Tamiya 1/32 P-51D-10-NA Detroit Miss

[Thunnus]

An unexpected pause in my G.55 build has given me an opportunity to dip my toes into new waters.  I've had this particular kit for a while and have accumulated a little stash of aftermarket goodies (mostly from Barracuda Studios).  The Mustang is an iconic WW2 aircraft and needs to be on my list of completed WW2 fighter aircraft right?  I'm aiming to do a natural metal finish, which I think represents how most of us visualize a Mustang.  I'll be using the P-51D/K release from Tamiya.

 

The aircraft I'll be modeling is a P-51D-10-NA piloted by Urban L. Drew of the 361st Fighter Group, Eighth Air Force. He finished the war as a P-51 ace with six victories.  Interestingly, he was credited with shooting two Me262 jets on a single mission.

 

I'm no expert in the P-51 and its probably this unfamiliarity that has prevented me from doing a Mustang build earlier.  From what I can gather, the kit needs to be backdated to a P-51D-10-NA but most of those changes are minor and should be easy to do. I'm going to forgo the sprue tour... just way too many parts on this one... and jump right into the AM stuff.

Here's a big chunk of the AM that I have on hand.

 

I really love Roy Sutherland's stuff, especially his cockpit stencils.  I used them on a Tamiya Corsair build and they really up the level in detail. And I'm not a big fan of how Tamiya represents their instrument panels as clear parts.  The instrument gauges are decals that are applied to the back of the clear part and looking at the instruments through that layer of thick plastic doesn't look realistic to me.  So yes, sign me up for the Barracuda Studios resin/PE version on the P-51D instrument panel.

 

Unlike some other AM suppliers (cough..Aires... cough), Roy typically supplies his resin upgrades with very comprehensive set of instructions including photos of what the parts look like after they been cut from their casting blocks. First step in this build is getting the Barracuda instrument panel cut away from its casting block.  Since the shape is complex, careful cutting and trimming is the way to go.

 

The instrument cluster is provided as PE inset panel with separate bezels.

 

The panel is cut from the PE fret and placed into the resin panel to check fit.

 

Next is placement of the individual bezels on the inset panel.  I recommend cutting PE parts off of the fret using a hard surface like glass or metal to avoid distorting the part.

 

Grinding down the fret gates on a small PE part can be a challenging experience.  If you don't already have one, I recommend getting a pair of PE pliers like these from Mad Works.  Before this, I was using my trusty Tamiya tweezers but it was difficult to get a good grip. These make it so much easier.

 

As recommended by Barracuda, I used Future to secure the bezels to the inset panel. Make sure you allow the Future to complete dry before touching the bezels that have been set in position.  

 

I will further secure everything by applying a light gloss coat before I paint the panel parts.

[JayW]

FYI - the IP that is effective on this bird:

 

[Daniel Iscold]

Holly moses!!! Mr. Thunnus and Tamiya at the same thread!!!!! Run fellas!!!! Run!!!!! 

Edited June 24 by Daniel Iscold

[scvrobeson]

And he's right back to work on a new project!  Looking forward to following along like always John, I'm sure that you'll work your magic on this one.

 

 

 

Matt 

[Out2gtcha]

Lovely!

[dodgem37]

In case you're interested, a booklet that helped with my build.  As well as a Packard Merlin Parts catalogue.  Found in my Signature below.

https://stephentaylorhistorian.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/parts-catalohue-p51d-e.pdf

 

Sincerely,

Mark

 

 

[Lemonstein]

I have the Tamiya kit lined up to do after some bare metal practice on some 1/48 kits, so this is perfect timing John! Can't wait to see what you have in store for this build!!

[JayW]

Note that this IP has a cover plate over one of the locations:

 

 

The note says "provision for radio compass".  Whatever that means.  The top LH location is a "remote compass".  I do not know the difference.

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!  I didn't know if this was just a temp filler project or a full-scale build but now I'm getting pumped up for this one.

 

6 hours ago, dodgem37 said:

In case you're interested, a booklet that helped with my build.  As well as a Packard Merlin Parts catalogue.  Found in my Signature below.

https://stephentaylorhistorian.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/parts-catalohue-p51d-e.pdf

 

Sincerely,

Mark

 

 

Thank you Mark!  Very helpful and I've saved it for future reference!

