The P-51"mustang" Group Build. 2008

Randy,

Mine's 1/72.  High Planes offered a 1/48 kit but it doesn't look like it's in production at the moment.  They do have a bunch in 1/72.  As I've said in previous posts these kits are rough, but they are the only game in town if you want a kit.  www.hiplanes.dragnet.com.au  If you can find it, Revell did Bob Hoover's yellow P-51 and a T-6 in race livery as well.  If you want more racer fun, go to www.redpegasusdecals.com   I wonder if Darren and the boys over at the Fleet Air Arm/Naval Air Wing GB will let me do a Sea Fury as the Spirit of Texas?

Congrats on the finish (half the battle in a GB!).  Paint looks great, can tell somewhat the decals fought you (a little silvering). 

Nice work!

Hey guys, thanks for checking her out!

IL2 - I wish I knew more about aviation history, specifically individual aircraft...didn't realize that this was a "special" plane! Interesting story about the flyby - how ironic. What was his kill total in Shangri La? 

lewbud

What a cool subject I cant wait to see the pictures of your Red Baron, its one of a number of other racers I want to build one day. The kits in 1/48 are it seems very hard to find, I do have Miss America by Revell and I have a Testors Bearcat destined to become the Rare Bear. My skills at scratch building will have to improve a bunch before I take on that one. I hope you will post lots of pictures.

IL2windhawk

I am thinking a dark OD for the antiglare, most of the display P-51s I have seen had high gloss dark OD, but that could change ya know. If I dont do some boneheaded thing this should be the best model I have built to date. Just hope I can get it done by Friday, pictures taken and posted.

Dupes, That's some terrific work on your P-51B. You've finished her very nicely, I always thought the 4th FG birds looked sweet with just the basic white stripes.  Nice finish on a historically significant aircraft: Shangri La!  Did you know that Don Gentiles crashed that bird in a runway flyby?  He flew so low that he clipped the prop on the runway, then had to pull up and bail out, as the engine was dead stopped.  Funny that he won so many victories in that plane, but he crashed it 'showin off'.  Funny story I think, only because he lived to learn teh lesson.

I've been really eager to build a Duane Beeson 51B of a similar scheme.  Ol' Boise Bee had the misfortune of getting shot down by flak, then taken prisoner!  Both Gentilles and Beeson flew with RAF Eagle Squadron, I beleive.

Great work on your airplane.  Thanks for sharing

So glad to hear your finishing effects went so well, Vetteman.  I know whatcha mean about taking your time before starting a new technique, but I think it's important to take the time to think it out before digging in.  You must have taken the right amount of time if it went so well.  Very much looking forward to seeing the results.

What color are you planning to painting the anti-reflect panel?  black, or olive?  Either will surely make the aluminum look great on your finished bird.  Waiting with much anticipation.

Vetteman,

Yup.  Looking forward to seeing pics of your bird.

Dupes Nice build :) Your canopy came out very nice and I really like the paint chipping. Sorry to hear about your troubles with the decals believe me I feel your pain on that one.

Lewbud Looks like a good start you have going there, I do have to ask a question though. Are you building the Red Baron air racer ?

Got the most scary part of my build done today, I must admit it took a couple of days to work myself up to going for it and getting it done. I foiled the plane a panel at a time and was to be frank very worried about burnishing it with 0000 steelwool. I was very worried about the steelwool picking up the edges of the foil, well I was all worried and stuff for not. The burnishing went much better than I had expected, infact I think the finish came out better than I had expected. So after burnishing I wiped the 51 off with an alcohol dampened cloth and brushed future on and the finish just popped for me and Angel.  I will airbrush the antiglare panel tomorrow and if I am lucky will put some decals on tomorrow evening.  I will try and get a couple of pictures to post tomorrow before I paint, I almost hate to cover the nose with paint.

Dupes,

Nice job on the B.  Shangri-La was always one of my favorites.

Placed the order with Hannants early this morning for the props and exhaust.  Only problem with ordering from them is there is fifty british pound minimum on overseas orders.  Fortunately, they had a whole bunch of Tiger Meet decals I've been lusting over.  This is turning out to be a very expensive little build.  Pics of where I'm at so far can be found at http://public.fotki.com/lewbud/fine-scale-group-builds/p-51-group-build/  I think I'm going to use the unshrouded exhausts from the Hasegawa kit just so I can get the fuselage sealed up.  Not like the fullsize a/c, but a darn site better than the worthless kit pieces.  Will leave the props and spinners separate so they can be replaced by the aeroclub pieces when they arrive. 

Alright fellas! Here's the finished product. Had some decal problems (both with the originals being crap, and the replacements not fitting so well) which were probably my biggest issue with the overall build. The scheme is pretty nifty, gotta love checkerboard anything!

Jmart,

While the subject is definitely interesting the build is not, it's more frustrating than anything else.  All that's going to be left of the original kit is the fuselage, spinner and decals.  Like I said in an earlier post, if I'd paid full price for the kit I'd be really upset.  Unfortunately, they're the only game in town for a kit.  As for pics, I'll see what I can do. 

Raptor,

Looks like she'll be late.  Unless I can find a stateside vendor for some Aeroclub parts, I've got to get them from across the pond.

