Tamiya 1/32 Early P-51D "Lou IV" finished 07-09-15

[MustangManiac]

Mike,

 

I would definitely say it was Olive Drab and not blue. Color photography doesn't forget like a person can. I've never seen a war period photo where a mustang was painted blue this way like a couple observers claimed. Anyway I know Dana is a very credible resource for WWII aircraft information, the debate on the color of Lou IV never seems to die. So in this build it's going to be two shades of green, besides part of it has already been applied to the wings. I respect your choice to use blue, I'm sticking with green. I will say your build looks nice no matter which one of us is right.

 

Cheers,

Brady

[sluggo]

Brady,

 

Got your email and I'm glad you caught the edit. Completely agree. 

 

I'm in the two green camp as well.

[pennausamike]

For whatever it is worth, the witness testimony isn't from memory,

but is from English sources who recorded the markings, color schemes and serial numbers of the aircraft

at the time they were based in England.

As far as photos not forgetting; that can be a slippery slope as well.

Printing and reproduction can change perceived colors by several degrees.

If you look at the color picture on page 101 of Gary M. Valant's book "Vintage Aircraft Nose Art"

Lou IV very definitely looks dark blue or at least dark-not-green.

In the black and white picture on page 66 of "Warpaint" by John and Donna Campbell

Lou IV looks multi-hued like the shot from the decal reference pic that was posted in this thread.

I can only say that Dana said he was able to examine the original film

(and this is where my memory fails ME; I can't remember whether he said print or negative)

and that from the original source, not generations removed printing,

the color appears to line up with testimony from the era, i.e. dark blue.

But the fact that there is still uncertainty definitely frees the modeler to choose the scheme as appeals most to him/her.

 

Oh, and thanks for the compliment on my airplane-on-a-stick;

it is certainly not in the same league as your lovely efforts thus far.

Wishing you continued good luck to a fabulous finish!

 

Mike

[MustangManiac]

Hello everyone,

 

I'll no longer hold you in suspense of wondering what what my P-51 looks like without masks. I finished most of the painting with the masks this weekend. Here's what she looks like now:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've gotta say your masks are awesome Randy!!!

 

I'll be getting some more from you for future projects that's for sure. I recommend him to anyone who has done or never done paint masks, like I'd never done before this project.

 

Enjoy!

 

Cheers,

Brady

[Guest]

Brady my man, she looks great !If I were to pic anything out, I would say the stars on the sides, but that maybe lighting I see, because the ones on the wings look great.Again, very well played my friend. And yes, Randy does incredable work !..........Harv 

[MustangManiac]

Hi,

 

Harv, don't forget the stars and bars on the fuselage of this bird have the natural metal surrounding the blue of the circle and the bars. I actually will need to touch one on the fuselage up and the one on the underside of the wings, some paint lifted in both of them with the removal of the masks. Other than that it all stayed down like I wanted.

 

Randy, what do you think on my slight editing of the masks around the C on the left side?

 

Brady

[LSP_Kevin]

Awesome!

 

Kev

[Loic]

Beautifull !!!!

[Out2gtcha]

Lovely work for sure!    I wholeheartedly agree..................Randys masks are really great, and the custom help/service is A #1.

[sluggo]

Brady,

 

I think your edit of the mask was spot on and I'm glad you caught it. I will fix the master set. 

 

Harvey,

 

Look at any picture or profile of that bird and you'll see that there was a NMF border all the way around the stars on the fuselage. I can see where you might think it was a mistake in the pictures, the lens/flash makes the arc above the stars look odd but if you look down the spine in the 4th picture you can see that's and illusion.

 

Now on to the commentary about the paint job.

 

Holy %$&@%#*^ #%*&!

I'm quite happily surprised by your skillful execution of this paint job. To be honest with you, I had some doubts whether a first timer could pull this off. I designed the set with that and maintaining proper registration in mind. In doing so, the mask set itself became complex and maybe even a little daunting.

 

I could tell the second everything clicked into place for you completely understood it. You really pulled it off.

 

Bottom line is, this is an incredible paint job. Masks or no masks, that can only be credited to you. 

 

Excellent work!

[MustangManiac]

Hello guys,

 

Randy, Harv, Kev, Loic, Brian thanks for all your kind words and support on my build.

 

Harv, here's a close up of the fuselage insignia and one of the places I lifted the paint.

 

Then the other side:

 

I hope you can see the natural metal border of the insignia better in these shots.

 

 

Some of my serial numbers didn't turn out the greatest but that's due to my trying to reposition that part a few times on both sides of the tail. I also had forgotten to take the small bits of masking off the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer in the other shots, so this is the tail with all the masks removed.

 

 

 

There's one place I didn't mask well enough and got overspray on the leading edge where it's not supposed to be green. Now I've gotta try and fix this little problem.

 

 

Enjoy my flaws!..lol.

 

 

Cheers,

Brady

[MustangManiac]

Hi guys and gals,

 

I got one of my flaws fixed this weekend. I repainted the leading edge of the right wing fillet so there was no overspray of green on it any more. Now it looks like it's supposed to. I think now there's no need to keep the wings and fuselage separate now that I got this corrected. So I'll most likely be gluing them together next. I've been trying to figure out the correct way to use Vallejo's washes, but mine haven't looked nearly as good as their pictures have. I'll take any tips on their washes if you guys have used them before. My LHS only sells this brand so my only other option is to search the web for something else. So far though I'm not too excited with the results of my trial on the underside of the one wing.

 

 

Here's the flaw of the leading edge fixed:

 

 

Cheers,

Brady

[Out2gtcha]

Looks great! You would never know there was anything wrong with that spot if you hand said anything.    Otherwise, Im not sure what the Vallejo washes are made of, as I generally dont use enamel washes since I normally paint in enamel, but I usually lay down a nice layer of semi-gloss before applying a wash. In my case though its water/clay based washes like those from Ultimate and Flory

 

 

I think now there's no need to keep the wings and fuselage separate now that I got this corrected. So I'll most likely be gluing them together next.

 

 

 

Man!  No CLUE how you guys do that kind of thing.......................If I painted anything major like that (AKA wings, fuse tail ect, ect.) prior to gluing it that is the SUREST way for me to get glue marks on the paint, or end up having to fill a small step or gap, and they having to repaint.

 

After having quite a few experiences like that, I just quit doing it completely, and now I make sure I have all gaps,irregularities and flaws corrected long before I do any painting.

[Loic]

I am with you Brian thought if there is a group with a few kits that allow you to proceed this way (no glue), the latest Tamiya kits certainly belong to that group.

[MustangManiac]

Hi Brian,

 

Thanks for the complements. I guess maybe your method is what I need to do, I got too anxious and didn't spray a coat or two of future on the model overall to get it sealed up first before trying this new (new to me) Vallejo wash on it.

 

Brady