 

 

24 minutes ago, JayW said:

Note that this IP has a cover plate over one of the locations:

 

 

The note says "provision for radio compass".  Whatever that means.  The top LH location is a "remote compass".  I do not know the difference.

 

 

Thank you Jay!  It looks like it matches this pic...

 

 

I guess I have the option of covering one of the instruments on the Barracuda panel per the above pics or assume that an instrument (radio compass?) was placed in that position on the Detroit Miss following the examples below...

 

 

[Citadelgrad]

1 hour ago, JayW said:

Note that this IP has a cover plate over one of the locations:

 

 

The note says "provision for radio compass".  Whatever that means.  The top LH location is a "remote compass".  I do not know the difference.

Ohh, one I think I know. 

 

Radio compass is a radio-based direction finding system where a radio source is used to navigate toward or away from a known fixed radio beacon using bearing.  My dad used these decades before GPS to navigate in B 47s.   

 

A "remote compass" is just a standard magnetic compass, but the magnetic sensor is in a different place than the indicator dial, almost always to avoid interference from other devices and magnetic fields.   

Edited June 24 by Citadelgrad

[JayW]

2 hours ago, Thunnus said:

I guess I have the option of covering one of the instruments on the Barracuda panel per the above pics or assume that an instrument (radio compass?) was placed in that position on the Detroit Miss following the examples below...

 

Yes you have a choice.  Boy - already we are really getting into the weeds!  LOL!   BTW John - the demarcation line you see is white, not yellow.  The yellow came along later, and if you focus in on the drawing, it says white.   

[Thunnus]

Looking further into that Radio Compass gauge... it seems like it could be related to the Detrola BC1206, which we've determined to most likely be absent on ETO P-51's.  So I'm going to blank out that gauge just in case.  And yes, white delineation line on the IP, not yellow... gotta figure out how I'm going pull that off.

[Dpgsbody55]

That Instrument panel is going to look stunning.  

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[Biggles87]

The Mustang is my second favourite piston engined fighter so I’ll follow please, and It looks like you’re going to get lots of good references here as well. 
 

John. 🇺🇦
PS: I’m impressed with your building up of the Barracuda IP when there are lots of ready made P-51 panels out there. I have a Yahu panel waiting for my next 1/32 P-51 build, I think that they are probably the best in1/32 because you can actually read the numbers on the dials.

Edited June 25 by Biggles87

[Thunnus]

Thanks for the comments!  The detail on those ready-made instrument panels are incredible.  But I find I prefer either well-molded plastic, resin or PE over the ready-made ones.  The 3D-printed ones from Quinta/Red Fox are a bit "pillowy" if you know what I mean.  The Yahu ones look better to my eye but still a bit too flat.

 

 

Back to the build... At this stage, I'll be checking the Barracuda Studios P-51 upgrades one by one just to orient myself with what I have and how they are going to fit in to the build.  We've already taken a look at the Barracuda instrument panel and started assembling it.  Next up are the Barracuda tires. They are meant to replace the rubber tires that Tamiya includes.

 

On simple, straight cuts that don't endanger any small details, I can use the Big Blue saw!

 

A flat spot is established by sanding to represent weight on the tire.

 

The kit wheels seem to fit ok on the resin tires without any noticeable gaps.

 

After I'm finished checking, the components are put back into their little plastic baggies because I'm now paranoid about losing parts!

 

The Warren-McArthur seat is next. Barracuda not only supplies the seat but neat little decals to represent stitching on the belts and US ARMY logos to be placed on the dinghy serving as a back pad.

 

There is a marginal increase in detail but the kit seat is definitely usable.

 

Paradoxically, the added detail on the rear of the seatback in the form of a tubular rail, must be removed in order for the seat assembly to fit onto the cockpit floor.

 

After a little bit of research on the instrument panel I made a little mod. There is a blanked out instrument on the P-51D-10-NA panel reserved for a radio compass as pointed out by Jay.  Since the radio compass works with the Detrola (BC-1206) receiver that was not commonly used in the ETO, I'm assuming that Detroit Miss didn't have that instrument.

 

 

Here is the instrument panel with that gauge blanked out.  I fabricated the cover using thin sheet brass.