LOL a fine? good one....  will begging for an extension work? lol  in any case, Im all into my mustangs so I will continue the build even if I cannot finish in time and get the badge  :)

Speaking of Excel.... does anyone know if someone put together a database of kits and AMs?

Yeah, I even link online reviews to my entries, or relevant bookmarks, makes finding them later easier.

Dupes - nice job on the -B. There was an article on FSM some time ago about painting invasion stripes; Ive only tried it once and looks much better. Look forward to the final product!

Randy - really nice job on the foil... sorry, have no clue about pics! I asked my wife; she suggested using two light sources indoors to eliminate shadows and then taking without flash or a delayed flash. I have no clue what any of that means :)

lewbud - look forward to some pics, looks like an exciting complex build

I am still working on the cockpit area... you know, the Revell IP is actually pretty accurate, was checking some references and such. Not bad for a 7$ kit with a 50% off coupon at Michaels ;)

Dupes- yes a nice rule that is. I am very glad to see some pics of the plane, I really like that particular paint job. I notice theres a bunch of different shades of OD green, which brand of paint is yours.

Vetteman2- That is awsome work on the foil! I have got to try that. I likey shinyness.

Lewbud, glad to see you got started.

Dupes,

Looking forward to the pics.

Vetteman,

Nice job on the foil job.

Got the wings properly bobbed and slathered the top of the wing in Squadron White to fill the panel lines.  Started fooling around with the pit, it is totally worthless.  Cut the radios off the Hasegawa pit and it fits, but there is no way to locate it in the fuselage.  Once I determine where it goes, I'll throw in some stringers just for a little detail (won't be able to much through that lil ol canopy anyhow).  It's a good thing I bought this thing at a club auction rather than full retail or I'd rather upset, rather than majorly annoyed.

Dang. That foil looks SHARP! Have wanted to try that method for a while...maybe one of these days I'll get around to it.

Pics coming sometime soon! Most likely not today though. Hopefully I can find a decent internet connection over the weekend.

That's one dead-sexy Pony!

If you want to reduce the amount of glare from a camera flash, you can put a few layers of tissue paper (or coffee filter, or paper towel, etc) over the flash.  Personally, I do most of my photography outside on a sunny day.  There's no substitute for natural light!

Well hurry up dupes I wanna see the finished picx :)

OK here are a few WIP pIcs for you all, I have said I am a slow builder ya know. I have all the foil work done and I think its gone well so far. I used Microscale micro metal foil adhesive which I really like, and this was a first for me with a vacuformed canopy so I want to get-er-dun to see how that worked out. I still have to go over it with 0000 steelwool and spray some future on, mask it for the anti-glare panel shoot that, then a few final addons, like the gear and flaps decals and such will be done I hope. So please let me know what you think, thoughts and advice is always welcomed.

A shot from the side. Sorry about the reflections I just cant figure out how to get rid of that. These pictures were taken out back on the BBQ on a very overcast day with no flash. Any ideas for solving this one ? I am using a Kodak Easyshare DX4900 camera.

This one is from the top.

Heres the Prop all foiled, I still have to hit it with some steelwool and future it. The spinner will be red and I am thinking I might paint the prop tips red also but havent made up my mind yet. I did try using a resin prop but well I broke a blade, ham fisted or just very brittle resin I dunno. The foil did seem to hold onto the resin fairly well though.

Hey, thanks fellas! I'm just about wrapped up, need to finish the panel line wash, then flatcoat her and peel off the canopy masks. After that it'll just be anything I happen to see that I missed that I find when I take pics (as usually happens!). Heh.

Final pics soon!

Well finally some succes with this blue plastic nightmare.  The Tamiya D wing will fit, but needs shimming and a lot of putty along the wingroot.  The Academy B/C won't work because it's a B wing (I knew I had one near the workbench but couldn't find it before I went to the LHS.  Got back with a new Academy B and laid eyes right on it.)  The Hasegawa D wing fits like a glove with a little sanding.  Now just gotta trim the wingtips, fill the panel lines and we're in business.  Will post pics later.

Lookin good there dupes cant wait for the finished pictures.

Man I dont know how you guys can build em so fast. I havent been able to work on mine in a week or so. I had better get moving on it too the dead line is only 9 days away.

Hmmmm. You know IL2, I was in such a frantic rush to get the scheme squared away after the AM decals blew up that I didn't even look at who's markings they are. Will check it out tonight and get back to you. [They're the ones from the Tamiya -B cover art, btw.]

The decals are all on, will check them this afternoon to see if they all sat down properly. If so, it's flat coat tonight, wrap up the landing gear, and get in on any necessary weathering and touchups. Done tomorrow, maybe? 

Alright boys, here you go:

Again, it's the Accurate Miniatures -B kit, with Tamiya decals laid on top of the neutral gray/OD two-tone scheme. The red/white nose stuff was sprayed afterwards as I had to change gears a bit when the AccuMini decals refused to cooperate. For the most part the Tamiya's are fitting, although a bit of jimmying has been necessary. In the future I will MOST DEFINITELY be masking and spraying all stripes. Decaling those just isn't sufficient.

Should have her done soon!

Why did I never think of the GB fine system? I think you've got something there Raptor...

Pics as soon as I can get them uploaded to Photobucket.