Mustang Build

MC: Looking forward to seeing paint on her! I know it'll look great as usually

ajd3530: Nice looking cockpit. Love the belts! I still have to learn how to make those, they really add to the overall look.

Alright, so I was able to accomplish quite a bit (per my building abilities) over the weekend, so here goes...First I drilled out the exhaust. Not as good as I was hoping for but should have the desired affect.

First attempt at figure painting...worked with the colors I had at hand. Looks like he could use some time in the sun

Ok, so I was going to forego the yellow on the leading edges of the wings as this was the reason for the repainting in the first place, but after seeing a few builds on here that had them (jezz's spitfire and mustang come to mind) and how they just looked so good, I decided to give it another go. So here it is all masked off...I'll admit that I was a little nervous

But I'm pretty happy with how they turned out...

Maggie doesn't seem too impressed though...mans best friend but apparently his hardest critic too

Sorry just having a little fun with the camera So back to business...

And with pale face all saddled up I attached the canopy and prop. And here is how she sits after a quick gloss coat this morning.

Should be moving on to decals soon! Comments and critiques appreciated!

-Andy

LOL, Maggie is giving you that "really?" look.

I love the looks of the British Mustangs. The camo and invasion stripes really look good on them, especially the Malcolm Hood.

These are both coming along nicely.  With regards to the invasion stripes, how perfectly straight were they?  I've seen where many were done with actual brushes and done quite hastily.  Does anyone have some thoughts on how this would look at a 1:48 or 1:72 scale?

Hmmm, I never really thought about it, but yeah I guess all the invasion stripes, at least just prior to the invasion, would have been hand brushed on  

I know what you're saying bvallot. I actually was debating with that myself when doing these, but decided (as I think we do often) to go with the clean/precise look over the perhaps more realistic. But now that you say that, I think next time I will try to make it look more realistic. Off the top of my head I'm thinking cutting the masking tape with a dull blade might give it a slightly ragged edge which should keep the scale in line. Seems like brush painting would give too large of "errors/overpainting" from side to side at this scale, know what I mean. But that may just be my skill level too:) I think it would be another one of those times when an actual picture of the aircraft would be the only way to know for sure.

Well, I think realistic is relative to the subject.  I wasn't harping on your stripes in particular...just that I've no doubt some must have been messier.  And I've no doubt as well (especially with Spits and Mustangs) that certain crews took pride in their planes and would have been more precise with their painting.  It seems every depiction of invasion stripes on fighter planes had them pretty as could be.  And I have seen in photos where some actual were as such. I think it would be fun to try a pair that looked a little out of sorts, but I couldn't bring myself to do it unless it was "that way" on the actual plane I'm portraying.  =]

I had similar thoughts on pulling it off rooster513.  I think a hand torn piece of tape might prove effective.  I just haven't stop to try it yet.  So I don't actually have any experience with how to pull it off.  I should think that the broken line would have to be fairly tight still at such a small scale.

Thoughts?

I agree that it would have to be tight to stay in scale and would have to be on a plane to plane representation. No worries, I know you were pointing mine out in particular:) I've thought about it before so I'm glad you said something so everyone can give input. Honestly the more I think about it the more I want to try it. I think it could look cool and be fun to try. I like the idea of a hand torn piece of tape, gets me thinking, ummmm...great now I've gotta go buy another model!

-Andy

HAHAHHA.   Love Maggie the dog's picture!

Thanks for the feedback ajd3530. Those look really handy! Looks like he just prints them off?  If he's around my neck of the woods in NY I may just have to introduce myself I'd love to know how he does them.

-Andy

Waterloo, NY if I'm not mistaking. I actually first came across these because he sells them on ebay. If you'd like, I can hook you up with his email/ebay page.

You've got to be kidding me!!!!! I'm from Waterloo!! LOL. Prolly lives down the street from me! Truly is a small world. That'd be great if you could hook me up with that info! Thanks!

Rooster513- I wouldn't have changed a thing, the stripes look fantastic!  Looks more like a diecast (an extremely detailed one that is) than a plastic model kit.  Shows some major skill when you jump the "that must be metal" line!  LOL

 adj5330- AWESOME interior detail! :)

Looks good ajd. That is strange that AM would close the radiator door. Most pictures I've see has the door open, kinda like the gear doors and flaps.

