling drill ready but no dramas so far. Other than that Ive found the joining of the pit  and engine then placing that combo into the fuselage much MUCH easier than the Spit. _b 

Furyan - the 'Stang is really coming along! Glad to hear it goes together better than the Spit - didn't think such a thing was possible. Though...carving out that hole in the belly for the light was rather frustrating.

Ken - Digging the Sabre! I really need to build one of those some day.

Progress on Magic Carpet - markings are on, getting their sealing coat tomorrow. Then it's on to final assembly, killing the shine, weathering, getting off my duff with the bombs, etc. Apologies for the non-NMF alongside...double build and all.

Looking good, guys!

A little more progress on the F-86.  How do you like my nose cannon?  The engineering studies show a significant loss of thrust, tho. 

Ken

Putting the fuselage together was a joy, was easier than doing the Spit. Just have a half dozen rubber bands and clamps at the ready when you come to do it. Again Tamiyas attention to detail is outstanding.

This is of the bonded pit and Merlin

Wow ,thanx for the compliments guys

As for the Tamiya chrome silver I just sprayed it with my Badger 100LG at about 20PIS with the widest spray fan the nozle can do.

I thin my enamels with normal miniral turps (can't always get "fancy" stuff here) at a ratio of about 25-30 % to the paint.

It is like you can see in the pix with no yellow on very shiny but the Tamiya clear acrlic with about 15% flat base in toned it down nicely. The gun pannels and some other darker oned were plainly humbrol 56.

As for the stains I messed up , I was to lazy to first spray the whole model with matt clear just to do staining. I usually used soft pastel powder with drybrush, so I drybrushed on paint. Hence the wrong streaky look to it.

Theuns

Theuns nice build man !!!!!!!! Dont have any idea how you get the Tamiya Chrome silver to look so good. No matter what I try I cant match your finishes with it. I have a soft spot for the yellow tails so I really like the markings you have chosen and the weathering looks great too. What did you use for the exhaust stains ?

Your completed build has been added to the front page.

Red Baron nice work on that figure man It really adds to the office detail. Sore is gonna look good when finished cant wait.

Doogs of your jug all I can say is

B17 I know your pain sir, the weather wait is almost as bad as waiting for paint and glue to dry. Drives me crazy.

Had a nice weather day a the last weekend, so I did get the P-47 all primed, and sanded for the gloss black coat.  But its 33 degrees now, so no painting today.

Ken: Nice looking F-86!

Theuns: Wow, love the pony! Nice job on the different shades of NM and love the yellow tail!

Baron von Richtofen: Nice looking cockpit there. And I think the overdone panel lines won't look so strong when under a coat of paint.

Furyan: Lots of room for detailing there and you've taken advantage of it. Makes me want to break out the 1/32 Hasegawa P-47...

Doogs: Very nice! I do like how the pre-shading is coming out here.

Cliff

Furyan that looks great! I can't wait to tackle that big Stang! I've got way too many builds I really want to build right now!

Pushed through main painting on "Magic Carpet" last night...

First, busted out a shading method I've been experimenting with on the Revellogram kit that's surfing the bench alongside this one.

Then busted out Tamiya Olive Drab cut with about 1/3 Khaki Drab to knock the green off a bit.

Next up, decals and stuff

Arms on.. last pic's were taken a few days ago. 

Heres the latest for a while.

I must add... the Tamiya is so precise, Im amazed at how well all the parts just fit together so well, yes theres a heap of filing involved and this plane is not for any beginner but Tamiya really do make it delight so far.

Ive doubted some of the instructions... only to find theres a method in their madness, amazing way around, hard to explain but the parts are such an amzing fit it makes you smile.  Tamiya are really on the ball.

My last build was the Trumpy 1/32 scale Hellcat, nice yes but totally not in the same league as the quality of build here... and Im only a small ways through. 

 Thoroughly recommend to all so far.

 fuselage in three bits. Mid - tail - and engine .. (to be fitted)

75% of  the pit done, as you can see his arms aren't attached yet and the black matt paint on the dash and fuel containers has to be buffed (makes the dash have a slight sun worn look). Can see the gun-sight and inside bulletproofed windshield glass. Loved the fitting of the parts, all jel'd so well _b

I've finally started the Hawk. 

This is one of Airfixs new tooling models, which have engraved panel lines (probably too deep) and some cockpit detail on the walls of the cockpit, floor and instrument board. It's OOB except for the seatbelts i scratchbuilt from masking tape.

The fit was okay, It will need a lot of filling.

Theuns

That's interesting, so there should actually be no visable pannel lines on the wings then?

 

Theuns

The gun panels, very outboard most panel lines, and there's a line extending back from the ammo door that are visible. All the others are filled in.

I only noticed now my B don't have the red "L" no step on the flaps. There were none on the decal sheet I can recall.

Maybe the B didn't have it? or Academy is wrong?

Theuns

I think from further checks the very outside panel lines where still visible, they sealed all the rest on the wing tops.. and like Doggs said obviously not the gun panels lolol :D

Theuns, Doogs, beautiful Mustangs!!

Ken

That's interesting, so there should actually be no visable pannel lines on the wings then?

Theuns

Hey Doogs..

Thanks mate, again great tips. Yeah makes sense. Been reading the Tamiya work manual and they state sanding down the tops of the wings will help with authenticity.. but never in anything elsewhere they have in the box as to why we are advised to do this... there you go, ya answered it.

Thanks again!

Furyan

Hey read somewhere they painted the tops of the wings sliver.. leaving the rest of the aircraft natural bare metal of course.. anyone know why did they did this with the wings plse?

Aerodynamics. Most of the panels (save gun doors and a few aft) were filled and sanded at the factory, then the wings were painted with aluminum lacquer. 

I filled mine in on my last P-51 build and will be doing so from now on...

Sorry no help with the pilot but the build looks awesome _b

Hey read somewhere they painted the tops of the wings sliver.. leaving the rest of the aircraft natural bare metal of course.. anyone know why did they did this with the wings plse?

5 th FS/52 FG/15th AF Italy Summer 1944. Any one maybe know who flew her??

Note the different rate at witch the main gear doors are starting to droop as hydrolic pressure starts to go down.

All comments welcom.

Theuns

Theuns lookin forward to pictures of your P-51

Kbuzz that buffing metalizer laid down very well for you I always have ended up with at least a couple of runs when I use it.

Wow, that's pretty, Doogs! 

A little more progress on the F-86.

And  some buffing metalizer

Ken

Dang that Alclad gives good results! Wish I gould get hold of some here :-(

I am in the final stages of completing my 51 and will post pix soon.

In the kit they give an ADF loop on the rear top fuse that I installed and painted. Last night I looked at all my 51B pix and not one had the loop ,so I had to cut the thing off and now need torepair the area.

Theuns

Casper no worries buddy but I did haffta yank your chain a bit ya know

Doogs now thats what I have been waiting to see, sweet. You can really lay that alclad down man

Col Gray your build is in sir and looking forward to seeing it. I have one of those in the statch maybe one day I will be able to actually build it.

Is it too late to join again with another build?

I just picked up Monograms F-80 in 1/48th so it should be a nice relaxing NMF build

let me know

Got the NMF on the wings and cowl tonight...