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

[scvrobeson]

One of the best things about LSP is how helpful people are with information about projects.

 

The Mustang's looking awesome so far John!

 

 

Matt 

[Thunnus]

Thanks Matt!  LSP is definitely full of helpful people!

 

 

Work on the Mustang continues.  Looking at the Barracuda Cockpit Sidewalls set, I figured it would be beneficial to see how the kit part fit in comparison.

 

Comparatively, the Barracuda sidewalls fit similarly without any adjustments to the kit fuselage parts.

 

Like some other builds I've seen, I've decided to cut the kit parts and add the rear framing to the fuselage to help maintain the alignment of internal features.

 

Since the resin sidewalls aren't held in by friction alone, I decided to go ahead and glue the sidewalls into the fuselage sides, which will help dryfitting the other components such as the floor tub.

 

In order for the floor tub to fit with the resin parts, the tabs on the starboard side need to be trimmed back.  You can see the pencil line that I marked out for the necessary cuts. Barracuda issued an addendum (not included in my purchased set but available online) describing this adjustment in detail. 

 

With that adjustment, the cockpit seems to fit in the fuselage without issues.

 

Since the sidewalls are installed and largely completed, I gave both of them a coat of primer.

 

I've started painting the cockpit floor by painting the wood areas first.  Simulating wood is really easy.  Just a tan or beige base coat and then streaking a couple shades of dark brown oil paints to simulate wood grain.  You can tint the wood to taste by spraying clear red or yellow over it.

 

While waiting for the oils to dry, I took care of a few minor things.   The resin tires and kit hubs have been given a primer coat.  I don't give everything a primer coat but it helps when marrying dissimilar materials like resin, PE and plastic.

 

The small access panel in front of the windshield was not present on the early P-51D so it has been filled in with black CA glue.

 

The inserts with the NAA logo have been installed on the foot pedals.

 

The inertia switch, indicator light and the new wiring that I added to the back of the head rest needs to be removed as pointed out by Antonio.  Added the little tab too.

 

I replaced the plastic receptacle on the radio/battery rack with a representation of a clear bottle using a section of clear sprue.

 

Verson 2 of the wiring cable to the battery.

 

[Mal_Belford]

Looks good with the wiring job.

 

Make sure to dryfit the seat/wall, as the fit is tight almost no gap at all,  and that the wiring may get squeezed and then risk of pushing the seat/wall forward, as we all know Tamiya, perfect fit.

 

Just heads up John.

 

[scvrobeson]

V2.0 of the wiring loom looks really good. Keep it up John! Looking forward to paint hitting the cockpit.

 

 

Matt 

[JayW]

Magnifico John!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Antonio Argudo]

Fantastic work John! 🤩 here is a very useful picture that shows how the wire and plumping goes on the rear cockpit, cheers

  

[Out2gtcha]

Tremendous start John!

[Phil Smith]

Excellent progress.

[alaninaustria]

Outstanding John! I love the attention to detail!

Cheers

Alan

[Thunnus]

Thanks guys!  Appreciate the comments!

 

 

Work on the Mustang has been occurring in bits and spurts.  Working on a bunch of different sub-areas whenever an idea or inclination gets ahold of me.  Glancing at the HGW seat harness set for the P-51D, I noticed a couple of things.  One was the "Transparent Wooden Floor".  The green color threw me but poking at it, cutting it and then dipping a piece in water revealed that it was transparent decal to simulate wood grain.  The green color is simply the color of the decal backing paper.  Since I've already created the wood appearance using paint and oils, I disregarded this HGW extra feature.  The other things I noticed is the included "dinghy", which was used as a back pad on the seat.

 

Simply a different version of the pad that is also included in the Barracuda seat set. I'm not sure I'm liking the texture of the HGW pad but we'll paint it up and see.

 

Here is a comparison between the Barracuda acetate instrument dials and the Airscale decals.  Both look ok from this photo but to the naked eye, the Airscale dials stand out better.

 

I've added a bit of detail on the kit control stick using sheet styrene and some Archers Rivet decals. I've been using a couple of builds as reference and I got this idea from Antonio's Ferocious Frankie. 

 

The cockpit floor has been painted but not yet weathered.  I used Antonio's suggestion as a reference.  The decals are from the Barracuda P-51D cockpit placard set.  This is essentially a single part although I did add the stick control lock in red. It's hard to make out the texture I added to the fuel tank but it is there!  The wear on the wooden floor boards, I didn't use hairspray.  I simply rubbed away the black(carefully!) using a piece of folded Micromesh.

[LSP_Kevin]

Masterful work, John!

 

Kev

[scvrobeson]

Nice additions and painting John!  Really enjoying the build so far.

 

 

Matt 

[Antonio Argudo]

that is looking absolutely wonderful John, every little detail adds beauty on that cockpit, fantastic work!

I think the HWG cushion texture is a bit overdone but your choice, here is some period cushions for reference.

 

on a side note, thanks John for mention my build, I just took a look at her which sadly has been sitting on the shelf for years collecting dust  and decided it's time to finish her up! thanks for your build inspiration, it has brought the Mustang mojo back! also excited by the new Mustang B/C from Eduard that will arrive in the coming weeks too, it is Mustang fever time again😁  cheers

[Thunnus]

I've managed to complete the Barracuda battery and SCR-522 radio that goes on top of the fuselage fuel tank.

 

Per Mal's helpful suggestion, I had to cut my wiring loom short so it would not interfere with the seat back.

 

I painted the Warren-McArthur seat in Bronze Green (AK RC 264) just to add variation from the mostly Interior Green (Mr Hobby Aqueous Interior Green H58) cockpit.  I played around with making a mask for the lettering on the dinghy/back pad.  But the Barracuda decal matches reality better so I think I'll revert to the decal.  It was a fun exercise to push the limits of how small a paint mask can be. Oh... and this is the Barracuda version the dingy.  After cutting away the overtly square edge, I added a seam around the circumference of the pad using stretched sprue.

 

[Thunnus]

After the battery/radio rack is glued on top of the fuel tank, I added a couple of more wiring runs.

 

You may wonder why I finished this area before the cockpit.  I had some issues with the Barracuda cockpit stencils and have ordered another set so that's pushed me to other areas of the build.  Let's check to see how the cockpit tub fits with the battery/radio area finished.  And just as importantly, can we see any of the detail that we added?