Mustang Build

Sorry that its been a while since my last update - lots of business travel and a bit of vacation too!

Having fun working on weathering for both the paint and decals and finding pictures about what these aircraft looked like at the time.  Guessing on wheel wells but also the topside wear.

Here is the fuselage so far.  using one of the full canopies as a mask. I'll use the Malcom Hood option.

Underside shows the preshading and the work on the wheel wells.

And a close look at the wheel wells themselves.  Painted with Model Master Acryl, and used a Prismacolor pencil for silver highlights and using a rust-colored wash from Flory.  Will use a dark wash for further accents.

Here are the wheel doors.

Did some work on the wheels, painting some flat black to give it some depth.  I found a video on YouTube from the war of an aircraft similar to this - lots of dirt it seems.

With any luck will get the landing gear on this week, and more of the stencils and markings.

It's coming along nicely goldhammer .

Got the wing and stabs on her this morning.  Starting to look like an aircraft instead of a pile of styrene.....

Still filling holes and seams as you can see, especially the wing clip and replacement metal ends.

68,

Those little details really slow me down. It's easy to get discouraged when you see very little progerss.

As soon as I get all the holes in the wing filled and the tips faired in, will attach wingy thingy to fuselage and do the final fill and be ready to prime.  Don't get much time to work on it right now, just a couple of minutes in the evening and a little on the w/e's.  Life has a way of getting in the way of living.

Hopefully get her done by the deadline and be ready for the submarine GB.

I gotcha.  I peaked at the first page with the box art and figured it might've been something like that.  Pretty nifty.  Looks like you're about ready to close her up. =]

bvallot

Goldhammer, is the interior of this particular mustang grey?

 

According to MC, yes.  He has a friend on the crew, and said the interior is/was a light grey.  So that's what I went with, and OOB with some of my own colors for highlights.  We were hoping for some pit pics, but he never was able to send them.

Trying to decide between Guards Red or Insignia Red and then French Blue or Blue Angel Blue for her.  Or maybe something else if someone has better ideas.

Goldhammer, is the interior of this particular mustang grey?

Couple of pics on the slow progress of "Miss America".  Pit before and after fuselage close, and the wing clip and metal replacement tips from the kit.

That is really looking great Brit. You put a lot of work into it, and I' m sure you will get thre cannopy in just right. I can tell you really take pride in doing things right.

Steve

Bvallot.  Looks more like a greenhouse. .then an canopy  lol. But ...I see what you mean ..taken it slow is the best way to go .I know you'll pull it  off . right now I'm fightin to get bench time here . I'm seriously thinking of scratch building the exhaust stacks on myn ..the kit parts look under scale  just don't look right ..a nother trump weak spot . Just have to think this out how to go about it . All those tiny decals  ( placard. ). Are going to be a pain in Tha @$÷! lol . I'm thinking about doing halve of them cuss of the camouflage. It's a different story on a all metal Finnish bird were your able to see them more clearly ..I may also do the same as you have done on the tail wheel . 

5

Thanks 5. This part is gonna be slow.  Once I get this canopy figured out, it'll all pick up quick. =]

Made a bit more progress tonight.  Got everything fitted and closed up.  Seams are all sanded and polished smooth.  Now I'm just working on getting this Squadron canopy in place.  I think it's going to be a real treat if I can get her to settle in like she's supposed to.  I wanted to post this part for anyone out there who ventures into this AM piece.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

This is mostly already measured and cut to fit.  I suppose I should've gone ahead and completely fixed this part up so that I'm not making complicated masking tasks all around my cockpit after the fact to touch up the painting I'll have to tend to, but c'est la vie.  So with a little patient tweaking (my razor blade carefully sawing into what needed to be removed) I removed just enough kit plastic to allow the new canopy to settle into place.  Here's where I started.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

I did purposefully leave a little to take off later, that way I'm not having to shim something after the fact and not be able to reach it from the other side.  In hindsight, it'll likely cause me some repainting. No matter.  It happens.  I'd rather it this way where I don't feel rushed, but it's something for the builder to consider.  Once I trimmed the back end around the radio compartments down just right, I test fitted the canopy once more and found this....

