ZM SWS P-51D Red Dog XII

[repeater]

Hi all,  I'm new to the LSP forum.  It's time to contribute.   Let's start with a build. 

 

I'll build the 1/32 ZOUKEI-MURA Super Wing Series P-51D.   Here's the box art: 

 

 

Given the global lockdown, my theme is making do with what I already have ie. not too much aftermarket!  Of course there's an enormous amount of detail in this kit already. 

 

It looks like, out-of-the-box, this is a later P-51D variant ie. P-51D-25-NA.  Which means the only applicable scheme in the box is this one:  

 

'Red Dog XII' QP-O assigned to Major Louis H Norley, Commanding Officer of the 334th Fighter Squadron.

 

Image courtesy of the Imperial War Museum 

 

The aftermarket I'll be using is 

• Barracudacals P-51D Mustang Cockpit Stencils and Placards
• HGW fabric seatbelts and wooden floor decals 

 

 

Reference material as follows:

 

 

I was planning to use the kit decals, but I'd used the stars & bars on another build.. thankfully, Iocally I managed to find DN Models paint masks.

 

The masks were designed for the Tamiya kit, however the box art scheme 'Blondie' is also a red nosed bird from the 334th Fighter Squadron.

 

Squadron codes QP-U for 'Blondie' should easily modify into QP-O for 'Red Dog XII', minus the red letter outlining.  Note the misprint in the masks (PQ and not QP!), but again this should be easily fixed.

 

Wish me luck. 

 

Tim 

 

 

 

 

[Iain]

Welcome aboard Tim - great subject, look forward to seeing it come together!

 

 

Iain

[dennismcc]

Hi and welcome, I bought one of those kits so will be interested in how this gets on.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Lothar]

What an entry, I'll follow your build closely as I'd also like to know how the ZM kit

buils up !! And yes, welcome to the forum, enjoy your stay here 

Lothar

[Kagemusha]

looking forward to seeing the model come together, not seen that many. 

[Out2gtcha]

Nice!

[repeater]

Thanks all.   Great to be here!

 

@Iain  I found it difficult to choose a scheme.  So many iconic and colourful choices... do I go for something different,  or try and do justice to a 'classic' ? 

 

Thanks @dennismcc and @Lothar  -  this is an excellent kit - clearly a labour of love for Zoukei Mura.  IHMO the surface detail not quite as good as Tamiya but that is the benchmark. 

 

Thanks @Kagemusha and @Out2gtcha, hopefully this will be interesting! 

 

I've made a start on the cockpit which will be mostly OOB with minor additions.

 

Here are the kit sidewalls,  done as follows

• Gunze paints, with additional details picked out with a brush 
• stencils/placards from Barracuda.  The kit decals include some of these but they are not quite as good. 
• oil wash and oil dot weathering. 

 

 

 

 

I improvised a bit with the instrument panel:

- the kit offers a clear plastic IP and one with raised details. 

- I used the clear plastic part, put the kit decal (dials) on the back of the panel,  and sprayed the back with black, then just an enamel wash on the front

- used some decals from the barracuda set

- some painting of knobs and dials for the lower switch (?) panel 

 

So a bit of a hodge-podge.  'Good enough' as it's not really that visible in the final kit. 

 

Love the details on the pedals ie. the NA logo. 

 

The seat is from the kit, with HGW seat belts.  Obviously very fiddly to 'construct' the belts but worth the effort. 

 

 

That's all for now. Any feedback, criticism, comments etc is welcome! 

 

cheers, Tim

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Now that right there is some awesome work!

 

Kev

[D.B. Andrus]

Top notch work, Tim! Really like the way the IP presents.

 

Cheers,

Damian

[repeater]

Thanks Kev, Damian.   There's a lot of really good detail out of the box. 

 

More progress on the cockpit..    Pictures below. 

 

Work done

• paints mostly with Gunze (lacquer and acrylics) 
• I've added wiring to the battery - this is just household wires twisted together (and some paper clip) 
• placards/stencils on the battery and radio from the barracuda set 
• wooden flooring is the HGW decal  (from the harness + floor set), + maskol blobs  + oversprayed with black
• drybrushing, washes etc 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cockpit is coming together now, on the internal frame with some of the plumbing etc visible.   This will be hooked up to the engine, coolant system etc  later on. 

 

As you can see with the ZM kit there's lot of detail on offer!   I've tried to focus more on the visible bits. 

 

 

 

 

 

That's all for now.  So far this has been a very enjoyable build.. the kit is coming together nicely..

 

Thanks for checking in  

 

Tim

[chuck540z3]

Super good work.  Lot's of modeling skills on display here.

 

Cheers,

Chuck

[repeater]

Thanks @chuck540z3!  Chuck, builds like yours have improved my skills. Thanks again  

 

Ok, so I have slowly worked away at the kit which has been an extremely enjoyable process.  I really appreciate the ZM philosophy.. lots of care and detail.

 

Progress so far

• engine, oil tank and framing has been done - this will need more plumbing, wiring, detailing etc that will be done later.  Lots more kit parts to be added.
• machine guns and ammo belts are done
• wing fuel tanks 

 

These are assembled on the airframe.   Not sure how accurate the framing is.. I've read mixed reports, and there are lots of diagrams on the web, but again, I don't know which is most accurate.  Obviously, period photos are best where available. 

 

Onto the pics. 

 

I'll be adding the wing skins, fuselage panels, but leave the following exposed on the final build

• engine bay, machine guns and ammo belts
• port side wing tank 

 

 

 

Here you can see the multiple colours that ZM moulded this kit

• black (eg. unpainted starboard wing tank),
• light gray (rear fuselage panel)  
• and a dark metallic gray (unpainted bits of the wing framing)

I'm not a fan of this.. the plastic is not as easy to work with as other brands (eg. tamiya).. it doesn't respond as well to solvent, is a little harder to clean up, etc.  A relatively minor gripe (haha, but still easier than the full resin kit I'm building!) 

 

 

Still a lot more work to do for the engine bay... I'll save this for later. 

 

 

 

The cockpit is really nice out of the box. It's funny - on the sprues the detail looks a little soft but it paints up really well. 

 

 

I'll cut out some of the wing skin so that the port wing tank is visible.. and so at least some of the internal detail is displayed. 

 

 

 

What's the definitive guide to use of primer vs interior green?  It seems to vary a bit. I've gone with the following 

• primer yellow-green: for engine framing, engine bay, internal framing, wheel bays
• interior green:  cockpit

 

 

Thanks for looking.  All comments, criticism, feedback etc is more than welcome. 

 

Tim.

 

 

[rafju]

Hi Tim

very good work and pictures, I love that,

ZM approach is like building an actual plane! different from the other but very interesting!

 

Have fun and many thanks for posting

Raf

[repeater]

19 hours ago, rafju said:

Hi Tim

very good work and pictures, I love that,

ZM approach is like building an actual plane! different from the other but very interesting!

 

Have fun and many thanks for posting

Raf

 

Thanks Raf!

 

I have the ZM Ta-152 to build at some stage.. hopefully that’s as enjoyable as this one..

 

The pics are taken with my phone (Samsung S9+).  A bit easier than a camera and tripod :) 

 

Tim

 

[MikeMaben]

Hey Tim    Lookin' good so far