1/32 Tamiya P-51D-15-NA Mustang, "The Millie G"

[dodgem37]

Fan-damn-tastic!

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[zaxos345]

Awesome work!! Really stunning!!! 

 

John

[Hoss FL]

Thanks all for the comments. 

 

The decals are now on. The Barracuda decals, printed by Cartograph in Italy, are excellent. 

 

 

 

They quickly conformed to the disruptive features, panel lines and rivets after a dose of MicroSet and Sol. 

 

 

 

There's a little bit of clean up with some rivets and panel lines but it's minor. 

 

 

I decided to apply stencils only to the areas that were uncovered by invasion stripes and the dark green fuselage color. I didn't see any stencils in either area in the two photos I have of 44-14985, granted they'd be difficult to see given the resolution of the photos. 

 

For the dark green areas, I'm thinking that the stencils were mostly overpainted when the paint was applied in theater. I'm not sure if that's a correct assumption and wasn't able to find out any details regarding this aircraft or other 55 FG planes. Do any experts here on the forum have any info on this?  

 

Regarding the invasion striped areas, most of the photos I've seen had the invasion stripes painted over the stencils. There are some exceptions, but the photos of this aircraft don't reveal any stencils that I could see in the invasion striped areas.

 

It's also not clear what the invasion stripe history was for this plane. I haven't been able to find anything indicating whether this aircraft ever had the full invasion stripes or just started with the lower stripes. I guess it would have depended upon when the aircraft was delivered to the unit. And if it had full invasion stripes, were they scrubbed off or painted over? Interestingly, the photos show stencils on the wing tops where the full invasion stripes would have been. I'd appreciate any insight on this one as well. 

 

 

 

One area of minor drama involved the horses on the rudder. I originally had applied them a little lower where I thought they were aesthetically pleasing and out of the way of the trim tab panel lines and actuator. In any event, the photos I had of the plane didn't show the rudder. 

 

But then I looked for a photo of one of Major Giller's other Mustangs (44-15701) and saw that the horse was positioned higher up on the rudder. I thought it was a reasonable assumption that the horses would be in approximately the same location on each of the planes. That called for a MicroSet "decal removal and relocation" project for the horse decals. Thankfully, the decals were forgiving enough to enable me to move them without issue. 

 

 

My general approach to modeling is to finish the painting and markings so the aircraft looks showroom spic-and-span and then start the weathering process and take it as far as appropriate. The photos of the Millie G show a reasonable amount of exhaust staining and grime. 

 

After a gloss coat to seal the decals (once they are dry), I'll get the weathering process started with a panel line wash. 

 

Thanks for looking. Comments and critiques are always appreciated. 

 

[MikeC]

On 5/29/2022 at 1:21 AM, Hoss FL said:

. I would have thought they'd paint over the red stripe when slapping on the invasion stripes. Maybe they painted the white around the stripe. Dunno. 

I can think of two posibilities  given that this is after the period, to July 1944 iirc, when the stripes went all the way round the fuselage and wings:

1: When the upper stripes were removed the opportunity was taken to tidy up the paintwork generally.

2: If the aircraft was delivered post D-Day, it would have had stripes applied before delivery, so the red stripe, a unit marking and therefore painted at unit level, would be applied over as a matter of course.

 

The model's coming on nicely, looks good.

[LSP_Kevin]

Wow, that looks fantastic! Great job with the decals, too. As far as the stencils go, my understanding is also that they were largely overpainted for camouflaged P-51Ds.

 

Kev

[Neo]

Wow mind blowing paint work! Thanks for all the detailed description of the steps super usefull!

Edited June 1, 2022 by Neo

[Thunnus]

Beautiful work!

 

21 hours ago, Hoss FL said:

That called for a MicroSet "decal removal and relocation" project for the horse decals. Thankfully, the decals were forgiving enough to enable me to move them without issue. 

Waitaminnit... you have moved a Cartograph (=very thin) decal that was previouslyset in place with Microset/Microsol?  Can you explain that a little more... I didn't think it was possible.

