Tamiya 1/32 P-51D/K "Mrs. Bonnie"

[Phil Smith]

Finished up the main gear wells, painting pipes and other bits using chrome silver, gold for fittings, and black for hoses. Needless to say, it took some time to do this. Once finished, I applied weathering using black powder, and AK Engine Oil and Engine Grime, thinned so it will follow details using capillary action. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2022 by Phil Smith

[LSP_Kevin]

Looking good, Phil!

 

Kev

[Thomas Lund]

Lovely work !!

[Phil Smith]

14 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

Looking good, Phil!

 

Kev

Thanks!

[Phil Smith]

3 hours ago, Thomas Lund said:

Lovely work !!

Thank you, Thomas!

[Phil Smith]

Moving on to the guns. The kit parts were modified with some details, including brass bits from Japan-based Super Wings Options that provide excellent three-dimensional detail for the barrels in particular. I also added assorted details from my scrounge box, as well as wiring and cables, with attention given to connections to the solenoids used to enable actuation of the guns. The kit comes with the trays and feed cartridges for the bullets, which were a bear to paint but I’m generally satisfied with the results. The bays were painted zinc chromate, the guns primed with Tamiya Surface Primer and painted with Alclad II Gunmetal. Bullets were painted with Testors gold, a bottle I’ve had for ages and finally got a chance to use

 

 

 

 

[Vince Blackburn]

Hi Phil

Lovely work there mate.

[Bobs Buckles]

Excellent plumbing, Phil.

This is shaping up nicely.

 

Cheers,

Bob 

[MikeMaben]

[brahman104]

I really like your representation of the wiring looms Phil; not overly twisted like you often see!

 

Well done!

 

Craig

[Phil Smith]

Thanks for the compliments, gentlemen!

 

I made a bit more progress over the past few weeks, mainly finishing up the gun bays and gluing the wings to the fuselage. Of course, the fit was excellent. In dry fitting, I noticed the 6 cooling pipes running through the main wheel wells that penetrate the firewall and lead to the engine. It bugged me that these pipes actually do not connect to anything, so I added some piping to complete the picture. As it happens, one will barely see this detail, but it is visible if you peer closely enough, because the oil tank doesn't fully occupy the volume behind the engine. 

 

Next up will be various details, like the leading edge panels with gun ports (these ports need to be drilled out to accommodate the aftermarket guns). Then, after various details finished, I'll be prepping the surface for painting and foil. I decided to use foil for the bare metal finish, and Alclad II paints for the wings and other areas. 

 

 

 

[John Stambaugh]

Just caught up with your build. Really impressive work. Thanks for sharing. 

[Phil Smith]

Thanks, John!

 

One thing I discovered more or less by accident is the use of shrink tubing (normally used for electrical connections) used as rubber connectors/sleeves between pipes. I used these throughout to add interest, but also to connect ends that otherwise would have been a bear to connect. The shrink tubing is very pliable and forgiving and comes in all diameters. Quick heating will shrink the tubing as necessary, just be quick about it if the pipes are plastic and definitely not while on the model itself

Edited April 7, 2022 by Phil Smith

[Phil Smith]

Construction is largely complete and for the past few weeks, on and off, I’ve been painting. I will confess that painting is not my forte (I'm working on that with practice). However, this has come together quite well. The subject was chosen for a few reasons: it’s the airplane of a leading P-51 ace, it served in the Pacific theater (which for some reason is more interesting than the European theater), and it is colorful. The latter bit means that this is a challenging paint job. And paint job it is - I decided not to use decals for the propellor spinner or tail, for instance, electing instead to paint these.

 

I did try to tone down the rivet detail on the aircraft’s wings, as the rivets were puttied over in real life to retain the critical laminar flow necessary for the plane to fly in optimal fashion. Alas, I couldn’t bring myself to remove the refits entirely as I like the look of them. Artistic license, I guess. I am, however, paying attention to the fact that the wings were painted an aluminum color and were not bare metal, as is the case with the fuselage.

 

The entire model was primed with Tamiya surface primer (gray) from a rattle can to identify flaws and so forth. Then, I followed this order (all non-Alacad II paints were thinned 50/50 with Mr. Color Thinner 400):

• A mix of Tamiya flat red and flat white to paint the exhaust covers

• Tamiya flat white for the fuselage invasion stripe and prop spinner (so top colors would be more vibrant)

• Tamiya flat yellow (mixed with a bit of flat red to warm it) for the tail and prop blade tips and spinner

• Tamiya flat black for the invasion stripes on fuselage and wings, striping on tail, prop blades

• An old bottle of Polly Scale big sky blue for the tail stripe and prop spinner (I liked the toned down blue, as if weathered a bit)

• Tamiya flat red for tail stripes and prop spinner

• All that was masked off and fuselage sprayed Alclad II gloss black primer (dried for a week)

• Alclad II white aluminum applied to wings, several coats to get the “painted look.” Wings masked off, then chrome silver applied to fuselage, followed by polished aluminum for various panels. Magnesium, mixed with polished aluminum, was also used here and there to tone down the chrome a bit. I love how this brought it down a notch.

With that, the masking tape and paper came off and the result was acceptable. Now, it’s all about touch ups (for instance, a more shiny aspect is required for the flaps and ailerons, which I need to deal with, bleed overs fixed, and other details handled in turn. Overall, I’m pleased with where this is going.

 

Next, I think, will be Tamiya X-22 gloss coat, decals, and some sort of real-time mix of Tamiya X-22 and XF-86 to create various sheens on the aircraft surface. I’m worried about a too-glossy appearance, but flat isn’t right either…

 

Also visible in this scene are some notables. The wheels come from Reskit in Ukraine, which came through despite the awfulness - this company is outstanding in every way and is my go-to for all sorts of bits. The fellow lying on his back is from ICM's excellent "Photo to Remember" kit consisting of four guys taking a memorable photograph. Of course, this means a diorama is going to be built for the P-51, and I may include a jeep (the Bronco 1/35 kit) if the scale difference is not too obvious.

 

Edited May 26, 2022 by Phil Smith

[Alex]

Your Mustang is looking fantastic!  One quick note on painting - if you don’t want to have to pause for a week or more I would suggest you ditch that Alclad gloss black and go with either Mr. Color or MRP gloss black instead.  Both work great and you can shoot Alclad metallics over them 20 minutes after they go on.