The P-51"mustang" Group Build. 2008

Hey mike, randy and Il2, They all looks awsome!. IL2 your making speedy progress.

Thanks Vett, for your comments. So true: a Mustang looks fine in any scheme. 

About the canopy masking, I've found the best way for complex birdcage canopies is to do them in sections.  For instance, on the Mk.II I painted the longitudinal frames first, then I remasked for the ones that run in the wingspan direction, then I came back and did the little triangles in the corners.  Just what works for me, but it can be very tedious.  Shouldn't be so bad for the P-51D, though.  If I were to do it, I would paint the outline first, then the cross-member second, then come back for the two parallel bars that straddle the gunsight.

Here's a WIP that sorta demonstrates what I mean.

SWEET !!!!!!!!!!! IL2 very nice. Great paint job there, love that camo, but then again I think a 51 would look good an most any paint job. Your canopy came out fantastic, guess I will have to ask how you masked it, I still have some trouble with mine but they are getting better. You are right though the Brits do know how to paint a plane. Can't wait to see your finished pics.

Oh and thanks for your idea on the revets on my 51 I will give it a try and let you know what happens.

Randy

Decals, Panel Wash, and Propellor added 

To rebuild rivet detail, maybe you could try this:
DISCLAIMER: I have not tested this method.  Just the first thing that came to mind.

1) Get some med-CA and accellerator, and a toothpick.
2) Sharpen the toothpick to a very very fine point
3) Dip the point of the toothpick into the CA, then blot it onto a scrap material
4) Keep doing this until you produce bumps of the right size,
5) Apply it ever so lightly to the model. 
6) Spray surface with accellerator

You might want to draw some pencil marks on the model as a guide.  Also, resharpen the toothpick every time so it doesn't grow into a big bulb at the end, thereby producing giant rivets.  When you're done, you should be able to sand them down if they are too tall. 

Good luck if you try this method.  That's what I would try.

-- 

I've got decals on the Mk.II.  I will get some photos up soon.

Hello all

I haven't gotten much done this past week, however I did get the Fuselage halves put togeather along with the exhuast stacks and the panels foiled. I dulled the foil a bit with some steel wool and plan on foiling the rest of the plane then using washes to simulate the burnt stainless steel panels. As is the norm I did have to do a bit of filling and sanding on this Revell kit, I used Mr Surfacer 1000 and it really worked out well, althou I do have one large gap to fill that will need some puddy and the Mr Surfacer should clean that up. My one problem is when I sanded I lost some of the rivet detail and a couple of the panel lines. The panel lines I think I can fix but the revets are another matter, anyone have any ideas ?

The exhaust stacks I drilled out, used flat black inside them, then painted them Tamiya redbrown, clear coated them and used dark gray pastel and light gray to give them a used look. However I didnt want them to look too used and I will give then a flat coat of clear a bit down the road.

Let me know what you think and any comments or advice is welcome.

Randy

That is gonna look so sweet after you paint.  Great Work.

Is that a Dallas-style canopy?

Lookin good Mike

Randy

Hi Raptordriver and all,

I've finally managed to spend some time on the Mustang, having cleared a deadlined model yesterday. Here I've attached the canopy, then applied the Express Mask set, and filled in the main caopy with Tamiya tape:

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Next up will be XF-1 flat black for the AG panel and windscreen frame. The prop blades are painted, I used satin black but the lustre was just too high. I overcoated them with XF-1 to cut it back, and though research suggests Mustangs had a satin AG panel, the conditions in Korea knocked back the shine pretty fast.

Cheers,

Mike

Hi all. Thought I would post some WIP pictures. I did a bit of scratch building, a little PE, and printed up some gages that arent in the kit. Not the greatest work but hey I am learning and having fun.  

I built up the the panel here to give the cockpit a bit more depth and added the oxygen hose, I also made up some panel gages. Actually the gages were an idea I got from here on another thread. I also made the canopy slide rail from a piece of PE fret came out well I think.

Here I am showing some of the scratch building I did I closed up the tail wheel bay and made a cooling radiator came out ok I think, I do need to do a bit of weathering so the raditor looks a little better.

Here is the other half of the fuse, I am going to highlight it with some pastels in a couple of days. I am going to try and keep things a bit clean though, after all this will be my better half's plane. As always comments are welcomed.

Randy

I've never seen lightening holes in the back of the wheel bay on a mustang. All my ref pics (of D models) are solid. There are holes in the front though.

http://aircraftresourcecenter.com/AWA1/101-200/walk107_P51D/images/Mvc-021s.jpg

http://aircraftresourcecenter.com/AWA1/101-200/walk107_P51D/images/Mvc-022s.jpg

Here are a couple I scared up real quick.

Thanks for clearing that up for me John :) Hopefully I will be posting a few build pictures in the next couple of days. I am trying a bit of scratch building with this one.

Randy

Can someone tell me if the P-51D had lightening holes in the back of the wheel bays. I see the B model did but can't find good pictures of the D model gear bays. 

Thanks

Randy

hkshooter wrote:

A lot of talk has been gong on lately about Ott bulbs, of which I know nothing. They are CFL's and if the light is good I'd like to switch to them because all these 75watt tungsten bulbs put out a ton of heat, not to mention run up the bill.