[Hoss FL]

On 5/30/2022 at 5:10 PM, MikeC said:

I can think of two posibilities  given that this is after the period, to July 1944 iirc, when the stripes went all the way round the fuselage and wings:

1: When the upper stripes were removed the opportunity was taken to tidy up the paintwork generally.

2: If the aircraft was delivered post D-Day, it would have had stripes applied before delivery, so the red stripe, a unit marking and therefore painted at unit level, would be applied over as a matter of course.

 

The model's coming on nicely, looks good.

Thanks Mike. Both of those possibilities make sense. Thanks.

[Hoss FL]

On 5/30/2022 at 5:37 PM, LSP_Kevin said:

Wow, that looks fantastic! Great job with the decals, too. As far as the stencils go, my understanding is also that they were largely overpainted for camouflaged P-51Ds.

 

Kev

Thanks Kev. 

[Hoss FL]

7 hours ago, Thunnus said:

Beautiful work!

 

Waitaminnit... you have moved a Cartograph (=very thin) decal that was previouslyset in place with Microset/Microsol?  Can you explain that a little more... I didn't think it was possible.

Thanks John! 

 

As for the horse decals, I wasn't sure it was possible when I attempted it.  This was a first for me. Since I wasn't 100% happy with the position of the decals,  I figured I'd give it a shot and could just stop if it wasn't working.

 

As a starting point, prior to applying my gloss coats, I smooth the base paint with Micromesh pads (8000 & 12000) and my go-to gloss coat is Mr. Color GX 100 super clear. So the surface is pretty smooth and robust. It's proven to be very resistant to decal fluid and doesn't break down or get all mushy during the decaling process. 

 

The decals had been applied with MicroSet and MicroSol and had dried overnight. To see if I could relocate them I used a 1/4" flat brush and applied a pool of MicroSet (blue bottle) onto the decal. I periodically tested the ability to get my brush underneath the edges of the decal. After about 10 minutes, I was able to start sliding the brush under the edges. I carefully worked my way around the perimeter, keeping the decal from ripping or folding until the entire back surface was unstuck. I also periodically added drops of water in addition to the MicroSet to keep the decal floating as I lifted the edges. There were a few times where the decal started to bunch up or roll back on itself but I was able to smooth the decal back out. Once I got it completely unstuck, it was just a matter of sliding it into the correct location and going through the normal decal process. I was really surprised it worked!  I would say it took about hour or so to move each of the decals. Patience was definitely required. 

 

I really can't say that this would work for all decals. These particular decals are very thin, as you mentioned, but also have an extremely close carrier film edge -- only a fraction of a mm outside the paint area of the decal. As a result, the decal edge film was faiirly resistant to rolling up or under the paint section of the decal. I don't think it would work with Eduard decals for example that have a much larger film area surrounding the paint area. 

 

Thanks for your "Waitaminnit" and hope that helps.  Thanks again for your comments. 

[Hoss FL]

On to weathering, my area of least confidence and most to learn. 

 

After the decals and another gloss coat to seal them, I applied an oil wash using mostly burnt umber. I used black for control surfaces and access doors, etc. I followed this up with some careful sanding of the wing root areas and spaces around the ammo bays, trying to depict some chips and scratches. A wash of burnt umber was applied to give a base level of grime and foot traffic. 

 

 

A light flat coat (Mr Color GX114) followed. I'm in the "realism" camp when it comes to weathering philosophy. I'm going after a well used, well maintained, operational fighter look -- neither showroom nor scrapyard weathering. 

 

 

Here you can see the subtle scratching and grime around the ammo bay doors. I have not done anything to the doors themselves except a flat coat. I also added some scratches and chips to the high traffic areas around the black stripes, showing them worn to the paint underneath. Later on I plan to add some specks of primer color and bare metal with colored pencils in the heavy wear areas. There will also be some added dirt since photos of the plane show generous amounts of exhaust staining and general grime on the fuselage sides and wing walk areas. 

