Alex Posted February 26, 2021 Author Share Posted February 26, 2021 6 hours ago, acarothers896 said: 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 That makes a lot of sense - thanks for explaining! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 26, 2021 Author Share Posted February 26, 2021 Starboard wing has pastel weathering done, port as yet untouched. Trying to keep it subtle, and it will be even less pronounced on top. The most noticeable effect for me is the light buff/gray "Iwo Jima Dust" pastel treatment on the squadron stripes. Nicely kills the "painted plastic airplane" look of the dark uniform black. Landrotten Highlander, denders, LSP_Kevin and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 27, 2021 Author Share Posted February 27, 2021 Topsides coming along quickly. Tomorrow, when I'm fresh, I need to look carefully at reference photos and do some subtle and accurate exhaust stains on the sides of the fuselage. There was a very consistent exhaust pattern across all the photos I've seen (which makes sense as the planes are all the same shape...) - I need to try to carefully replicate that. The Tamiya canopy is amazingly thin, clear, and shiny. I did not put any Future on this one - I can't see how I could have made it better than how it came. At this point it just needs drop tanks (I drilled holes so I can plumb them in to the wings), exhaust stubs, and the radar antennas that mount on the vertical tail. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow, so I will probably get it wrapped up completely this weekend. Gazzas, Landrotten Highlander, LSP_Kevin and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 This looks fabulous, Alex! You're quickly becoming one of my favourite modellers here. Kev Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 Yes... Fabulous! Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 This is great work! On 2/23/2021 at 4:32 PM, Alex said: 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. ... That's interesting, but now I'm wondering how they worked. As any fule no (sorry, you have to be a Brit of a certain age to get that) wood does not conduct, so did they perhaps have a metal/wire core? Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 27, 2021 Author Share Posted February 27, 2021 4 hours ago, MikeC said: This is great work! That's interesting, but now I'm wondering how they worked. As any fule no (sorry, you have to be a Brit of a certain age to get that) wood does not conduct, so did they perhaps have a metal/wire core? Michael, I’m sure that you are correct in that assumption. There must have been a wire core, with the wood being there to provide an aerodynamically sound support for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 27, 2021 Author Share Posted February 27, 2021 9 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said: This looks fabulous, Alex! You're quickly becoming one of my favourite modellers here. Kev Thanks Kev! That’s high praise indeed given the caliber of many of the contributors here. LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acarothers896 Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 5 hours ago, MikeC said: This is great work! That's interesting, but now I'm wondering how they worked. As any fule no (sorry, you have to be a Brit of a certain age to get that) wood does not conduct, so did they perhaps have a metal/wire core? The assumption has been a wire core since you are correct that wood does not conduct. The twin Uncle Dog antenna were a field modification on Iwo Jima to the D-20s and D-25s that were assigned the the 15th, 21st, and 506th FGs. The twin antenna became a standard feature on the D-30 block at the factory, but at the factory they were of metal construction. I have a post over on P-51SIG Forum to see if anyone can shed more light on the issue. Andy Carothers Iwo Jima Models https://iwojimamodels.com MikeC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 27, 2021 Author Share Posted February 27, 2021 Exhaust stubs - I went back and forth a few times with paint, washes, and pastels trying to get the look I wanted. Still not 100% perfect but I'm going to stop so I don't make it worse... Installed That's pretty much a wrap. There's one tiny thing I need to do with the formation lights on the underside of the wing, but I'll do that tomorrow (waiting for some Krystal Klear to fully dry). Otherwise I'm calling it done. I'll also dig out the DSLR tomorrow and try to take some acceptable RFI shots of it. Slightly different depth of focus... Gazzas, Landrotten Highlander, MikeMaben and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazzas Posted February 28, 2021 Share Posted February 28, 2021 Looking forward to those RFI shots. You really cranked this one out! Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 28, 2021 Author Share Posted February 28, 2021 18 hours ago, Gazzas said: Looking forward to those RFI shots. You really cranked this one out! Thanks! A combination of winter, pandemic, and being in the transitional zone of winding one job down and not quite yet starting the new one left me with more than the usual amount of time to devote to modeling. Looking back, it was about 8 weeks of work to do this one, but I may have spent close to 20 hours/week on it. Gazzas 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 28, 2021 Author Share Posted February 28, 2021 Some RFI, in no particular order. These are better model photos than I've been able to take in the past (though still not great), mainly because my wife got a tripod to use with my DSLR, so now I have a tripod too... Gazzas, Hartmann52, acarothers896 and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted February 28, 2021 Author Share Posted February 28, 2021 More After I was really, really sure that I had totally eradicated the seam down the middle of the radiator scoop, it REAPPEARED once the part had been sitting for a couple weeks. What are you gonna do? At least it's on the bottom of the model... Dukie99, Uncarina, Dragon and 15 others 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landrotten Highlander Posted February 28, 2021 Share Posted February 28, 2021 She's a beauty - and perfect imperfections are part of life... Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now