♠ Allied Aces GB (WW1 -WW2) April 2006 Start - Sept 2006 Finish

Thanks guys.  I appreciate the positive reinforcement. 

I smuggled my Mustang and the rest of the decals out of my den this morning so I can finish that process up tonight.  I'm not going to be able to get into my den for at least 2 days, so I'll get the propeller, exhaust and undercarriage installed probably Friday. 

Sorry for being late on this one, life has been insane the past couple of months.  We'll be done with our home remodelling soon, and I'm almost done with a couple more GBs, then I'll be able to participate in these GBs closer to the start dates instead of the finish dates. 

Looking good Scott.  Nice work.

Regards,  Rick

Looks Great Scott

Cheers

Bear

Our floor guys didn't do the first coat of poly-eurothane on the hardwood downstairs, so I was able to get into my den for a couple hours.  Most of the decals are on, I just have a few tiny ones to put on the scoop on the underside, and on the drop tanks.  I decided to stop for the night as I was getting pretty tired and almost made a couple of huge mistakes.... lol, but caught them in time.

Tomorrow I add the propeller, landing gears, exhaust and the decals on the drop tank and scoop.

I'm going for a really clean build on this one.  I'm still going gaga over the pristine P-51 Mustangs from the Reno Air Races, and those things are alway immaculate, so I want mine to look similar. 

Please, please, if there is a god, please let me be able to walk across the downstairs floors just once tonight so I can get my P-51D and the decals out of my den....................

sigh.... they had just stained the hardwood floors downstairs so I couldn't "sneak" into my den last night to get my kit and decals out.  Hopefully tonight.

Hey guys, I just need to get the decals on the P-51D.  I was hoping to take care of that over the weekend, but it took us all weekend to do the prep work for the renovations.  I spent most of the day on Saturday at Lowe's getting all the tile, paint etc. and all Saturday evening packing up the master bedroom, bath and the family room downstairs.  We spent all day Sunday ripping out the bathroom cabinets, sinks, toilets etc and moving all the furniture out of those areas, as well as several hours assembling the new cabinets, medicine chests, and a new glass model display case.  Rough couple of days, we were on the go from 7:30am to 10pm both days.  I'm worn out!  sigh...

Anyway, I hope it won't be a problem for me to do the decals tonight or tomorrow and submit the final pics of my build then.

Looks good Scott.

Cheers

Bear

Ok, the painting is done!  Decals go on later today as soon as I get a chance.  We're going to be busy getting a couple of rooms in our house packed up and ready for the final phaze of the remodelling.  Hopefully I'll be able to do them later this afternoon and will post pics tonight.  Just need to attach the propeller, exhausts and landing gear.

Scott Looking good keep up the good work

Rick that truly sucks at the cost of repair it's almost better to by a new one these days.

Cheers

Bear

I have Good News & Bad News.  The Good News is my T'bolt was finished last night.  The Bad News is my 2+ year old Digital Camera Totally died when I turned it on to take some pics.  It was from the first production run of the Nikon D70 in 2004 & there was a known defect in one of the metering system components that could cause total failure. Nikon fixed the problem in the second run & put out a Service Advisory that they would repair any camera with the defect for no charge.  Most of them failed in the first few months, but I thought I was lucky with mine... until last night.  Now to make matters worse, when I took it to the store this morning to arrange for repair, I was informed that the free fix offer expired August 01, & there is now a $250 service charge & a 6-8 week repair turn around time.  New technology is great & all, but stuff like this really sucks.  I had Nikon film cameras that were still going strong after 20 years of hard use.  Sorry for the rant, but the bottom line is, I'll still post pics of my finished build, but not until I get my cam back.

Regards,  Rick

Thanks Rick.  I did another very light coat to correct a few texture issues on the right wingtip and the front of the nose.  I'm hoping to mask and paint the blue nose tomorrow night, decals on Saturday.

Next time, I really want to try an Alclad II finish.  The Tamiya Acrylic metallic mix I did is "ok" but I know Alclad II looks better.  Although I am happy with what I had to work with. 

The BMF came out looking good.  Nice smooth paint work.

Regards,  Rick

I sprayed the natural metal finish tonight (hectic night, open house at my daughters high school).  Here are a few photos. Because I was running out of time, I didn't do the Alclad 2 finish this time.  I used a mix of Tamiya Acrylics - X11 Chrome Silver and XF16 Flat Aluminum.

The BMF goes on tonight (wish I had enough time to do the Alclad treatment, I have a feeling I'll be building another one of these Mustangs) and then tomorrow I pop off the landing gear doors, install the landing gear and wrap up the "bits and pieces". 

I'm going to be spraying the Mustang with Gloss Aluminum.  Do I need a coat of future before I decal or do you all think that the gloss aluminum will be glossy enough to put the decals on directly?

Nice work on the Stang.  looking good.

Regards,  Rick

JoeRugby wrote:

The "stang looks GREAT !  Is that a paint booth you have?  Color me green with envy. Oh, by the by, I am sure the folks at Craftsman had not thought of that use for one of thier wrenches!

Thanks Joe 

Heh, that paint booth is the Pace Peacekeeper Deluxe, and let me tell you, I love it!

Those monkey wrenches are perfect for holding aircraft, the handle counter weights just right so that it's pretty sturdy. 

The "stang looks GREAT !  Is that a paint booth you have?  Color me green with envy.

Oh, by the by, I am sure the folks at Craftsman had not thought of that use for one of thier wrenches!

Here is my Tamiya P-51D after spraying the primer.  I'm pleased with the results so far. 

I have the canopy masked and attached, I'm primering the moment I get home this evening and will apply the bare aluminum color in the morning.  I should have this baby finished by the end of the weekend. 

Things have been hectic as we're entering the final stage of our home remodelling, and we had a sewer line disaster at our rental property last week.  I had to spend 3 days of vacation time digging a 40ft trench, 3 feet deep so the sewer line could be replaced.  It's amazing what tree roots will do to an old cast iron sewer pipe.

Anyway, in about 2 weeks I'll finally have some breathing room and some time to get more current with all my builds instead of having to rush to hit the finish line.    Thanks for your patience. 

Scott & Jay thanks for the pos feedback.

Jay  I'm glad to hear all is well with your familly enjoy this wonderfull time with them.  I am sorry though that you won't be around much, your comments & feedback were always appreciated.  take care.

Cheers

Marc

Congrats on finishing Marc!,

Alas! it is with great regret that I will not be able to finish this build before the end of September (or even by Christmas!).  My modelling time has dwindled to maybe a few hours a month!  I shouldn't complain as being with my wife and son is awesome!  I know I will get to modelling again sometime and any time I do get I'll try to work extra hard!

Those of you finishing up the build, keep at it as I'll update the front page for a little while yet. 

Thanks Rick much appreciated.

Cheers

Bear

Nice one Bear.  Well done .

Regards,  Rick

Had very productive weekend.  I finished my Spitfire MK Vb flown by PO D Morrison of 401 Sqn RCAF.

Here are the pics of my finished build.  I have'nt weathered it yet, actualy I'm not sure if I want to it's so nice not messed up.  I'll decide later.  Jay thanks for hosting this GB I had a great time.

Cheers

Bear

Rick Thanks for the info & comments.

Cheers

Bear

Thanks Bear.  I put down a base coat of flat black followed by Future.  Works well for me.

Nice Spit BTW.

Regards,  Rick