The P-51"mustang" Group Build. 2008

Jmart thanks for posting, finally looking forward to seeing the finished build.

Oh I forgot to mention this rule but there will be a $35 fine for those who do not make the deadline. I will PM you and you can continue after the deadline if you didn't make it.

JMart wrote:

EDIT - Um, my nerd excel file with GBs and deadlines has this one ending at the END of April, but seems that I am wrong and GB ends April 10th?? Any, ahem, extensions possible?

So JMart, are you saying that if we have an Excel spreadsheet to catalog GB deadlines we're classified as nerds? If that's the case, I must be the king...my personal "model guide" has six worksheets with thousands of lines worth of entries.

Arki - pics tomorrow! I promise! I'm really building it!!!

Some comparision shots between the Revell and the Testors:

 Testors above; you can see the deep panel lines, lack of details such as antennae. Not sure I will be able to do anything about those huge panel lines.

Same for the wings...

And the differences in the cockpit... a True Details resin example on top, then the Revell cockpit details, then the testors... I think the pic speaks for itself ;)  Only way to build the testors wilbe as a ceiling flier....

EDIT - Um, my nerd excel file with GBs and deadlines has this one ending at the END of April, but seems that I am wrong and GB ends April 10th?? Any, ahem, extensions possible?

JMart I am using the same kit for my build, like it so much I got another. For my money it is a wanderful kit to start from. Can't wait to see what you do with yours.

raptordriver Thanks. Hey go for it and try foiling I would like to see what you and others would come up with.

Heres a WIP picture showing the foil almost finished. I want to add the wind screen before I finish foiling. I hope you can see what I came up with because I had huge problems with reflections taking pictures of this build. As I stated earlier I am foiling a panel at a time after sanding down the panel lines a bit, this foil really makes then stand out along with any mistake in the surface. I think it looks much better than an earlier build I did, where I covered whole parts at a time like a wing. I also found that if I turned the grain of the foil 90 degrees on a few panels created an interesting effect. I think I spent close to 15 hours so far on the foil so it does take time infact twice as long as my first foil build. I still need to figure a way to tone down the brightness. Anyway let me know what you all think, good or bad it all helps us get better at our hobby

Again sorry about the picture quality

Hey IL2 some excellent work! All that long hard work paid off. I remember you were the one in the lead when this build began

Dupes glad to see you pulled out a stang, build change noted.

Randy awsome foiling, makes me want to try it.

IL2 - another great build...with a terribly cool display. Love how you come up with those, makes it that much more interesting.

JMart - glad to hear it, bud - I'm about to start external painting on my -B, I really need to snap a couple of pics before I get the airbrush out.

One of the sprues is black; the panel lines are recessed and scale out to inches. Ill see if I can take side-by-side pics. I mean, Im not knocking down testors, i think we all grew up with a steady diet of testors and monograms :) 

Hi JMart -- thanks for the feedback. I was tempted to try sludge wash, it worked so well when Paul Boyer did it! But I've heard some bad reports about it before, it can attack the finish... The water-based Promodeller wash is very easy to use, and so long as you have a glossy surface it'll wipe away completely, so disasters just wash off. Duller surfaces, nope, it'll never wash away 100%, so you absolutely must use a pinwash technique over satin lustres.

I had the old Testor/Hawk Mustang many years ago, I was quite impressed with it at the time but never finished it. My example (same box edition) was blown in black plastic, and I found it a real visual downer! I traded it off, somewhat regretting that the Miscroscale decals for the 343rd went with it...

Cheers,

Mike/TB379

Here is my new "spread", the old Revell classic.. hope comes out a third as good as Randy's!

Not sure if I will dress her up as BigBeaut or one of the green nose variants (I have 2 decal sheets). Lets see how the building goes and status of old decals. I may try using vacfor canopies for first time.

I also have the old (and really simple) Testors'; this one will be a "flier" since it barely has any wheel well or canopy detail. It only looks good all closed up and 3 feet up in the ceiling 

And some of the basic references I used for this build; basic construction tips and such:

cheers

navypitsnipe - sorry about the FUBAR; even though the evolution failed, you can count on the intrinsic value of training time! Can you make her a "flier"? Closed wheel weels and canopy, hang from ceiling?

Thunderbolt379 - looks great! hope you recovered fully from your bug...  I like how your panel lines look; not too much IMHO, just right to give that extra level of realism. I will try pastels/graphite on mine, last time I used sludge wash and did not like how it came out...

vetteman42 - very nice work so far! your NMF looks very very good.

IL2windhawk - ditto onthe camo job... and i love the in-flight pose of your bird, even if the prop is not a "blurr". Face it, mustangs aremeant to be in the air ;)  just love the lines. I think I will shamelessly copy your idea for one of my builds :)

dupes - look forward to your build! (and yes, the 251 still in the queue as scheduled!)

Cheers all

IL2windhawk sweet build !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To my eye the weathering is perfect. Not over done, yet not understated. For me a very hard look to achieve. I am thinking I may steal your mounting method for a future build, I really like the idea. I will have to pick on you for your vacuform canopy secrets, and how you did that because mine is giving me fits, and not the good ones <grin>.

