Grunticus

Very nice result Richard! Well done. I hope mine will come close to that.

Magnificent! I am lost for words...

Thanks Antonio! The color was just off in the photo, it was the lighting. Thanks Matt. So far it IS a nice kit but I'm not very far yet. There is a lot of (smallish) flash which is unusual for a new kit, I bought it right after it came out. Nothing big though, just regular cleanup work. The Tamiya is 2-3 the price of this one, but I agree the Tamiya is IT as far as a P-51D is concerned.

Nice work! I have this one in mind as my next.

I spent some more time detailing some parts. I added a bar to the seat-backing, and added wiring to te battery. This is an unrestored original (Guatemalan) P-51D. I can leave the head rest black instead of brown as instructed by Revell. Those two placards left and right of the seat are included on the decal sheet by Revell, nice touch! I also believe I need to re-think my interior green choice..... it's too yellowwy? Here's how they look finished: The fuselage halves were removed from the sprues and cleaned-up, there were four ejectorpin marks, but they were of the raised variety instead of indented and easily sanded away. I see now I forgot the ones on the seat backing, they need filling. If the can be seen with the seat on there I will, otherwise not. I also bought an Eduard decal sheet as it was only € 11,95. One of these two will be my subject, both are nice looking I think. The Flying Dutchman gets the edge for now. Cheers!

Thank you Antonio, I will use the other seat then! Thankfully it got caught in time.

Today I prepared all the parts for the cockpit. I heavily thinned the side supports of the seat as far as I dared. I think it's a feature that shows. Al the parts are ready for further detailing and then assembly. I removed everything Mike recommended and thinned the side frames for easier assembly. In the HGW set there is a dinghy. On the cardboard of the package there are instructions about "how to apply decal". There is however no decal in my set? I assume there should be one for the "U.S. Army Air Forces" text on the dinghy. This is the second time in a row an HGW set disappoints. I will print it myself on clear decal film. Cheers!

Crazy stuff....genius. Well done.

Looking great Richard!

Mike, that already looks very pretty!

Thanks so much! Glad you enjoy it.

It's not my best effort, but I call it finished.Some Eduard PE was used, declas are all homemade. Added a few bits of tubing in the cockpit. It looks nice with this different scheme. Cheers!

Youir is coming out beutiful Richard! I have followed the build and maybe that is why I did not put the box back on the stack this time. I hope I can come close to how you are finishing it.

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy the result. It was a fun build. I will finish weathering tomorrow and post RFI.

The Storch is all but finished. I am still awaiting AM for the intended next kit, so in the mean time I decided to start this one. It's been in my stash for years. I had it in my hand a few times but put it back. Not this time. I have read about the few caveats this kit has like needing to thin the sidewall mouns (thanks Mike @MikeMaben ) to have an easier closure of the fuselage and the wrong colour call-out for the radio rack. If you have any other inportant thing, please do mention them here. I have not decided on the finish yet, but the included decal options are not tempting to me. The only AM for this one will be Eduard Brassin wheels, and HGW seatbelts. Cheers!

I have been a bit busy and, well, it's done save a round of light weathering. Next up will be the RFI. Thanks for watching, I had mostly fun with this little booger (actually I was surprised how big it is). The pitot tube will be put on last. The yellow seems a bit orange in these photos, but that's just lighting. The Norwegian roundels are laser-printed and I used white disk decals as underlayment. The aircraft codes were also cut with the Sihouette ot of white decal paper. Cheers!

I thought I was the only modeller on the planet with that list in his head. I made a flowchart of it and made sure it always ends in "Yes", just to be on the safe side

The fuselage is nearing completion. I have already cut the code letters and white disks, and printer NoAF roundels in the apropriate sizes for this aircraft (600 & 900mm). I had a tough time getting the engine and cowling assembled. In the end I cheated and removed the exhaust manifold from the engine and glued the exhausts themselves to the inside of the engine panel. Still a lot of sanding and puttying was required. My fears for smudging on the inside of the canopy came ut true alas. Not much can be done here. I added an extra brass rod at an angle to make a strong connection for the elevator. Now I have started finishing the wing seam puttying, and am preparig various struts. Cheers!

This is museum-quiality....art really. Mind-boggling what you are doing here.

Great job on that gear!

My favorite plane done justice with this spectacular finish. Great job.

The method with superglue and baking soda worked pretty well, I am surprised by how close it reacts like plastic when sanding. The shape is still off, but I managed to restore it nearer to what it should look like. The engine's in also. I's tight fit in every respect. It's far from perfect but not much will be seen anyway. The door is done. When I removed the tape there was a lot of residu on the windows, both on the Eduard-side and the homemade side (Tamiya sheet sheet). I hope this is not the case on the greenhouse. I could remove it easily with turpentine but the greenhouse is no longer accessible of course. I am filling the seams on the wings and started painting the stabilizers / rudders, slats and flaps. I will probably get around to painting the fuselage tomorrow. Cheers!

It's the same for me as most. I forget all the stress I feel from life / work things when at the bench. I always have an 80s radiostation playing when modelling and feel absolutely liberated from whatever burdons me. It recharges my batteries.

Before I attempt another repair (after I watch some tutorials) I set my mind on something different: the elevators. From Paolo's thread Iearned the tab and slot solution offered by the kit is unrealistic as there is a gap between elevators and fuselage on the real thing, to which they were attached with tubing. I had already seperated the elevators earlier. I have sanded the elevator's forward edge round, and the receiving end on the stabilizers concave, with the dremel, round files, sandpaper and lastly swipes with cottonswabs drenched in nailpoish remover. This gave a more realistic look than straight edges, especially since I want to let the elevator droop, like often seen on parked Storches without gust-locks. The right one received the same treatment of course. The look I want to achieve on the finished model: I drew a pencil line right through the middle of the filled in slot and drilled holes for the elevator shaft and the satbilizer attachment points, and pushed three brass rods throught the holes all the way through. I miss-drilled once but simply glued some stretched sprue in, let that dry, and re-drilled in the correct position. In the end they came out pretty even. I then drilled corresponding holes in the elevators and stabilizers. A first test-fit revealed it was all right. It's a little bit too tight in this photo below, so I sanded some more off the elevator and deepened the concave on the stabilizer a little bit more, and now all is good. Not too shabby Cheers!

Thank you for this suggestion Derek. I have this at home and will experiment a bit as I've never tried this method before. I have read the combination can be used for seams, but not for build-up. I will use some scrap part and see if this could be done by me. Thanks!