The P-51"mustang" Group Build. 2008

Dirk, thanks for the compliments.  Check the front page for the manufacturer and scale, or my sig.

Cheers!

 Arki 30,

The P51 your building looks great so far .

I can't wait to see the subject that you are building . By the looks of yours and others you are

making it time to really get started on mine.

 Frank C

 F4U almost done weathering

 P47 stripping, back to repaint AGAIN

Thanks Frank!  Actually, if you go back to page 22 you can see the subject I'm building.

Cheers

Well, I've started construction on the High Planes 172 Red Baron, ok nothing put together yet but some primer on parts.  For those who have never seen a High Planes kit, I'll give you a brief OOB review.  The kit consists of 22 plastic parts molded in a light blue plastic the fuselage, wigns etc are finely engraved, 5 resin (two wheels, the gear bay, and a set of flaps if you chose to drop 'em), two white metal landing gear, and one vac formed canopy.  The wings are a four piece affair, the bottom, separate landing gear bay, and the top wing halves.  The pit is a multipiece affair with cockpit floor, seat, IP, and sidewalls.  I think the seat and IP are the only things usable, but not much will be seen throught the tiny canopy once everything is said and done.  There is no rear radiator and the cooling duct is molded into the fuselage in the open position.  The tail wheel is unusable.  The exhaust stacks are crap, but might be ok after a good cleaning-will have to see if there are any after market parts for a Shackelton.  The mouth to the radiator scoop is a short shot.  Looks like I'll getting a cheap D model somewhere to help finish out the kit.  The decals are good.  Instructions are a one sided 8 1/2 X 11 sheet affair, banking on the fact that you've put a Mustang together once or twice as there is only a crudely drawn exploded diagram showing how the parts go together and a decal guide.  Can't comment on if the parts came on sprues or not, and the amount of flash on the kit as I bought it at a club auction several years ago and the parts were in ziploc bags and appear to have been cleaned up.  That being said, it is the Red Baron and the High Planes kit is the only game in town.  This could be fun.  Off to pillage the local hobby shop.

Arki again great progress and NMF

and lewbud, Thanks for the oob review sounds like a good challenge.

Wow Arki,

You are moving fast on that bird.  She's looking great too.  That Alcad stuff looks pretty sweet: I think I'm gonna have to try it some time.  Pardon the question, but does buffing the Alcad finish reduce the graininess like it does for the lacquer metallizers?  You should see how grainy the freshly-applied aluminum looks on my B-58 in IMS2.  But my prior testing has shown that buffing it will really bring the paint alive: make it look like real metal.  I dunno, this NMF stuff is all new for me.  I will try to accomplish some of this buffing business tommorrow and post more pictures at IMS2.

Keep it up!

Thanks for the comments guys!

IL, in regards to the graininess of the Alclad...what graininess I have is solely due to the smoothness (or lack of) of my base coat.  This is not my best NMF by any measure, particularly on the wings.  The gloss base coat just didn't dry as glossy as it should have and with NMF everything shows through.

In hindsight I should have either 1) resprayed the gloss coat, or 2) sanded it with 6000 and 12000 grit to really smooth it out.  I did neither because of my own impatience.

Alclad typically goes down like glass over glass smooth surfaces, but you have to achieve the glass smooth surface.  I've never tried any of the other NMF products so I can't speak to the reasons for any graininess after application.

Don't sweat it, Ark.  The paint looks sweet.  Aluminum is rather grainy anyways.  If the finish really bothers you, maybe you can try buffing it somewhere unnoticeable: like underneath a horizontal stabilizer.   It might work... but like I said above, I've never used alcad.

I've been toying with the idea of pre-painting my P-51A with a metallizer, then covering it all with acrylic camoflauge.  The idea is that I could come back for weathering and scratch/sand the acrylic paint to let the aluminum shine through.  I dunno if anyone has tried this before, but I'd sure like to hear from them if they have.

I haven't tried that, but I do know others have.  Now, if I could just rack my brain and remember where I last saw an example....

Something keeps pointing my memory over to the forums on Hyperscale.  If I find any good examples I'll link them for you.

Another quick progress pic.  I've painted a few select panels Dark Aluminum, touched up the Aluminum, and painted the Insignia Yellow, Insignia Red and Olive Drab areas. 

Next is to begin final assembly of the landing gear, gear doors, flaps, and prop/spinner on the model.   

Looking good Arki!!    That Tamiya kit is a beaut.

Ken 

Whoah! Hot scheme!

Construction looks top-notch as well...you've pulled off that resin incorporation seamlessly. Good stuff.

Wow - that looks awesome, Arki!  You NMF looks gorgeous with that paint scheme.

Makes me anxious to finish up my IMS2 build so I can get back on track with my Mustang I

 Arki,

 That Stang looks fantastic so far, great paint job.

 If I could get my P 47 painting disaster under control,I should get more time for my Mustang.

 Frank C

Calling this finished!  Here is my P-51D in Eagle Strike markings.  A couple of bush league mistakes, like a color mismatch between the red spinner and red fuselage band I didn't catch till late.  Ultracast flaps fought me a little on install and they're still not quite right.  But overall it was a nice relatively easy build that was fun.

Thanks Andrew for the GB!

Cheers!

Really nice Arki!!    It takes a lot more courage than I've got to tackle a tail job like that!

Ken 

arki30 wrote:

Calling this finished!

Dang - great finish Arki! I think I understand what you mean about the 'graininess' of the NMF, but you have to look pretty hard to see it. Looks very sharp to me.

Checkerboards always add to a build. Heh.

Thanks Dupes!  Yeah, it's not my best NMF but I'm okay with it.  The key to successful NMF is all in the base prep work and I didn't nail it.  Past NMF's have turned out better so I know it's possible.  I did return and hit the Aluminum again which helped in "smoothing" it out some. 

I have a P-38 starting in a couple of months that will have a NMF so I'll try then to hit the base prep work better.

Thanks Andrew! 

Well, I certainly hope it doesn't die.  There are still quite a few who have to finish their builds.  Hopefully they find the time to participate and finish. 

Cheers. 

Wow, now there's some confidence for you!

I've got my Hasegawa P-51D "Short Fuse" boxing waiting it's turn in line, just as before. I believe we already had the discussion that this is what happens when you set a 14 month GB span.

Gorgeous Mustang, Arki.  You can be proud of that one!

My P-51A is calling me to get back to work!

raptordriver wrote:

Outstanding work Arki! That is one nice paint scheme. Now that your gone this build will now probably die.

I'm still here, just working on a few other GB's and trying to summon the courage to drop the flaps on RB.  The kit comes with resin flaps, just never done it before.

Thanks IL!  Looking forward to your P-51A.

Dupes, deep breath!  Andrew's young.  I believe you and I have discussed prior that year-long GB durations are never a good idea because there is little pressure to maintain a solid build pace, so I agree with your statement.  BUT, it's also the responsibility of those that join to manage themselves.  How many guys have we seen join too many GB's at a time with no chance in of finishing anything, much less on time?!  It's especially irritating when they are clearly joining because "the badge is cool!"  The noobs seem particularly vulnerable to this shiny object syndrome.

Life certainly gets in the way, but I find far too often that life has had nothing to do with participants not participating in the GB they signed up for.  It's usually the inability to control and manage themselves. 

How many of the guys in this GB are in that predicament?  Hard to say.  But if one or two keep plugging along this GB will continue to see life till the end.  And I hope (know) you're one of them.

Cheers!