I hope mine comes out half as well as yours did

Well - she's finally finished.  Photos are below.  I posted them at the link below too, along with a write up that summarizes everything I've already wrote in this GB about this plane. 

/forums/1110682/ShowPost.aspx#1110682

Hope you guys like!

Hello all. I think its time to post a WIP Picture as it has been a while. I have been foiling the bottom of the wing a panel at a time, I think it gives the wing a more realistic look as far as the panels go. You cant see it in the picture, I am not very good with a camera ya know, but quite by accident I found that if I change the direction of the grain of the foil it gives a variance in reflection which brakes up the color nicely. It should really come out when I bunish it with 0000 steelwool.

Also I would like to know what you guys would think of a final clear coat of semi gloss to tone down the brightness of the foil a bit. I do plan on a gloss coat of future for decals and some accent work around control surfaces, exhaust stains, and such. I will be keeping washes and pastels very light and faint, more than that I think would be overwhelming.

Hey dupes cant wait to see your pictures hurry it up there <grin>

IL2windhawk

I am still in Modeling 101, however I think you are a few classes ahead me from the looks of your build, cant wait to see the finished pictures. I was a machinist for 40 years and I think I know what beatup aluminum looks like. So I had to say something because your paint chipping looks so very close to real.

To be honest I hadn't thought of testing on the runner I was thinking of doing one blade to see how the foil would look and if it would adhier to the resin. Was a bit worried about taking the foil off of a blade because they seem to be very brittle so it would brake easily. LOL that would be my luck too. I also asked my question in the open forum, and posted a picture I have of a P-51 that Angel fell in love with, heres the link if you want to check it out. My build is ready for foil finally, after lots of filling, sanding, and buffing. I should have some pictures to post in a few days with any luck, and will let you know how the prop worked out.

/forums/1105609/ShowPost.aspx

Thanks for the suggestions for paint-chip weathering, VM.  I'll certainly take them into consideration.  That is the kind of input that I always appreciate, because I'm still very much a student in modelling.

I would imagine that if your foil material works on styrene, it will work on resin.  And if it doesn't, you can usually always peel/sand stuff like that off.  Try it on a scrap region of the resin, like the casting runners/block.   Gotta ask though: why put foil on the prop blades?  Are those going to be NMF too?

I do have a question, not a suprise huh. I want to use an uncuffed prop on Angel's 51, the kit prop is cuffed, however I do have a (drum roll) ultracast uncuffed prop. My question is has anyone used micro metal foil on resin ? Or should I bite the bullet and remove the cuffs from the kit prop and reshape the blades.

IL2windhawk I haffta tell ya your Mustang II is a real beauty, the paint job really stands out, I have seen very few done this way.

May I sugest from my own point of view of course, that you leave the paint chips dull as they are, especially the prop. To my eye it looks much more real after d/ling your pictures and blowing them up. I would think that the chipped paint would be dull aluminum after the paint came off. I know from being around planes and flying them that props were never shiny from chipped paint but almost looked grey as if they had been shotpeened. Your prop looks perfect as it is now. Just my opinion for what its worth.

In answer to your question yes I am going to cover my....errrrr Angels P-51 in foil as it won,t be one that has seen combat but will have a used restored look to it I hope. I am building this one for my better half so I think you will understand.

Thanks IL2 -- the feedback I've had on this project has been great and I appreciate it very much! You're doing a suberb job yourself, the camouflage, weathering and decals are very good indeed!

Well, we have till April 10th if I'm reading things correctly... I suddenly have the urge to see if I could squeeze in Glamorous Glen III in 1:72nd scale, using the same general techniques... Given my workload, I must be certifiable!

Mike/TB379

Great camo job IL2! You really did a nice job on the weathering.

T-Bolt, outstanding work on your Mustang.  That's an excellent subject, and very well finished.  I've been meaning to log in for sometime now to tell you so.

Vett, are you planning to foil the whole plane?  Or are you just accentuating certain panels before paint?  curious..

--

The MustangII is like 99.5% done.  Since these photos, I've actually built the mounting base too.  I've got about 2 hours of detail work to finish up.  Mostly, this will be re-applying silver enamel to the paint-chip areas.  The flat-coat really killed any shininess that they had before.  I've already redone the wings, but the fuselage needs this work done.  Notice the bird is heavily weathered to reflect it's expeditionary service from dirt/grass fields in Northern France / Netherlands after D-Day.

Hello all I know I said I was going to post some WIP pictures yesterday but with live getting in the way and the camera being moody I didnt get-r-done. So here they are today. I had to apply some foil to the bottom of the wing and the belly scoop before the wings could be attached. I must admit I almost missed this small detail, would have been tough going had I indeed glued the wings on then tried to do the foil work. I do have to blame this discovery on my little side kick and helper Ruby, she wanted to go for a walk and as you can see from this pic she does have a way of asking one just cant say no to.

So came back from our walk and the light bulb went off in my head, foil first then glue.

This morning I attacked the tail feathers and did some filling with some thinned squadron puddy applied with a small paint brush, let it dry and did a bit of sanding. OH how I love sanding .....NOT. Looks like I may have to try my hand at scribing as I did lose some of the raised detail.

I do hope I dont end up going right to the wire getting this build finished before the deadline. I hope to be applying the foil by the end of this week but you know how life can be LOL.