They are awesome but pricey. Father-in-law is an architect, has a couple for his draft board. "Pure light", and eases strain on your eyes (as you get to our,ahem, age group!).  I am eyeing Michaels, who puts them on sale couple times a year, 50-60$ for the lamp/bulbs setup (half of normal price).

Yep - right out of the bottle.  Don't ask me why it works, but it sure is handy.
I get no splatters using a Badger 155.  I generally spray at about 20-25 PSI.

IL2 - did you fire the Tamiya acryls straight from the bottle??? I love Tamiya's paint - use it religiously - but I find that thinning it 50% (every time!) with isopropyl gives me the best results (and least amount of tip dry). Maybe I'm just not stirring enough, but got a lot of spatter going 100%.

Great paint job, btw.

Thanks, VM.
The British certainly know how to paint a warbird, yes?

I used Tamiya acrylics on this one.  First time with this brand, and I like it alot!  The color selection is limited, but they have published mix ratios that are easy to follow for most intermediate colors.  The ratios are simple, like 2:1.  The paint is really nice, and it seems to have a consistent texture from one color to the next.  You get more paint for your dollar, and the paint jars are very useful even after they are empty.  My new favorite paint.

Well, i've never once had a problem with acrylic peeling off: with any brand.  Sometimes I even mask over it within an hour of painting, and still I have no issues.  I live in a very arid climate, so perhaps that helps.  Here's a few things for you to consider that might help:

1) Always wash your kit parts when you start to remove any "mold release" material
2) Always wash your hands before touching the model to avoid placing oils on the surface
3) Use a primer to greatly improve adhesion and surface finish.  I use Tamiya Fine Primer (spray can)
4) Use low-tack tape.  Regular masking tape is about the strongest tape I will use.

Also, while this should not affect surface adhesion, I thought I would mention that seem to have my best luck airbrushing acrylics right out the bottle.  Most people say that they thin their acrylics, but I've tried that and the paint is always too runny and gets underneath my masking tape.  I dunno why my situation is different, but I get my best results without thinning.

Good luck.

IL2 that paint job is beautiful !!!!!

What kind of paint are you using ? I use acrylics and always have trouble with the paint coming off with the tape in spots. I even tried using future before masking and still had the problem of paint coming off with the tape.

 Randy

Tamiya tape, guided by lots of measurements with a precise ruler/scale.

It helps if you burnish it down real good with yourt fingers before painting.  I use the edge of my fingernail to press the tape into the panel lines.

I've been unable to approach the work bench for a couple days, but tonight I finally applied the belly color.  The stripes really stand out now, and I realized I didn't uploaded a photo of them before. 

I gotta travel for work next week, just when things were getting interesting!

vetteman nice work the PE seat belts look awsome,thanks for starting.

IL2-glad to see your making such speedy progress, I think that is a very exciting paint job.And come on, how could you screw that up? Oh ya, the Utes took 4th at region. Most people beat me , but no one my age did. Looking forward seeing more pics on it.

Ok I think I have it now, here are a few pictures of what I have done so far on my,,, errrr Angel's P-51D

Nice MkII IL2windhawk the paint came out very, nice hope my canopy comes out as well as yours did.

I am still trying to figure out how to post pictures here from photobucket. Even went through a turtorial from the help forum but no go. I will get it figured out over the next couple of days I hope

Thanks HKshooter.  That's a good tip - i'll look for those bulbs.

So far I must admit i think she's coming together quite nicely :)  That's usually when I royally screw something up, so I'm trying my best to take my time and think things through.  I think this is perhaps the hardest time to pace yourself, because after the paint goes on it starts to get really exciting.

I don't think I ever complimented you on your finished Allison mustang, regretfully.  I remember it vividly, and I meant to comment on how nice it was but I had to run off for some reason.

IL2, looking good.

I too have noticed funny things happening to color under different bulbs so on the recomendation of a friend (who's a much better painter than I) I switched all my work and photo lamps to Reveal daylight bulbs. The result is more consistant results for viewing, especially in the paint booth where I used to use flourecents. The color never did look right in there and it hurt my eyes to boot.

A lot of talk has been gong on lately about Ott bulbs, of which I know nothing. They are CFL's and if the light is good I'd like to switch to them because all these 75watt tungsten bulbs put out a ton of heat, not to mention run up the bill.

I'm looking forward to seeing your stang completed. I've been watching your build since I finished my last AM mustang.

Thanks for the encouraging words, Chaps. 
Raptor, you didn't tell us how your team did this year..

Well I learned something new today: I spent all day at work fretting about the color contrast on my model, trying to decide whether or not I should re-paint all of the green sections.  Then, funny enough, after I got home and held the model in natural sunlight the paint looked worlds better!  So anyway: the lesson is don't make important painting decisions under yellow incandesent bulbs!

Tonight I made a few corrections to the camo, fixing over-spray areas, etc..  Then I painted all the canopy frames.  Tommorrow I'll paint the belly gray and then hopefully I'll be able to apply a clear coat.

This time I photographed the model under "white" compact-flouresent bulbs.  The colors in these pictures look quite like they do in sunlight.  I wasn't able to get a real good in-focus shot of the pilot in the cockpit, but he looks really cool behind the canopy frames.  When this build is all done I will get ahold of an SLR to get some better shots.