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1/32 Revell (new tool) P-51D-5 Mustang


mattlow

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26474997858_053b265394_b.jpgP-51D-5 26 by Matt Low, on Flickr

 

From reading about the early P-51Ds it seems they had a less extensive application of YZC in the gear bays. The wing inner skin was left unprimered but the spar, stringers and other areas were given YZC.

 

I think I'm going to forget I learned that. Otherwise I'm going to have to provide a whole load of unpainted rivet heads

 

Richard

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OK, onwards with this build.

 

I was struck down with a nasty dose of flu which stopped me doing much at all, and last week wasn't great either. So finally this weekend I've got back on it.

 

26474997858_053b265394_b.jpgP-51D-5 26 by Matt Low, on Flickr

 

From reading about the early P-51Ds it seems they had a less extensive application of YZC in the gear bays. The wing inner skin was left unprimered but the spar, stringers and other areas were given YZC. This resulted in a laborious masking session. Result is good enough and once give a light weathering it'll look fine.

 

 

 

I think I'm going to forget I learned that. Otherwise I'm going to have to provide a whole load of unpainted rivet heads

 

Richard

 

 

 

I just like the look!  The mix of YZC and bare aluminum gives a really cool and unique look IMHO.  I think Ill try that on my early -5 build.

 

I was planning a strict OOB build, but I really like using pre-cut canopy masks and thought the kit could benefit from some Brassin hollow(er) exhausts so picked up both of those, and while I was at it snatched up a set of Eduard's new color IP/interior set as well. The latter I dont think is really necessary, but could be a nice addition as I like the look of the color PE IP. 

I didnt think the prop was necessary, and although I hate gluing OOB wheel halves together I already had a decent set of TD resin wheels that I figure I should use up, so Im pretty sure those combined with the custom paint masks I made, I should be set for my own -5 build. 

 

Looking forward to more progress! 

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I just like the look!  The mix of YZC and bare aluminum gives a really cool and unique look IMHO.  

 

 

TBH it is doing my head in. It suggests the frame was sprayed with zinc before the unpainted skin was fitted and left like that. It means the rivets would be unprotected inside the wing

 

Or... The frame was painted by hand, which I find very unlikely

 

So, I'm struggling to understand why the whole assembly wasn't sprayed after the skin was fitted

 

Richard

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It is a jacking point. The decal No. 80 saying "Jack Here" is to be applied next to it. 

HTH 

Radu 

 

Ha... hadn't checked the decals out yet (apart from cockpit ones). Knew it was too far outboard for anything to do with pylons/loadouts. Had wondered if it was the location of the tie down... Anyway, thanks for the clarification.

 

Matt

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TBH it is doing my head in. It suggests the frame was sprayed with zinc before the unpainted skin was fitted and left like that. It means the rivets would be unprotected inside the wing

 

Or... The frame was painted by hand, which I find very unlikely

 

So, I'm struggling to understand why the whole assembly wasn't sprayed after the skin was fitted

 

Richard

 

Richard

 

I think it is a case of most of the individual components being painted prior to assembly. So the stringers would arrive pre-painted, the spar, ribs etc and then assembled. What I have read is that as the production runs went on, the level of interior protection rose - so less metal showing (opposite of what the Luftwaffe were forced into). I have seen film of later P-51s getting their insides sprayed YZC, so later in production you could indeed see an all or predominantly YZC wheel bay. This came from a useful little thread on Hyperscale and seemed to be someone respected for their knowledge. Here's the text (apols for plagiarism but I neglected to note the author): 

 

"From the very beginning Mustangs wheel wells were a mix of Yellow Zinc Chromate, tinted/Green ZC, Interior Green, Dull Dark Green and unfinished (Aluminum) parts. From Allison Mustangs to F-82's the evidence (factory and field pictures, finish specs, T.O.'s, footage etc...) shows that Mustangs didn't usually get a single unified color finish in the wheel wells.
 
