Revell 1/32 P51 5NA MUSTANG

[Vaughan]

Theuns it's a great kit with a few minor fit issues wing roots at the leading edge need a little attention and a smear of filler. After closing the fuselage the canopy appeared a little too narrow but it was down to the fact that I didn't glue the cockpit walls correctly I should have used clamps to hold it together. But clamping and glueing after the event I managed to correct it. I was able to get some extra thin cement in the gap without damaging the paint work so all's good. Radiator air intake fitted, will need some filling as there are gaps but again will be easily remedied. Prop painted and decales applied needs a matt coat and some weathering to complete.

 

[Richi72]

Great build love the P51

 

[Ian M]

Looking very nice. Quite a good looking kite the Mustang....

 

[papa 695]

Moving along nicely Vaughan.

 

[Vaughan]

Thanks guys a little progress here all control surfaces added, she's really starting to look like a Mustang. A bit of a cop out but I think I'm going to opt to go with the desert rat scheme as my NMF skills are not that great.

 

[flyjoe180]

Looking A1 Vaughan, plenty of scope with weathering on that OD scheme

 

[Vaughan]

Anyone have some hint's or tips on painting nose cones I've got a yellow and red stripes to do. Had a go but was a total disaster also the checkered pattern on the forward fuselage . Maybe an attempt on NMF is calling, as the nose cone is only yellow, we will see.

 

[Vaughan]

I took the plunge and went for the NMF option(I couldn't face doing that nose cone and the checkered pattern behind it). I bought a bottle of the Vallejo Metal color for airbrushes, expensive at £6.99 for a 32ml bottle but it sprays easily and drys in 5 minutes which is a bonus. There's no clogging of the airbrush it comes with a ball bearing as an agitator so no chance of sludge building up at the bottom of the bottle . I sprayed a coat of Vallejos black surface primer followed by the Metal Color.
Camos down with olive drab and dark green still to add to the tail section and upper fuselage. Yellow section added to front of fuselage and prop nose cone painted too. This has been a full day of modelling but I'm pleased with the result.

 

[Ian M]

Looking very nice V.
Bit late now but for the next one maybe... Yellow is a great colour as a base for red, so I would start with painting the spinner, and band yellow. Than mask off the yellow squares and spray the red. As for the spinner, much the same, yellow overall, then find a latex glove and cut a couple of fingers off. Poke a hole in the end and pull it over the spinner to the widest edge of the red band then do the thinnest edge, spray and remove. Sounds a pain, but easier than faffing about with masking tape.

 

[Vaughan]

Thanks for the tip Ian will definitely give it a go next time.

 

[papa 695]

Looking very nice Vaughan

 

[Steve Brodie]

Looking very good

 

[Vaughan]

Further progress dark green added to the upper fuselage and tail fin . Some tricky masking there as it had to be cut from Tamyia tape free hand. Also I've added the anti reflective area in front of the wind screen. Next I will need to make a start on the fuselage invasion stripes not an easy task as there's a lot of curves to contend with.

 

[Ian M]

That is looking sharp as a knife. Nice.

 

[BarryW]

Looking good

 

[Vaughan]

Thanks guys, I opted out of doing the fuselage and plumbed for the under wing set. Still not easy getting the spacing right and working around the under carriage bay doors but all has gone well. There are some areas to touch up with a little bleed in two places but I'm pleased with the results. Still to tackle the fuselage there will be some careful masking required.

 

[flyjoe180]

Looks sharp and very nice Vaughan.

 

[Vaughan]

Thanks Joe, well it was a bit of a struggle but I managed to mask off the fuselage for the invasion stripes. As a precaution I masked the whole Mustang so I didn't overspray the white or black paint. The only downside is that I used Kamoi tape as its wide, trouble is the tape tack is greater than the Tamiya tape and it has pulled off some aluminium paint on the underside of the wing, as you can see in the third photo . So this now needs sorting out. All in all the plane has been a little bit of a challenge but I'm getting there.

 

[yak face]

Beautiful clean work vaughan , it looks superb, cheers tony

 

[Vaughan]

Thanks Tony just got to sort out the paint work.