Captain Jones' Winnie the Pooh

[Kyrre]

Don't think I've contributed here before, however, I'm an eager reader, so I guess I should "give something back to the community".

 

Tamiya kit, and I'm building it as a P-51D-5NA. Flown by Captain Frank C. Jones of 335FS, 4FG. He was shot down, KIA, outside Stavanger, my hometown in Norway, on August 8, 1944. A plane I've wanted to do for a long time. I don't now if he had any artwork on the plane, it had only been flown operationally 6 times, but Jones would always fly with a teddy bear in the cockpit, and on his P-51B he had an attractive teddy bear kicking a swastika, whilst superimposed on a 4 leaf clover club.

Here's Jones:

 

And below's my effort so far. The kit is just superb, but having just finished the Spitfire IX I'll do this sans engine and guns. We're playing by the KISS principle here.

I have painted the interior Interior Green, while I can't really find out if this plane would have been IG or Dark Dull Green. The seat might have been DDG, but in any case I just found out this seat is most likely wrong for a -5NA, so I'll have to swap it.

 

Next up, a bunch of decals from Mr. Sutherland.

 

 

 

 

[LSP_Ron]

Great start and welcome to LSP!

[LSP_Kevin]

Wow, that's really neat work mate. Good job!

 

 

Kev

[Kyrre]

Thanks guys.

 

Bunch of dekkils on, many of them in two parts (black first, white writing second). There are a few more to add, but I don't think I can be bothered. Some of the decals didn't fit an early bird like the one I"m doing, but don't think anyone will notice once it's all buried in there.

I'll be giving it a wash and a few more details picked out, before closing this kite up.

 

 

 

 

[LSP_Ron]

There are a lot of little decals, aren't there.

 

Looks great

 

Ron

[Kyrre]

Seat is done, second attempt. I tried doing a wash on the first one and the acrylic paint just shriveled up. No wash on this one, in other words.

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Wow, that's looking really good!

 

Kev

[Kyrre]

Wings. Puttied and then Mr.Surfaced by brush. Then sand off, re-prime. I want the rivets and panel lines to show just faintly, while I believe putty did sink back in the days, just like it does today.

Next is the silver paint. Which I loathe.

 

 

Sand away:

 

 

Primer:

[Out2gtcha]

Looking good so far...............

 

This is a similar approach I plan on using on my HJGB Tam P-51. Looking forward to seeing more.

 

Cheers,

Brian

[LSP_Ron]

That's looking good. Now I really wish I had filled my wing seams and rivets....

[Kyrre]

That's the thing. I was reluctant to do it because of the quality of the Tamiya molds, but knowing that my aircraft had only been used 6 times when it crashed I just realised I wouldn't be able to move on if I didn't. Seems such a waste.

But hey ho, if that's one's biggest concern in life, maybe life isn't so bad after all. :-)

[Kyrre]

Thanks, Maru

 

First two layers of silver, with the first one sanded down because of som spattering. I found out about how to do the silver in the second attempt. Floquil Bright Silver. Well thinned, low pressure, little paint, gradual buildup is the key.

I'm really pleased with this, since it's my first attempt at spraying silver since 1999.

It's only the first 40% along the chord that's puttied. Towards the trailing edge I used less and less putty, as per original.

 

[Kyrre]

Thanks, Maru. It's not flawless (gotta love that flash), but I'm happy with it, anyway.

 

I've done the first application of Plaid's "Treasure Gold" Silver wax. Quite pleased with the outcome, though of course there are some spots that need upgrading. With the flash those dark areas show up much darker than in real life, I must add.

I'm also pleased with the contrast between the painted silver and the waxed areas. With some applied polishing and stressed skin effect I think I'll end up just where I wanted. (Having a plan and following it, how'bout that!)

 

Panels have just been placed on the model for over all look. Gun panels will be glued, but the engine panels will be removable, since the fit is so good (front end around prop axle hasn't been glued, hence slight misalignment.

 

The elevators and rudder were painted Floquil Bright silver with some flat black added, to get that doped canvas look. Ailerons and flaps are bare metal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kyrre]

Right. All of a sudden I started working on the engine, despite my intentions of doing this one engine-less. It just happened.

 

I did do a bit of tweaking. The bottom cowl bit is supposed to have two rods sticking up and into the engine rear portion, with vinyl caps embedded. But when I tried that I realised there was going to be too much force needed to get the cowling off. So I cut off the rods and attachment points and glued a piece of etched steel to the cowling, followed by a surplus magnet glued to the torpedo wall.

 

Now the cowling hangs tight. As you will see from the pictures there's a small gap between top- and side panels, but it's only a matter of doing some shimming with tape. The panels have yet to be properly adressed with more silver wax. Those around the exhaust requires a slightly darker colour as well.

 

 

 

I'm sure there's more that could have been done to the engine, but most gets hidden, anyway. I'll do a bit more detail painting and I would like to add some more wiring on top, before attaching the top framework. But I haven't found a really good picture of the Merlin showing where the wires actually go! Anyone?

 

 

 

Edited November 17, 2011 by Kyrre

[rainstel109]

That is really nice mate, keep it up, I wanna see this complete