The P-51"mustang" Group Build. 2008

 Wow, I like what I see so far w/ the WIP's especailly the built ups.. Very sweet in deed guys..!!

Well here is what I have thus far... I put some black on my tires, tail wheel and wheel wells as my base coat.

 Used buffing Magesium for a secondary base coat for the tires & tail wheel... From there I dry brushed a light coat of buffing Aluminum.. Not too shabby me thinks.

 As for the wheel wells, I used the same method that I used on the interior!! Hope you all like the slow process so far..!!

 I also glued the fuselage together and dry fitted the wings to see what needs to be done before I glue them as well.. 

 O before I forget, I installed my IP and as you can see, I used the instrument decal. I placed a few drops of futire to represent the glass.. So far so good..... crossing fingers n toes..!! 

Thanks fer takin a peek..
Flaps up,

Mike

Rangers Lead The Way 

Hey Fred,

 Ah very cool.. Thank you for the feed back my friend..!!

Howdy dupes,

 Your too funny..!!! Na this kit is so far a breeze... Knockin on wood

Hi Drew,

 Thank you, glad you like it thus far..!!! By the way, I am going to send you a PM..!!

Windhawk, thanks much for the reply and pictures.  I might give the flaps a try, although I already have the wing halves glued together.  Or maybe I'll just leave them incorrectly up and do it the right way on my next Hasegawa build.  The Tamiya kit comes with a choice to go either way.  (Yup, the flaps drop when the hydraulic pressure drops.)

Here's my Tamiya 1:48

Thanks, again

Ken 

Nice work fellas!

Here are a pair from my collection...

Tamiya 1/72 on the left in Yeager's OD livery with Eagle Strike decals and a RNZAF Otago Squadron Hasegawa 1/72 with Ventura Decals.  No AM parts on these

This is part of a wider personal project, the "Mustang Ranch".  I am attempting as many models of the "Stang as possible...P51A, F6 (A or later mark), A36, P51B, Foreign Service D/K (done) ETO bird (done) PTO bird, Twin Mustang, Racer Mustang, P51H and perhaps an attempt at the Cavilier/C.O.I.N. (all in 1/72 scale) version which should be a kit bash/scratchbuild.

kbuzz01 - nice progress so far! I just built that kit, I know how much of a pain it is ;) Lots of dry fitting and re-painting, but I learned a TON from that kit. I know about the fitting, I ended up cutting off the "guides", dry fit a lot, and Tenax the fuselage, followed by 2 rounds of putty/sanding.

kbuzz01 wrote:

Windhawk - nice looking Revell.  My main problems have been the fit in the nose and underside fuselage.  I'm trying to decide if I want to tackle cutting off the flaps.  I know that they should be dropped if the gear doors are open.  Can you describe what you did and also do you happen to have additional pics of that area?

So are the flaps hydralically operated like the inner gear doors? 
They come down when the engine is turned off?  I've wondered
for years why all parked mustangs have their flaps down.

Here are some photos per your request.  I think the best way to
cut out control surfaces is to use the backside of an exacto blade
(the standard triangular ones) to litely scribe the panel line.  Just
apply enough pressure to keep the blade in the slot and drag it
accross about 10-20 times, then the control surface will easily
come off.  I do this on almost every kit now.  Really makes the
model look more dynamic (especially rudder/ailerons/elevators).
Let me know if you still have questions.

Terrible silvering (this was before I learned the clear-gloss trick) 

hey guys,

picked up the tamiya mkIII kit yesterday,and wow what a difference

in quality.

i've built a couple tamiya a/c kits in the past and wasn't dissapointed.

i'm done trial fitting parts and gave them a bath.

started painting the cockpit parts last night.

will start posting pics tonight.

jason

Thanks, guys.

Windhawk - nice looking Revell.  My main problems have been the fit in the nose and underside fuselage.  I'm trying to decide if I want to tackle cutting off the flaps.  I know that they should be dropped if the gear doors are open.  Can you describe what you did and also do you happen to have additional pics of that area?

Thanks, Ken 

Nice work, Ken! Love to see more!

Cheers,

Azgaron

I built that Revell kit a while back.  It was the first kit that I'd built
for years prior.  I had alot of fun with it, have learned alot since then.   
The only modification I did was cutting the flaps off so I could position
them down.  The pilot figure is molded nicely.  I saved him and and he's
actually sitting in my P-51A for this build.  This kit features a sliding
canopy.  I thought that was a nice touch.  Wish more kits were like that.

Invertman, you will be very pleased with the Tamiya MkIII kit. 
It's essentially the same kit as ICM.  There is alot of suspicion that
ICM just blatantly made their molds from Tamiya parts, because the
kits are identical (except Tamiya is better quality plastic and decals).

Keep the good work rolling in!

Nice progress going in here!

