dmthamade Posted February 22, 2021 Share Posted February 22, 2021 Very interested in the tutorial!! Thanks for taking the time!! Don Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 22, 2021 Author Share Posted February 22, 2021 Phase 2 today. Started by removing the vinyl from around the part of the mask that I want to use. As before, lay a piece of frisket paper over it to pick it up with. Carefully lay that down inside the mask that defined the blue area... And peel the frisket off, making sure to buff down the edges of the new mask. Cover the junction between outer and inner masks with tape The first of five coats of MRP white I was able to do this continuously - paint a coat on all four insignia and the first one was ready for the next coat. Took maybe 20 minutes all told to get to this. Gave it a couple hours curing time and removed the second-stage masks Nice and sharp, but the blue is too shiny. I will give it a quick shot of MRP clear matte before removing the outer mask. dodgem37, LSP_Kevin, MikeC and 5 others 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 22, 2021 Author Share Posted February 22, 2021 The final result, after matte varnish. There are a few more little painting details to fix, but at this point I'm about ready to finally finish assembling this thing. I wish all kit makers could achieve the kind of wing-to-fuselage fit that Tamiya has done here. It has been extremely helpful to be able to paint the two sections separately. dodgem37, BradG, jeroen_R90S and 13 others 15 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Superb masking and painting, Alex - and a great tutorial, too! Would love it if you could also post this over at Scale Model Paint Masks. Kev D.B. Andrus, Alex and MikeC 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozart Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 Just caught up with this from the start Alex; compulsive reading and exemplary craftsmanship throughout. My thoughts on your tutorial about masking, which is very well explained and illustrated, is that it should be over on Kev’s Silhouette site. Congratulations on a very fine build and thread. Alex and LSP_Kevin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgem37 Posted February 23, 2021 Share Posted February 23, 2021 That is one nice piece. Sincerely, Mark Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 23, 2021 Author Share Posted February 23, 2021 4 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said: Superb masking and painting, Alex - and a great tutorial, too! Would love it if you could also post this over at Scale Model Paint Masks. Kev I can do that. LSP_Kevin, Kagemusha and mozart 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 23, 2021 Author Share Posted February 23, 2021 Into the endgame - starting to put the pieces together. As should be obvious, I finally got one of these nifty stands that many of you have. Immediately convenient. Still a few little painting things to do. Andy Carothers kindly pointed me to the fact that the dual dorsal antenna masts (which were unique to the VLR Mustangs) were actually made of *wood* (the US military still knew what expedient meant back then). The Tamiya instructions call for them to be painted black, but the photo Andy shared shows unpainted wood. I did not want to challenge my minimal hand-painting skills by attempting anything like the visible wood grain from the photo above, so I just re-sprayed them with a warm light gray, figuring that's the sort of color that wood would fade to under the tropical sun. This red marking (presumably a "step here only" guide) may be the last bit of painting I need to do (unless I mess something up and have to re-paint...) acarothers896, MikeMaben, Phantom2 and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Cloud Posted February 24, 2021 Share Posted February 24, 2021 A wonderful build, I'm learning a lot. You work is so sharp! Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 On 2/23/2021 at 8:32 AM, Alex said: This red marking (presumably a "step here only" guide) It's a 'no step' area. Just above it on the fairing is a little black stencil that says 'step here'. Lookin' great Alex. Very nice work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 25, 2021 Author Share Posted February 25, 2021 29 minutes ago, MikeMaben said: It's a 'no step' area. Just above it on the fairing is a little black stencil that says 'step here'. Lookin' great Alex. Very nice work Yep - got to there in the stencils now and it’s well labeled both ways. MikeMaben 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 25, 2021 Author Share Posted February 25, 2021 Plugging away at the stencils. It's a multi-hour job to get them all down. I think I'm getting decent results - comparable to what I got using HGW transfers on the Zero. It's really important to buff them down with a Q-tip when applying them, lest the decal not fully transfer. But, it can be difficult to exert pressure on them without moving them when they are going down on the slick NMF surface. Much easier on matte finish paint. I think I'm hitting about 95% - most transfer completely, a few still have little missing chunks. Another thing I wish is that the print quality was as good as the kit decals - the fine lettering is noticeably blurrier on the HGW sheet. I realize I'm asking for a lot here - film-less decals with perfect printing... Maybe someday. I'd love to see a partnership between HGW and say Cartograf that managed to produce a product that was the best of both worlds... Gazzas, Landrotten Highlander, MikeC and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 26, 2021 Author Share Posted February 26, 2021 Finished the stencils. I realized later today that the crosses and angled bars on the port wing, which have some function I'm not clear on, were only present on "J" and later versions of the P-51. So they needed to come off of my P-51D. Fortunately, as I've learned, this is quick and easy to do with MicroSol. Here are the main gear legs and BarracudaCast wheels/tires, thoroughly coated with Iwo Jima dirt runway dust. One of the things I love about these 1/32 Tamiya warbirds is the bolt-in landing gear. While I have no interest in the parts-swapping feature that this is meant to enable, it makes for a perfectly aligned and super-strong landing gear installation. One of those features I wish every kit had... Both main gear legs installed and the wing leading edges glued in place in front of them. I've started in on weathering the engine and engine bay, but there's definitely more to do there. Getting closer though. Gazzas, MikeC, MikeMaben and 7 others 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acarothers896 Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 Alex: Great work on the weathering and finishing touches. Looking forward to the completed build. The crosses and the angled bars that you applied to the port wing were markings present on the F-6D, the photo-recon version of the P-51D. Andy Carothers Iwo Jima Models https://iwojimamodels.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennismcc Posted February 26, 2021 Share Posted February 26, 2021 Amazing work going on here, I've never noticed the main undercarriage fixing points on this kit but they do look to be a great idea. Cheers Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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