Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Great news Charles, and great to see you back.
**** DONE: 1/48 P-51D "Wild Will" - Allied Manufactured Aircraft
Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
A4K
Brigadier General
With all Charles, great to have you back!
Andy, great choice mate!
Andy, great choice mate!
Considering i've missed a few days that's the best news iv'e had! Great to see you back on deck Charles.
Totalize
Tech Sergeant
Andy, your doubling up here. A 51B and a 51D. Cool.
I think I gots to jump in on this group build.
I think I gots to jump in on this group build.
- Thread starter
- #25
Crimea_River
Marshal
Yeah, just need to clear off my P-38 before really getting into this one. Made a minor start already but boxed it up again for now.
Aaron Brooks Wolters
Brigadier General
You may already have this site favorited Andy but you may find some here. The link takes you straight to the 359th.
8th Air Force Fighter Group - Littlefriends.co.uk
8th Air Force Fighter Group - Littlefriends.co.uk
- Thread starter
- #27
Crimea_River
Marshal
Yes, I do Brooks, thanks. I've scoured it already and I\ve posted everything I've found so far.
No pics yet but the only thing I've done so far is to assemble part of the pit and paint the floor and gas tank black with the same cup of paint I used on my P-51B. The base colour of this pit will be Interior Green vs the Dull Dark Green on the B. Should get some colour on this weekend.
No pics yet but the only thing I've done so far is to assemble part of the pit and paint the floor and gas tank black with the same cup of paint I used on my P-51B. The base colour of this pit will be Interior Green vs the Dull Dark Green on the B. Should get some colour on this weekend.
- Thread starter
- #28
Crimea_River
Marshal
Worked on the cockpit today and got it close to completion.
Work started on the seat. Though I did not take a "before" picture, the one below shows the work done to prepare the seat for painting. The molded-in seatblets were carved away and the thick braces were replaced with bits of styrene sheet.
The seat was painted bronze green and glued into the rest of the tub, which was done in interior green. he shot below shows the basic assembly before detailing.
I've decided that the canopy on this one will be posed in the closed position as I did not get any aftermarket enhancements and I did not want to get into the slippery slope of super-detailing everything. So I just spent a bit of time on the things that will be clearly visible through the glazing. Seatbelts were scratch build from masking tape and lead wire and cables were added to the radio equipment.
As for the walls, I simply painted the existing detials and added some home made placards made of a silver deal cut into rectangles and coloured over with fine-tipped pens to represent the lettering.
The instrument panel will get my attention next and will be the subject of my next update, hopefully soon.
Work started on the seat. Though I did not take a "before" picture, the one below shows the work done to prepare the seat for painting. The molded-in seatblets were carved away and the thick braces were replaced with bits of styrene sheet.
The seat was painted bronze green and glued into the rest of the tub, which was done in interior green. he shot below shows the basic assembly before detailing.
I've decided that the canopy on this one will be posed in the closed position as I did not get any aftermarket enhancements and I did not want to get into the slippery slope of super-detailing everything. So I just spent a bit of time on the things that will be clearly visible through the glazing. Seatbelts were scratch build from masking tape and lead wire and cables were added to the radio equipment.
As for the walls, I simply painted the existing detials and added some home made placards made of a silver deal cut into rectangles and coloured over with fine-tipped pens to represent the lettering.
The instrument panel will get my attention next and will be the subject of my next update, hopefully soon.
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Nice work Andy. That back rest 'cushion' that Hasegawa includes (and I think Tamiya, in their 'D') irritates the heck out of me. I can't be positive regarding a date, but I believe it was a post-war addition, possibly Korean war period, as a flotation cushion, in bright yellow with, presumably, a change of seat pan to accommodate a seat-type parachute pack.
Wartime P-51's had a shallow seat pan for a dinghy pack, with a slightly dished seat back (as seen behind the 'cushion') for a B-4 type back-pack parachute, with the seat being painted Medium Green.
Not a lot you can do to remove the 'cushion', so painting it that colour at least makes it less obtrusive.
Wartime P-51's had a shallow seat pan for a dinghy pack, with a slightly dished seat back (as seen behind the 'cushion') for a B-4 type back-pack parachute, with the seat being painted Medium Green.
Not a lot you can do to remove the 'cushion', so painting it that colour at least makes it less obtrusive.
JKim
Senior Master Sergeant
Great start!
Totalize
Tech Sergeant
coming along nicely Andy.
- Thread starter
- #34
Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks guys.
I hear ya Terry and I always have a debate between brain lobes as to what to do about it. I often resign myself to the possibility, however remote, that there might have been a cushion present. As I've resolved not to spend too much time on getting the details right on this kit, I let this go rather than create a lot of work removing all this plastic.
Moving on....
The instrument panel has been painted with the raised dials dry-brushed white, bits of red added, and the yellow line around the flying instruments added with a thinly cut decal. Good enough for viewing through the canopy. Once done, the panel was glued in place and the finished tub stuck onto the starboard wall.
By the way, those ARE finger prints you see there but these areas will be hidden once the fuselage is glued together.
I hear ya Terry and I always have a debate between brain lobes as to what to do about it. I often resign myself to the possibility, however remote, that there might have been a cushion present. As I've resolved not to spend too much time on getting the details right on this kit, I let this go rather than create a lot of work removing all this plastic.
Moving on....
The instrument panel has been painted with the raised dials dry-brushed white, bits of red added, and the yellow line around the flying instruments added with a thinly cut decal. Good enough for viewing through the canopy. Once done, the panel was glued in place and the finished tub stuck onto the starboard wall.
By the way, those ARE finger prints you see there but these areas will be hidden once the fuselage is glued together.
Last edited:
That's scrubbed up alright!
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
I had heard that North American had some workers with big hands, but ................. !
Great stuff Andy, and I totally agree with your decision regarding the seat. This seems to be another case of the researchers not asking questions when measuring the full-sized subject aircraft before design and production of the kit tooling.
Great stuff Andy, and I totally agree with your decision regarding the seat. This seems to be another case of the researchers not asking questions when measuring the full-sized subject aircraft before design and production of the kit tooling.
Totalize
Tech Sergeant
Nice going there Andy.
One question though. Wasn't the fuel tank painted black in the P-51?
One question though. Wasn't the fuel tank painted black in the P-51?
le_steph40
Chief Master Sergeant
Great work
fubar57
General
Nice innards Andy. Not saying right or wrong; Ultracast has P-51 seats that show no cushion in early/mid production B/Cs and a cushion on the late production D/Ks. As you guys said, the latter seats may be copies of post war seats.
Geo
Geo