Well, I've started my cheapie Revell P-51D.  Boy, I wish I hadn't built that Tamiya kit first!  This one is quite a challenge.  I doubt that there is much here to interest you more experienced folks but here is my progress so far.  This one is going to be pretty much OOB, but I have added a few hydraulic lines and did my first exhaust drill.  (By the way, that seat isn't glued in yet - hopefully the pilot will be able to pull that stick back to climb when I'm through  )

 Ken

Mike,

You're welcome! I hope it all goes well! Yes, I told Raptor that I wanted to join with a Mustang in Swedish markings, and I'm pretty sure that Raptor have put me on the roster.

Cheers,

Azgaron

Thanks, guys

Andrew, it's a mix of airbrushing and regular brushing.  The basecoats were applied with the airbrush, small details and weathering were done with a regular brush and some colored pencils.

Mike, the wood floor was done using a base of dark tan (I used a combo of radome tan and leather) and a top coat of leather.  I brushed on the basecoat and while it was still tacky, I used a stiff bristled brush to add grain texture.  Then, after it dried I used the same stiff brush to brush on the leather color.  And when that was tacky, I used a clean brush to sort of dry brush and blend the colors.  The metal kickplates are just small pieces of aluminium foil adhered with crazy glue.

-Fred

Great progress Butz

Invertman no problem

hey all,

well i openend up the icm kit last night,and i have to say i'm

pretty dissapointed in the kit. the right upper wing panel was

damaged deyond repair. the root portion of the panel was melted off.

i talked to the owner of the l.h.s. and he told me i could exchange the

kit for another one. but he is out of stock on the icm mk.III but he has

the tamiya raf mkIII. so he set it aside for me.

so i'm building the tamiya mkIII kit.

raptordriver: sorry to inconvinence you.

thanks.

jason

Azgaron wrote:

That looks very nice Mike! Excellent work! Cheers, Azgaron

Thanks Azgaron for the compliment.. Much appreciated!! Hopefully the final scheme will be just as good.. Crossing fingers n toes. By the way, are you in the GB as well?? I have not lookedat the roster in a while..

Flaps up,

Mike

Rangers Lead The Way 

Gigatron wrote:

ok, here's a WIP pic of the cockpit. -Fred

Hey Fred,

 I like what I see thus far... What did you do or what method did you use to get that wood look?

Flaps up,

Mike

Rangers Lead The Way 

That looks very nice Mike! Excellent work!

Cheers,

Azgaron 

Hey all,

 I also posted these WIP's in the a/c section as well..... Well heres my start for the GB deal... As I was mentioned to Drew about markings.. I am still up in the air w/ which one I want to do.. So how's bout this, we will all see when she is all done.. Laughs

 As usual, Tamiya does an outstanding job on their kits over all w/ the exception of lacking dials in the IP... No biggy since I am doing this Stang OOB, I will use the decal they provide.. Not bad looking actually.. 

 I started out w/ using flat black as a base coat then did a light coat of dark green mixed with a little hint of interior green. From there I dry brushed the rest using interior green all the way up to a light yellow for the hight lights..

 Well, here she is as of right now... Hope you like what I have done so far as I do.. I am really enjoying this GB with all of you... Learning a lot from everyone here thats fer sure

 Thanks fer taking a peek and thank you Drew for leting me sit a spell w/ ya'll..!!

Flaps up,

Mike

Rangers Lead The Way 

gzt wrote:

I did not open the plastic wrap yet, but the sprues look really nice. There is small PE set incliuded, not eduard but contains seatbelts and IP plus few other parts. The kit has markings for four aircrafts. Guess what am I going to use ? Yes, you absolutely right... it will be a "Polish Squadron" ... shocked ? LOL The plane will be from Westfield - home of Mass ANG of "Polish Squadron"   I just got inspiration to build quite few more airplanes

Hey Greg,

 Please up date us(me) on that P-51H kit... My local guard unit also flew them and yes you guessed it... I want to built one of em..!!

 I did not realize that the Mass unit was essentially a Polish oufit..!! Now thats cool... Hey before I forget, how did your package arrive?? Safely I hope..!!

 Looking forward to seeing her built up..!!

Flaps up,

Mike

Rangers Lead The Way 

ok, here's a WIP pic of the cockpit.

-Fred

Ok mike your down. Glad alot of people signed up

IL2 that is amazing your grandpa got to fly in a P-51H Those go pretty fast

Mike, If you haven't built one before...

... It's a great kit.  It's just fun to build. 

Semper Fi,

Chris

Andrew,

Put me down also my friend.

I will be building the 1/48 Tamiya P-51B OOB and with the kit decals.... Shangri-La 

This is nice !

I will have to do some additional research, what I plan for the next Week or two. I need to go there and find more pictures, maybe pilots ... I have to know more about this squadron.