I do not include Commonwealth Allisons in this list as it seems the RAF repainted the wells in silver, Colin Ford or others can probably tell us more. Throughout the Mustang production the main spar was finished with YZC or IG, the ribs could also be YZC or left unpainted, the separation wall between the two wells was often IG or unpainted, the wing skin forming the ceiling were YZC or unpainted, the stringers were often YZC, some small bracket were GZC or DDG etc...
 
Basically it is not simple, all of this evolved and these colors could "move around" between the various parts of the wells. As long as minimum anti-corrosion guidelines were (somewhat) followed it didn't matter much what color went were, it seems to have been a matter of production convenience.
 
It is important to note that as production advanced so would the amount of protective colors in the wheel wells, a P-51D-5 had a lot more unfinished parts than a P-51D-30. To complicate things even more the wells were finished asymmetrically starting (possibly) with the P-51D-20NA. 
 
In conclusion, a single unified color finish in the wells is mostly a post war thing though it is possible that the last block(s) of Dallas built P-51D's had a full coat of YZC in the wells. Also, one or two period pictures seem to show a full silver finish in a P-51K-5, did some of these earlier blocks receive this finish? Was this specific aircraft repainted for some reason?
 
Clearly some questions remain unanswered but that the gist of the current thinking on Mustang wheel wells."
 
So I have probably over simplified it in mine by using just the two colours. If you need to pick out the rivets in natural metal, I suggest having a go at rubbing a silver pencil over them (gently). That should see them get a nice silver finish.
 
Matt
Edited by mattlow
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Thanks guys...

 

Alan, no the fuselage isn't closed up yet... I still have to clean up and paint the interior ducting for the coolant system (it's all there)...

 

I have started giving the canopy and windscreen a bit of a light sanding, to be followed by buffing it back up, to see if I can decrease the distortion. No=one else has mentioned the canopy and windscreen being a little disappointing (distortion and a little sinkage on windscreen due to the thick armoured glass) so maybe I have a poor canopy?

 

Always feels to me that Revell's IM equipment doesn't use as much pressure as the moulds deserve..?

 

Anyway, onward.

 

Matt

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That's useful. I can use that to justify YZC almost everywhere except the dividing wall and small brackets

 

Phew!

 

Richard

Richard

 

One thing that would have possibly made my masking a lot easier would have been to see if I could get a good enough fit of the ribs to the wing to allow me to paint both items before joining them. Not sure if that is a goer, but would have nade nice long runs of tape ratehr then fitting between each set of ribs..

 

Matt

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Richard

 

I think it is a case of most of the individual components being painted prior to assembly. So the stringers would arrive pre-painted, the spar, ribs etc and then assembled. What I have read is that as the production runs went on, the level of interior protection rose - so less metal showing (opposite of what the Luftwaffe were forced into). I have seen film of later P-51s getting their insides sprayed YZC, so later in production you could indeed see an all or predominantly YZC wheel bay. This came from a useful little thread on Hyperscale and seemed to be someone respected for their knowledge. Here's the text (apols for plagiarism but I neglected to note the author): 

 

"From the very beginning Mustangs wheel wells were a mix of Yellow Zinc Chromate, tinted/Green ZC, Interior Green, Dull Dark Green and unfinished (Aluminum) parts. From Allison Mustangs to F-82's the evidence (factory and field pictures, finish specs, T.O.'s, footage etc...) shows that Mustangs didn't usually get a single unified color finish in the wheel wells.
 
I do not include Commonwealth Allisons in this list as it seems the RAF repainted the wells in silver, Colin Ford or others can probably tell us more. Throughout the Mustang production the main spar was finished with YZC or IG, the ribs could also be YZC or left unpainted, the separation wall between the two wells was often IG or unpainted, the wing skin forming the ceiling were YZC or unpainted, the stringers were often YZC, some small bracket were GZC or DDG etc...
 
Basically it is not simple, all of this evolved and these colors could "move around" between the various parts of the wells. As long as minimum anti-corrosion guidelines were (somewhat) followed it didn't matter much what color went were, it seems to have been a matter of production convenience.
 
