Bobby: Absolutely terrific finishes on your Ta-183's. The camo paint work on both of them is really well done. And, like the others, I'm a might partial to the desert scheme. 

Joe: Good to see some updates from you. Excellent work on the rivets and a huge kudos to you on the recovery effort. Your efforts are certainly an inspiration for perseverence and creativity.

Mustang,

Fantastic save! I kinda gasped when I saw the instructions! I'm glad you took a moment and thought it through! And I see nothing wrong with the rivets. They look great!

hogfanfs

Mustang,

Fantastic save! I kinda gasped when I saw the instructions! I'm glad you took a moment and thought it through! And I see nothing wrong with the rivets. They look great!

 

Thanks for the good word everybody. I was a little taken back when I first looked at the instructions myself alright. It was more like this:

JOE RIX

Bobby: Absolutely terrific finishes on your Ta-183's. The camo paint work on both of them is really well done. And, like the others, I'm a might partial to the desert scheme. 

Joe: Good to see some updates from you. Excellent work on the rivets and a huge kudos to you on the recovery effort. Your efforts are certainly an inspiration for perseverence and creativity.

 

Thank you!  Yeah, the desert camo I think is the winner.  Thanks again!

Bobby

Lot's of cutting and sanding going on as of late. I've got the port side engine pod minus all the panels about ready though. I still have some sanding and filling to do at the front and rear but I feel fairly good about the progress so far.......it's just taking forever to get anywhere past all the cutting. lol

Cut and sectioned out:



I cut the center strip out of the left over engine pod root and got the halves glued together this morning:



I didn't foresee being able to paint the engine air intake area on the starboard closed up engine uniformly so I cut the starter assy out of the center of the air intake to paint it and will reinstall it after painting.

Thanks Bish: This has been a hand full.

Thanks Joe Rix: It seems to be the metal colors that have given me trouble, the others such as Olive Drab and Insignia Yellow dried great. And can be masks with no pealing.

Thanks Eagle90: Great finish on your Ta-183's, they look great. Nice camouflage to.

Thanks Gamera.

Thanks Mustang: I think the riveting looks great. Nice engine pods.

Unfortunately there was some light pealing of X-11 Silver Chrome, but nothing like Model Master Chrome Silver.  The camera didn't pick it that great.

73 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

After Insignia Yellow was airbrushed, I masked up the bottom for Model Master Interior Green, using Tamiya tape.

77 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

78 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

When Interior Green dried I decided to re-airbrush X-11, so I masked over Olive Drab, Insignia Yellow, Flat Aluminum, the wheel wells where at first tricky, but along the inner edge there is a lip and that's where I placed the Tamiya tape. To help control the over spray I used 10psi.

79 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

80 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

Airbrushed top and bottom, letting the top dry over night then airbrushing the bottom the next day. It turned out great. Following that touch ups on Interior Green, and brush painted XF-16 on the tail gear. And with a fine brush I painted Model Master Acryl Steel over the exhaust's.

81 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

82 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

83 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

85 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

86 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

87 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

I'm ready to start adding on the remaining parts, landing gear, propeller, etc.

Beautiful paint job Dan. And some masterful masking too I might add.

Mustang: You've more guts than I to make those cuts. But I guess there's no other way to show off all that engine work you put in there. 

Dan: I can't see any issues with the finish in the photos. And the yellow and OD green look perfect. 

Dan, that is looking really nice. I have a thing for German aircraft with large yellow areas, but it looks just as nice on the Stang. And the yellow has come out really nice as well.

Dan,

The masking job on your P-51 is top notch! Sorry to hear your troubles with the paint. But, from the pictures you can't tell. I'm looking forward to seeing this one finished!

Thats some fine cutting there Joe, looking forward to seeing those fitted.

So the work on the tail plane. The elevators had to have the ends cut off; these bits are part of the tail plane. Brass wire holds the elevators onto the tailplane.

The outer end of the tailplanes were too rounded due to the vacforming process. I added a flat piece of 10 thou and back filled to give a proper square edge.

Next the tailplanes were glued on! The angles and levels were checked and double checked then the first one was shoved on, again pinned on with brass wire.

In the foreground is the cradle for the spinner, ready for when I get to drill out the prop holes.