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

I've highlighted the most forward part in a red dry erase maker to see what I'll be trimming off. I may actually try to sand this part down to keep it even since it's such a small length.  These are all very tiny steps off the actual kit's lines, but to leave them unfixed would completely throw off what's going on here.  I haven't ever tackled a canopy like this before, but I feel pretty good so far.  Cross your fingers! =]

Looking good bvallot. It's comeing along nicely. I haven't been able to get any bench time lately. .too much going on ..on that tail wheel. I've seen them pivoted two in some pictures. Great idea. The interior detail  is fantastic too .keep them comeing buddy 

5-high 

I totally agree. Ordinarily, I build it as it should be if for nothing more than the practice and my own satisfaction.  But I can't have this mustang take 6 months to build.  Since none of this area will be visible with one of those flashlights, I'm not gonna sweat it this time.  I'll still include the trimmings with the doors and such.  That'll come later. =]

Hang with it Lostagain.  =]

I don't have too much to show. Progress is slow with work being so busy and having a pregnant wife to tend to. I felt I'd post what I did to the tail gear here as this isn't absolutely necessary but certainly easy and worth the effort.  

One, I wanted to have the wheel turned to the side showing the way these planes pivoted around a parking spot.  I cut the wheel off at the base of the shaft leading to the gear strut.  I drilled a hole so this new joint has something to bite into and give it some strength. I cleaned up the wheel and fashioned a small brass rod to take the place of the kit part. Bent and filed it down into place based on photos...and then glued into the kit strut with CA. Viola! =]  After test fitting this part, it looked awfully wobbly to me.  Since I don't like flimsy parts, I decided to beef it up a bit.  After learning my lesson with my P-40B I found that none of this area will be visible whatsoever.  Time is a bit of a factor at the moment in completeing this build so I opted not to make an accurate replica of this region that will go underappreciated.  I kept it simple...a couple of plastic rods that I could bond to the kit parts with Tamiya ETCement and reinforce how the actual part will respond to stress.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Here's the rest of the cockpit put together.  Just about completed and ready to be closed up.

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

Untitled by Britt Vallot, on Flickr

This last one shows the changes I made to the tail gear.  Nothing major, but it stands up to more abuse now. =]

lostagain,

I agree with 5-high. You did a great job recovering from a disaster. Can't wait to see it finished.

Larry

Lostagain 

Looks much better now. .you did a great job on her ..now remember that there will be scratch marks all over so look closely for them ..and take care of it before you paint the silver on it cuzz the silver will show every flaw ..must say you did a  great save there ..

5-high 

Britt,

Your attention to detail is fantastic, enjoying following your build.

Matt, the build is looking super, I can see why you don't want the PE covered up. Looking forward to the finished product.

Talking of complete builds, Ding Hao looks a peach Larry. You have got a smooth finish on it and the setting is great.

Recovery continues on the dropped B. Here it is looking ugly with all the Mr Surfacer on:

And today with it all smoothed back including the missing tail feather:

Looking better with everything down to 1200 grit. The glazing fell out during the clean up, will be stuck back on once the coaming is painted black again.

modelcrazy

Larry, Brit was hinting that you may want to jump in on Tueuns' NMF GB. Not a bad idea.

Steve

 

Exactly.  Me and Theuns are hosting the NMF GB going on right now.  If you've never built a NMF plane before then this is the perfect time to jump into a GB like this.  Plenty of subjects, plenty of advice/experience (both success and failures), and plenty of time to build. =]  If you want to get your feet wet, this is the way to do it. =]

OPPS 

SORRY FOR THE DOUBLE  POST ..

WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION. 

5-high 

I think you'll do a fabulous job on the next mustang D..I'll be watching .

5-high 

I think you'll do a fabulous job on the next mustang D..I'll be watching .

5-high 

Larry, Brit was hinting that you may want to jump in on Tueuns' NMF GB. Not a bad idea.

Steve

Steve,

Don't know that I'd call myself a Mustang Master. There are folks on this group build who know far more than I do and who have done some amazing work (bvallot, I'm thinking of the detail you just did in that cockpit). I'm just a man on a mission: to build an example of each variant of the P-51 flown by the US in WWII.

bvallot, I'm a bit slow on the uptake, so I'm not quite getting the crossover comment, but I am pretty much planning to do Weaver's P-51D serial number 472199 in natural metal. It's going to be a bit of a stretch - I've never built a model of a D before, I've never done a natural metal finish, and I've never done a red and yellow checkboard on the nose. Should be fun.

Larry

Very nice indeed Larry.  ...do I see you dropping hints at a NMF crossover?!? =D  I think I do....