R Palimaka Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 (edited) Cooler weather is here, with earlier sunsets and less sailing...so jumping back into the project both feet. Just a bit of a tease, I will post more photos once I get more organized again. I have sprayed the wings with Tamiya AS-12, which looks good ( to me ) to represent aluminum lacquer painted surfaces. I will eventually weather them lightly, as photographs show that most RCAF Mustangs were kept quite clean. 424 Squadron seems to have been particularly attentive to their aircraft. I am currently working on the windscreen and canopy. The windscreen assembly is especially terrifying, as the engineering is not great. It is a butt-fit into recesses in the fuselage, with large gaps to fill. After polishing and dipping in Future, letting it cure for over a week, I painted the bottom edge of the side quarter panels black to hide any reflection, and then used black epoxy and canopy glue to secure it. It's not going anywhere now. I used Milliput to fill the gaps because I figured it would be relatively inert and wouldn't fog the clear parts. So far so good. I will mask and then very carefully and delicately sand the result. I think it will be ok. Then a coat of Mr. Surfacer and more sanding, and then ready for paint. Once this is all smooth, sharp edged and primed I plan on another thin coat of black primer on the whole fuselage. Then one more session of very gentle sanding with pads to reduce the rivets a bit more. After that the most terrifying step for me...several shades of Alclad. Still hoping to get this done for Capcon in Ottawa end of September. We'll see. Richard Edited September 10, 2019 by R Palimaka Anthony in NZ, Alain Gadbois, MikeMaben and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 Movin' along Richard ... Martinnfb and R Palimaka 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonGUSA Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 WOW!!! I just found this build. Amazing work, makes me want to tackle another one of thise old Airfix Mustangs. I did one many years ago as a 325th fighter group "checkertail bird". But alas I lost it when the model shop I had it at went out of business. Ron G R Palimaka, Martinnfb and Out2gtcha 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 (edited) Thank you Ron, that's very kind. It's been a long haul, seems like this old kit will swallow as much work as you are willing to put in. However, It is still the best base kit to start from, and I've enjoyed all of it. Sorry to hear about you losing yours that way! A 1/24 P-51D in 325th FG markings would have been pretty spectacular. Richard Edited September 11, 2019 by R Palimaka Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted September 16, 2019 Author Share Posted September 16, 2019 (edited) A huge step, getting over my fear of this next phase. Finally got some time this weekend to start applying paint, after practicing and getting properly acquainted with my airbrush over the past couple of weeks. I did the wings with Tamiya AS-12 decanted from the rattle can and sprayed using the airbrush. It looked like a good match for the filled and painted wings of the Mustang. The red panels were sprayed with Model Master "Guard's Red", which is accepted as an excellent match for the RCAF "Red 1-GP-12b: 9-2" used during the 1950s for the red search marking panels. The flying surfaces remained in natural metal, so the flaps, ailerons, and elevators were airbrushed with Mission Models Dark Aluminum. Once this has all cured hard in a day or so, I will start applying different shades of Alclad, with various panels picked out with other aluminum shades. I'm using a drawing which sets out the different thicknesses of aluminum skins as a guide. Hopefully it will all look like what I have in my mind. Sorry for the quality of the photos, they were done quickly with my phone. I'll get better photos with my DSLR. The problem with some of the photos is the lens on the phone tends to distort the dimensions somewhat, and doesn't really capture the correction to the dihedral of the wings. Trust me, they are now at the right angle. The aluminum coloured circles are for the RCAF roundel. The roundels were 24" in diameter, with a 1 1/2 inch outline surrounding them. It was just masked with ordinary masking tape. Edited September 16, 2019 by R Palimaka Alain Gadbois, Trak-Tor, LSP_Kevin and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted September 16, 2019 Author Share Posted September 16, 2019 (edited) And the undersides. The black areas are primed for the Alclad Duraluminum. This view shows the dihedral angle correction better. More photos to follow in a day or so... Edited September 16, 2019 by R Palimaka Kendzior, Anthony in NZ, Trak-Tor and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monthebiff Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 Very nice, great progress. Regards. Andy Martinnfb and R Palimaka 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 that looks superb - hard to believe this is the old 1/24 kit excellent all round Peter Martinnfb and R Palimaka 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted September 16, 2019 Author Share Posted September 16, 2019 Thank you Peter. It's getting there. Richard Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alain Gadbois Posted September 16, 2019 Share Posted September 16, 2019 Nice to see the colorful paint scheme on your model, after all that work! It will be spectacular! Alain R Palimaka and Martinnfb 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted September 17, 2019 Share Posted September 17, 2019 Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted September 24, 2019 Author Share Posted September 24, 2019 I got up the courage last night and started to paint with Alclad Duraluminum. I was given some advice on Facebook of all places, and shown an experiment he did with panels primed in black, and different shades of grey. It looked very effective, and made things simpler by making it possible to paint using only one shade of metal. I sprayed the various colours on Friday, and let them cure for couple of days. Anyway, here are the before photos: Alain Gadbois, TorbenD, TwoHands and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted September 24, 2019 Author Share Posted September 24, 2019 (edited) And last night, I bucked myself up and started applying Alclad for the first time. Honestly, I don't know what I was afraid of...apart from the smell (I had the proper facemask). I followed the directions and applied it in thin mist coats and it behaved wonderfully. I'll let it cure for a few more days before I touch it up. I'm not entirely happy with the stainless steel panels around the exhausts. They should be a bit darker, but I'll fix that with a darker shade of metal. I will also pick out a few smaller access panels with lighter and darker shades. Overall, I'm very happy so far...and relieved. Here is what she looks like so far. The reflection from the Alclad make the wings look more metallic than they are. My phone camera doesn't really catch the difference in colour and finish on the wings. There is of course more painting ahead...anti-glare panel, touch ups and weathering. But this was a huge step for me. Edited September 24, 2019 by R Palimaka airscale, LSP_Kevin, TorbenD and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Palimaka Posted September 24, 2019 Author Share Posted September 24, 2019 And the undersides: TwoHands, Martinnfb, LSP_Kevin and 8 others 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 Say hey Willie Mays, that looks wonderful! Martinnfb and R Palimaka 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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