Looks to be shaping up pretty well.  I'm with you on the daylight factor.  I lose my mind when I see light coming through somewhere it shouldn't.  

Learn somthin new every day. I wonder why They didn't do that for the B/C/D models. I guess they figured it wasn't necessary and just one more thing to go wrong.

Only thing I can think of is that the Mustang has a rather low profile, and sits closer to the ground than a P-47 or P-40, and they were worried the open inner doors would be at risk of catching the ground on hard landings. And by the time the Merlin Mustangs came around, it was decided that was a non-issue? Maybe? Idk, I'm just shooting from the hip on this one.

Nice thing. The inner doors close up with hydraulic pressure so that's not a problem. They bleed down over a period of time. In fact I read somewhere that they intentionally let them bleed down. The flaps, on the other hand are put in the extended position to aid in climbing aboard/exiting.

It's so cool watching a Stang start up and the inner doors close.

I will be on vacation the end of this week July 4-11. I will be checking in with my phone during my time away. CodyJ will be available if I don't respond.

I also have some happy news, We have accepted an offer on our house and will be moving (assuming everything goes through fine) to a new home at the end of July. I will be available on the forum during that time, however I will need to pack up my builds for a week or two . I should be back up and running the first part of August. I am going to try to finish the builds I have in process, but won't be starting new any until then.

Steve

ajd: I love random facts like that.  Keep 'em coming.  =]

Have a good time Steve!  

Hey all, if you do need anything, I am still checking in once a day at least!  Usually during the wee hours of 1-3am.  Thats when I do the drafting work.  That way I have the day to do stuff.   Sleep is overrated.  

Hi all! I was able to get quite a bit done despite a busy holiday weekend. First I cut up some tubing for machine gun barrels. I was also able to finish up decaling on the main fuselage and the drop tanks.

Gave it a wash and some weathering and should have the finished pics up tonight or tomorrow!

-Andy

Coming along nicely ajd! Smart to paint the yellow first, it's such a pain to do at the end Looking forward to seeing more.

OK I'm back from vacation guys,

We will be packing up for a move out of the house to a new one at the end of the month, but I will be monitoring the GB as usual/

ajd,

Coming along nicely, I love those Squadron "Walk Around" publications. They are chock full of info.

Wow, there's some great work being done in this Group Build.

I'd like to jump in with an Accurate Miniatures 1/48 F-6A with lots of extra goodies. I plan to use the kit decals because months of searching didn't turn up anything more interesting. If I'm lucky, this thing will turn out at least half a nice as some of the other Mustangs I've seen here.

Larry

I've seen your other Mustang Larry, I'm sure you will be doing better than me.

I have you down sir.

Thanks for letting me join the build, Steve.

I've made some progress since yesterday. Like most, I started with the cockpit. One problem that I've always had with resin replacements is getting them lined up correctly. On my last build I finally solved the problem. I start by clamping the kit sidewall in place and using white glue to attach a piece of scrap styrene strip at the front of the piece where the locator for the control panel sticks out. I also scribe a few marks at the back end of the piece.

After the white glue sets up, I remove the kit part, cut off the locator pins, and then ACC the resin replacement in, snugging it up against my temporary locator. Once the ACC cures, it's a simple matter to knock the locator loose and scrape off the little bit off white glue residue.

I also really like the Scale Aircraft Conversions white metal landing gear. Since it was made for the Tamiya kit, there's a little work involved in using the SAC tail wheel in an AM kit. Here’s the new mount in the fuselage. The bottom piece is made from sheet styrene. The corresponding part in the Tamiya kit was .035" thick, so I made mine by laminating .020 and .015 styrene. It’s .22" front-to-back and .349" side-to-side (at the front of the piece), with a slight taper toward the rear to match the contour of the fuselage. The forward hole is #57 (.043") and the rear one is #53 (.059), spaced to accept the SAC part. The top piece is made from .030 styrene with a single #57 hole. I didn’t think the width of the top piece was critical, so I left about .06" on either side of the hole. I attached the top part to the bottom using .040x.040 strip as spacers. I also added strip styrene along the edges of the bottom piece to get a larger gluing surface. After the whole assembly dried, I added it to the fuselage.