Next I glued on the small addition to the tail. I also could not resist putting the elevator in place for a test view:

Once I had the other side glued on as well, I opened the fuselage again and epoxied the brass wire on the other side. Milliput will be used to fair in the tailplane, adding more strength. Overkill, but I am developing my technique before gluing the wings on...

You can also see the simplified tail wheel support now in place and painted.

Some really nicework there lost, tons of effort going into this.

Yeah LA, great job there. Lots of extra strength for the tail-planes and I can imagine that spinner would be a bear to get drilled out straight. 

Wow Lost, That is some really amazing work. I am quite inpressed with you patience and improv. You are the man.

Thanks Joe Rix: Just one of those things, the more I mask, the easier it gets.

Thanks Gamera.

Thanks Bish: Yes I agree on the yellow, my camera has made it look a little bright, its more of a dull shade.

Thanks Bruce: All the hard work is paying off now.

Thanks Lostagain: Outstanding work on your MB5, a wooden jig always comes in handy with building aircraft.

All the painting is over, so I've been attaching the add-on parts. Using CA glue everything went on fine, the tail wheel has been broke off four times now.

88 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

89 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

90 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

91 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

92 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

93 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

95 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

96 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

I airbrushed on a single coat of Model Master Acryl Gloss Clear on both side. Then it was time for decals.

101 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

Decals went on pretty good, no rips or tears. The star insignia on the top left wing is softening nice over the raised detail.

102 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

103 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

Dan, really glad you have been able to get to this stage, really worth all the effort. Can't wait to add this to the front page.

Dan: She looks fantastic, I still don't see any issues with the NM finish. Super nice work!

And the rockets are a nice touch. She looks good with teeth!

Dan, great metal finish there, especially considering where you were a short while ago.

Decals looking very good,  dressing the Mustang up nicely.

Thanks Bish, Gamera & Lostagain.  I'm really happy at how the Mustang has turned out.  Propellers are on, airbrushed gloss on top and bottom.  I'm guessing like the Luftwaffe aircraft a flat coat should be applyed?

106 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

Oh wow Dan, that's beautiful!!!

I'd flat coat the yellow and olive drab areas along with the prop etc. You might want to experiment with finishes on the NM though, I've seen the flat really mess with the metallic look.

She looksa realbeautDan. As G said,i wouldflat coat the none NMF areas, not sure about the bare metal.

Dan, looking very good there!

I agree with Gam and Bish, don't flat the metal. Flat on the olive, the yellow maybe leave glossy.

Not much to report at this stage. Wing trailing edges and tips suffered in sanding and handling, so I have built them up:

The extensions have been faired in with putty. I have also cut spaces for the tip lights, still need to do trim tabs and panel fastenings, then the wings can go on. The jig with the correct dihedral is set up and ready to go!

Looks great LA, I'd think it were an injection molded kit from your photos. 

Dan: Your Mustang is looking fantastic. Can't wait for you to put the finishing touches on. I tend to agree with suugestions to flat coat the OD anti-glare and to refrain from flat coating the NMF. Maybe a semi-gloss coat to reflect a little bit of exposure to the elements. As for the yellow, I'm not rightly sure about.

Lost: Impressive progress nonetheless. Although it might seem a minor area, the work you are putting into the subtleties is quite remarkable.

Thanks Gamera.

Thanks Bish.

Thanks Lostagain: Great work on the wings.

Thanks Joe Rix.

Thanks for the suggestions gentlemen, I decided to flat coat the Olive Drab. I masked the area's around it and airbrushed Model Master Acryl Flat Clear.

107 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

108 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

When I removed the masking, the Shawnee decals pealed up on to the tamiya tape. I first soaked it in warm water, then using a Q tip I brushed on Goo Gone. Then using a sharp #11 blade I was able to gently peal the deal up, then I placed it on some left over decal paper until I put it back on. Reapplied it yesterday and re-airbrushed gloss over it today. All that's left is the canopy work and the pilot, then this Mustang will be done.

109 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

Nice work Dan and great recovery. Looking forward to the final pics.

Ouch, yeah that blows about the decal but excellent recovery! 

Looking forward to seeing her all done. 

Wow Dan, that is a very impressive recovery. Never heard of that technique you used to recover the decal from the tape. That's definitely going into the mental slide show.