**** DONE: 1/48 P-51B "Lambie II" - Allied Manufactured Aircraft

[Airframes]

Also, on very shallow indentations like panel lines, most fillers either won't adhere properly, or can crumble or fall out when sanded, a there isn't enough depth to give enough 'body' to the filler.

 

[Wayne Little]

Thanks guys. Dries quickly, can be easily built up, files and sands smooth, and sticks like sh!t to a blanket.

Well said!

 

[Wurger]

Ditto.

 

[Crimea_River]

To catch up to "Wild Will", I turned my attention to Tamiya's flaps. To stow the flaps in the optional retracted position, Tamiya provides a recessed area under the wing root fairing and also along the leading edge of the flap. Neither of these should be there for a deployed flap.

The area under the wing fairing was easy to fix. I just glued in a piece of sheet styrene cut to the right shape, blended it in with the flap surface, and added some rivet and panel line details.

The leading edge is a bit more difficult and I'm debating whether or not to do anything about it.

 

[Catch22]

This was present on their 1/32 kit as well, however they provided an insert to fill it for if you had the flaps down. Which of the Mustang kits you're building do you prefer? Mulling over getting one to build as a post-war RCAF bird eventually (if I don't get wooed into building another 1/32 kit...).

 

[Crimea_River]

The Tamiya is much nicer. The fit is better than the Hasegawa, has better wheel wells, and allows for deployed flaps. The Has just cost me 15 bucks so can't complain.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Andy, and I agree about the Tamiya kit. There's also the ICM kit, which is basically the same as the Tamiya, although a bit cheaper.

 

[Crimea_River]

Yeah, though I have no experience with the ICM Mustangs.

 

[Catch22]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind!

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far Andy!

 

[Wayne Little]

The little bits are always fun...

 

[Crimea_River]

"fun", as in "pain in the a$$"

 

[Wayne Little]

"fun", as in "pain in the a$$"

That is sometimes the definition of Fun...

 

[T Bolt]

I didn't realize that the recess on the flaps was not supposed to be there when I made my Tamiya Mustang a couple of years ago. I'll remember on the next one.

 

[Crimea_River]

Yeah, it's pretty smooth:

 

[le_steph40]

 

[Crimea_River]

This canopy took a few trials to get to fit as I wanted it. The shoulder windows, in particular, did not go well as there were tabs supplied on the fuselage that caused the clear parts to stand proud of the fuselage surface when they should have been flush. I cut the tabs off and worked the parts a little until I achieved a nice, flush transition. The wind screen also had to be blended a bit but not too much.

The pictures below show the installation as it currently stands. The masks are freebie Montex masks that came with a Kajero book I have. I've used these before and, like previously, I found the fit within the molded frames to be mediocre so there were some supplementary bits of Tamiya tape added to cover the gaps. The Montex masks are rather stiff and the small curved piece at the top of the windscreen can be seen to be curling up. I'll need to fix that before going too far. The green paint serves two purposes: first, to represent the interior paint that would be seen from the inside and, secondly, to show me any last minute fit issues. It looks liek the only thing I'll need to do is to complete a little bit of rescribing to make the seams look consistent but, other than that, it's ready for the aluminum paint.

 

[Wayne Little]

Good stuff Andy, pain when the masks don't fit right...

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Looking good Andy.