The P-51"mustang" Group Build. 2008

Moving along on the P-51H.  This thing looks like a Mustang after it got the Salvador Dali treatment.  sort of like everything flowed.  I have been trying to keep this build simple to see what the result is when I'm done.  I found that when I built the all resin kit before this one, a Ju-388K by Planet, that the more I handle things, the more things I break off, ding up, and just generally foul up.  I am undoubtedly NOT the most graceful model builder on the block.  There aren't many parts to the main part of the kit and everything has fit unbelievably well, though a fair amount of superglue and Tamiya putty has been used, and a little bit of Milliput fairs in the front of the windscreen.  There are no pour blocks on the parts, just wafers to remove from the detail parts and that is where a lot of time can go on most resin kits.  The surface of the resin is not as smooth as a nice plastic kit, so the nmf is not quite as good as  quality plastic kit can be, but it came out nice.  If I tried to smooth it down I am sure I would lose a lot of the fine surface detail, so I left it as it was, and it is acceptable to me.  I doubt it would be good enough for some others, but I have a couple thousand more models to build here before my planned air fleet is complete and I aint no spring chicken.

It will be in the colors of the Polish branch of the Massachussetts ANG, I like the red trim, and the spinner will be alternating red and white rings.

Dirk, very nice work on that captured Stang! Looking good!

John, nice looking pit! Looking forward to seeing more!

Cheers,

Azgaron

I started on my Collect Aire P-51H yesterday and had a fair amount of time to spend on it.  It is going together pretty well, certainly very well so far for a resin kit.  The cockpit details are pretty accurate compared to the photos I have.  I put some interior green in the cockpit, as in the first years of the airplane's service.  An all-black cockpit doesn't seem like it would be much to look at.  There was a pretty good resin panel in the kit, but was became operative somewhere between washing the parts and finding it when it came time to deal with it.  I modified a P-47N Eduard panel and used it instead.  Has a better snazzy quotient anyway, I think.  I'm going to pose the cockpit closed to emphasize the different shape of the H compared to the D, so I went through the cockpit buildng pretty quick.

Greetings to all

OK here we go. As some may remember my entry was a 1/72 Starfix P-51 I found in a dollar store years ago. Its not big on detail and accuracy as you would guess for model costing a whopping $1.

After seeing an episode of Dog Fights they made a brief mention of how the Germans used captured P-51s to infiltrate the bomb groups. This concept caught my imagination and with some help from some people here I was able to find some pictures to use as a guide.

One photo stood out above the rest and I ran with it. This plane is not meant to be an accurate representation of an actual operational German P-51. Despite what I had to work with and my lack of skills I had fun building it.

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Ouch, I just caught a huge mistake. Oh, well you live you learn.

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Maybe some day I'll revisit this and fix what I can but for now its time to move on. This is the first of what I hope is many more to come.

Thanks Arki and Andrew!

Arki, I'll try to do that! Nice build btw. Forgot to say that!

Cheers,

Azgaron 

Cool there still is some people here!

Jeaton welcome aboard!

Azgaron welcome back!

To the rest, yes I won't make a build again this long ever! But I not about to make a new GB thread for a very long time!

dupes wrote:

...I, however, am not one to idly join a GB - my Mustang will be completed well within the parameters!

Cheers to that!

Welcome back Azgaron!  Now finish what you signed up to do.

Hi everyone!

I'm sorry for being away so long! Partly due to that life actually came in the way, partly due to too many GBs and partly due to that I was ashamed for not showing up!
Since I started to work I had to narrow down my building quite a bit and also the number of GBs I'm in. First of all I'm trying to finish a Spitfire before the end of this month! Then if nothing else comes inbetween I'll try to finish as many GBs that's possible!

As for the Mustang I'm working with, I intended to do different shades of NMF, but I think I might leave that be and start finishing the kit instead!

Cheers,

Azgaron

arki30 wrote:

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.

Hmmm...perhaps I came across as a bit grumpier than I was shooting for.

Arki - I agree with you absolutely about GB theory. I wish more people would sign up with more realistic intentions of completing a build within the original period of time...I, however, am not one to idly join a GB - my Mustang will be completed well within the parameters!

Andrew - you need to remember that as the GB leader it is partially your responsibility to keep the group build alive! Perhaps you need to crank out another Mustang?

raptordriver wrote:

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

Nah, it will probably be like the Spitfire GB, no insecticide known to man nor beast can kill it.  I'm going to join with a 1/48 Collect Aire P-51H that needs to be built. 

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!

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.

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

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

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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

Ken 

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!

 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

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

Whoah! Hot scheme!

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