It is important to note that as production advanced so would the amount of protective colors in the wheel wells, a P-51D-5 had a lot more unfinished parts than a P-51D-30. To complicate things even more the wells were finished asymmetrically starting (possibly) with the P-51D-20NA. 
 
In conclusion, a single unified color finish in the wells is mostly a post war thing though it is possible that the last block(s) of Dallas built P-51D's had a full coat of YZC in the wells. Also, one or two period pictures seem to show a full silver finish in a P-51K-5, did some of these earlier blocks receive this finish? Was this specific aircraft repainted for some reason?
 
Clearly some questions remain unanswered but that the gist of the current thinking on Mustang wheel wells."
 
So I have probably over simplified it in mine by using just the two colours. If you need to pick out the rivets in natural metal, I suggest having a go at rubbing a silver pencil over them (gently). That should see them get a nice silver finish.
 
Matt

 

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234977885-p-51d-mustang-interior-colour-question/&do=findComment&comment=1960715

 

Richard

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Yes, thanks go to Christian/ 'Tourist' (BM user name) for that very informative piece on the wheel well finishes...

 

Cheers

 

Matt

 

PS - I am running this build over at BritModeller and it is garnering a different set of comments/advice - so you may wish to pop over there to see what's being discussed (link in Richard's post above). Also anyone wanting to see more P-51D info could do a lot worse than heading to look at Olivier St Ralph's Missouri Armada build. It's 1/48 but there's a whole host of information being posted on the thread - quite a resource.

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235029538-missouri-armada-p-51d-mustang-documents-and-partial-scratch-from-the-tamiya-148-kit/&tab=comments#comment-2873764

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PS - I am running this build over at BritModeller and it is garnering a different set of comments/advice - so you may wish to pop over there to see what's being discussed (link in Richard's post above)

 

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235031758-132-revell-new-tool-p-51d-5-mustang/

 

Incidentally, I linked to the info on Britmodeller that you quoted so people could read the rest of the thread. I learned stuff

 

(well, enough to make me think about painting different wheel well parts different colours anyway)

 

Richard

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a few update photos of construction...

 

'pit is just about finished and I may join the fuselage halves this evening. To me at least, the P-51 'pit is characterised by lots of placards - they're everywhere! I put what Revell supply in but it looked a bit bare. So (and don't tell anyone else) I used various 1/32 and 1/48 Airscale decals to spruce it up. I went for general shape of placard.

 

I've added a couple of odds and ends to the pit but nothing fundamental (couple of wires, throttle linkage). Need to add scuffing to the floor before closing up...

 

 38811344110_0fcec618af_c.jpgP-51D-5 37 by Matt Low, on Flickr

 

38811342430_73ce3bf185_c.jpgP-51D-5 38 by Matt Low, on Flickr

 

40579041672_12c9af33e3_c.jpgP-51D-5 39 by Matt Low, on Flickr

 

39910575664_e288474067_c.jpgP-51D-5 40 by Matt Low, on Flickr

 

My interior green doesn't look as radioactive in real life.. :)

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At the back end I have finished the canvas boot for the tail gear leg (Plasticine coated in Superglue) and put doped covers over the lightening holes in the well structure (saw this in an image of an unrestored Swiss machine). Most of this will hardly be seen when closed up.

 

39910584454_bcb2be1453_c.jpgP-51D-5 36 by Matt Low, on Flickr

 

39910591994_56909e4d88_c.jpgP-51D-5 34 by Matt Low, on Flickr

 

25750578817_ffd925a3e8_c.jpgP-51D-5 33 by Matt Low, on Flickr

 

25750579737_ed64ed5e68_c.jpgP-51D-5 41 by Matt Low, on Flickr

 

I don't know why I did close ups of this as it looks like it has been sculpted out of dog poo! I can assure you it looks fine at normal viewing.. :)

 

Still a thoroughly enjoyable build.

 

Matt

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