DesTROYers 1/32 P-51D Mustang

[DesTROYer]

It may not look like much, but a lot of progress was made this weekend only stopping when i ran out of an essential ingredient.

Started off polishing out the old seam on the canopy and dipping it in future so I could paint it up the next day.




Then I got on to painting the props and spinner.


And then onto the task I had put off for too long. What is it about Alclad that makes you want to put it off as long as possible, then when you're ready, you go ahead and its like a dream to use.


But as I said above, I ran out of an essential ingredient. I was sure I had more than enough Alclad Polished aluminium. 3/4 of a bottle looked more than enough. I ran out just as it was getting interesting. Long story short, I ran down to my LHS to get another bottle annnnnnnnnnd they were out too. So I've placed an order with BNA, and I should be good to go to paint the fuselage on Tuesday.

[hrtpaul]

Looking great mate. How'd ya do the stripes on the spinner so nicely?

[Graeme H]

Doesn't that always happen when you are just getting into it, oh well, I was at QMHE over the weekend enough Alclad on sale there to paint a 1:1 Mustang, no help at all I realise,
just sayin'

[Uros]

Looking great mate. How'd ya do the stripes on the spinner so nicely?

I'd also like to know that. It looks amazing.

[DesTROYer]

Thanks guys. For the Spinner colours, i used that new beaut 2mm Tamiya tape. I used a pencil on a spacer to mark the line on the spinner first, then put the 2mm tape around on that line, then masked off the rest with normal Tamiya tape and sprayed the blue. I then repeated the process for the red. The white is three light coats of Tamiya fine white primer. The spinner comes in two parts, so the prop blades were not in place when I painted it.

The new bottle of Polished aluminium arrived today, so not long after walking in the door tonight, I got back out into the garage and laid some fresh coats down.




I've just been out there again after looking at these photos and noticing some spots that needed a little more attention. That done, I can now start final assembly of the airframe. It should really start coming together now.

[DesTROYer]

I had an appointment at the Alfred centre this morning that required me to take the day off work. The appointment went much faster and better than I expected, So after I got home I was in a good mood and didn't feel like wasting the afternoon. I decided to test fit the landing gear and wings onto the Mustang.


As you can see the test fit went well.

That inspired me to do more. So next up I was installing the control surfaces undercarriage doors, and then the big one... the wings onto the fuselage.




And then of course I had to see how the engine covers would look too.






I'm pretty damn excited with how this is looking. Still lots to do, such as finish painting the cockpit, install the gun bays, paint up the exhausts, install the windscreen and canopy and of course the big one. Make up the masks for the markings. Good times!

[Adam the Akrodude]

Coming along very nicely Mr. Troy.

[RayS]

This is looking fantastic Troy, so much detail, and a great metallic paint job.

[DesTROYer]

Cheers guys. A slow start today as I could not find the decals I had that I had planned to take my measurements for my masks off of. Eventually I gave up looking for them and got back onto painting and assembly.


Guns are in. The belts look ok, but I wish I could have gotten them a little be more defined. The gold paint just wouldn't go on as smooth as I would like, but they still look good.


Canopy and windscreen are now on too.


I then masked up and painted the antiglare panel.






So then there was nothing left to do but get back on to working on the masks of the national insignia. It took me a long while to figure out the sizes of the roundels, as the info provided in Southern Cross Mustangs isn't the clearest to understand. One page says 32" roundels, another said 35". Taking a look at the Hamilton Hobbies decal sheet, I've figured out there actually were three sizes 35" on the top of the wings, 27.5" on the underside of the wings and 32" roundels on the sides of the fuselage. This actually matches up with another page in the Southern Cross Mustangs book (page 77) where it lists these sizes (but not where they are located) in the 'RAAF post 1946 and BCAIR' column.


I then used the 'RAAF Rectangular Solid Serials' section from S.C.M. to make up the serial number in my Silhouette Curio's program.


And here is my finished stencil sheet design. If I have the time tomorrow morning before I head off for Fathers day lunch, I'll do a cut out, apply them and possibly get the white down before heading off.

[BradG]

Damn that's a nice paint job. You know I still haven't tired alclad, I really should one day.