 

 

Here's a view of the starboard side. It's interesting in this view with the angle of the light and a flat coat how similar the NMF flaps and upper wing surfaces are in color. 

 

Here's the nose showing the results of the wash and flat coat. 

 

 

More later. Thanks again for looking. Comments and critiques are more than welcome. 

 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Looks great to me! Very convincing weathering, and a terrific paint job overall.

 

Kev

[Phil Smith]

Outstanding work. I appear to be just a bit behind you in the build process and your work is inspiring! 

[Hoss FL]

Thanks Kev and Phil. Much appreciated. Chugging along on this one. 

 

Just finished the main weathering steps and decided to take a look at how it all hangs together. The landing gear and prop were all painted and weathered separately. 

 

After a light flat coat, I applied a thin mix of Tamiya black/brown mix to various panel lines to represent more dirt and grime. I also applied light gray oils to the NMF surfaces to represent uneven oxidation. You can see a little bit of the effect on the ailerons, which are now glued in place -- no need for them flopping around. 

 

 

I also applied the exhaust staining starting with burnt umber oils in the general pattern. This was followed by Tamiya black/brown mix for the main exhaust stain, which is pretty close to the brown color from reference photos. My Millie G photos also showed a lighter color at the edges of the stain, so I used deck tan for that. Finally, a little black in the center wrapped the exhaust up. 

 

The fasteners were also picked out in more detail with an oil wash. 

 

 

I also applied some sponge chipping using silver, light gray, brown, and dark gray to generate some wear in high traffic areas. Afterwards, I sanded with Micromesh 8000/12000 pads to smooth out the sponge shipping. 

 

 

 

I tried a spatter template using scotch-bright pads to vary the surface of the wings using thinned light gray, dark gray, tan and brown paint. It's subtle but helps with the overall effect I think. The photo below shows some wear down to the primer in the aft half of the wing. I should have actually painted the primer and used AK chipping fluid, but I forgot until it was too late and created the effect with paint and colored pencils. The photo below also shows the wear effects around the MG panels. 

 

 

 

The prop was in reasonable shape per the photos, so I gave it a light dose of chips and scratches with paint and colored pencil. 

 

 

One of the Millie G photos shows the black stripe at the leading edge almost obliterated, so I created some significant chipping, scratching and traffic effects. I'm wondering if I overcooked this a bit, but I think it hangs together. Thoughts on the leading edge chipping? Too much? 

 

By the way, the fasteners on the engine panel are too large vs. scale. I spent quite a bit of time trying to get the color and contrast correct between the fasteners and the panels but only after really studying the photos again realized that the fasteners are oversized. So I applied a combination of color and a spot wash that made them look reasonable at scale -- visible but not overpowering. 

 

 

I used some well known images of P-51 undersides as a reference for this area. Tamiya black/brown mix and Burnt umber oil paint was used for the main effects here. 

 

 

 

I also came up with a hack for this kit that I wanted to share. For those building this kit and wanting to detail the landing gear bays, the challenge is that the inner bay walls are attached to the doors. Tamiya designed it such that this assembly slides out to avoid interference with the lower engine cowl panel. This panel has two long pins that fit deep into the engine assembly, secured with poly caps. The angle at which the panel must be inserted to accommodate the pins causes the interference with the doors if they are not out of the way. 

 

 

I didn't want to cut the doors off, so I thought I'd try to skip using the pins and add another metal piece in the bottom of the panel. This would allow me to take advantage of the magnets that are already in place in the air intake. It turns out that the solution works fine -- no interference and the magnet is strong enough to hold the panel in place. In the photo below, the upper part is the current kit with the metal piece added. The lower part is from another kit I did a couple of years ago with the pins. 

 

 

Thanks again for looking. Comments and critiques are more than welcome. More later. 

Edited June 5, 2022 by Hoss FL

[LSP_Kevin]

Great stuff - love the way this is turning out!

 

Kev