**** DONE: GB-57 1/48 P-51K / Mk.IV Mustang - WW2 Foreign Service

• Mar 29, 2023

• #41

Totalize

Tech Sergeant

2,178

1,141

Apr 19, 2011

Ontario, Canada

ghmicro.wixsite.com

Nice stuff.

 

• Apr 2, 2023

• Thread starter
• #42

Crimea_River

Marshal

47,242

15,568

Nov 16, 2008

Calgary

Thanks all. Should be able to pull up my chair again tomorrow but I need to get my Spitfire advanced as well.

 

• Apr 2, 2023

• Thread starter
• #43

Crimea_River

Marshal

47,242

15,568

Nov 16, 2008

Calgary

I have a question. Does anyone know of a cross reference of RAF serials of lend lease aircraft (in this case KM272) with US serials? I'm trying to determine what production block "Dooleybird" was (-20, -25, -30)?. This will help determine if the wheel wells should be YZC or not as, apparently, Dallas built P-51's from the -20 block onwards started to see a lot of YZC on interior surfaces.

 

• Apr 3, 2023

• Thread starter
• #44

Crimea_River

Marshal

47,242

15,568

Nov 16, 2008

Calgary

Dug a bit deper and found the answer. Joe Baugher's site does give the information but you have to go find the RAF serial buried in the US description which is a bit of a crap shoot. I started with the below info from here: British Mustang IV/IVa US serial blocks? (highlights mine)

P-51D:- 44-11168 - 44-11187 & 44-1253 - 44-11262 = KH641-670; 44-12903 - 44-12942 = KM493-532; 44-12960 - 44-12999 = KM533-572; 44-13050 - 44-13100 = KM573-623; 44-13141 - 44-13180 = KM624-663; 44-13221 - 44-13252 = KM664-695; 44-84391 - 44-84397 + 44-84468 + 44-84681 - 44-84720 = KM696-743.
P-51F:- 43-43334 = FR409.
P-51G:- 43-43336 = FR410
P-51H:- 44-64181 = KN987
P-51K:- 44-11374 - 44-11413 + 44-11478 - 44-11517 + 44-11579 - 44-11618 + 44-11699 - 44-11738 + 44-11819 - 44-11858 = KH671-870; 44-11953 - 44-11992 = KM100-139; 44-12263 - 44-12433 = KM140-310; 44-12552 - 44-12602 = KM311-361; 44-12628 - 44-12707 = KM362-441; 44-12759 - 44-12809 = KM442-492; TK586 & TK589 (44-13332) were trials aircraft.
KH470 & 687 crashed before delivery. KM744-799 were allocated, but never delivered.


From this I scrolled through Baugher's pages and found that KM272 was a P-51K-10 with US s/n 44-12395.

 

• Apr 3, 2023

• Thread starter
• #45

Crimea_River

Marshal

47,242

15,568

Nov 16, 2008

Calgary

Just a quick shot of the issue I mentioned earlier at the rear of the tail weel bay. A pretty bad misalignmnet has, believe it or not, been improved by prying the seam open and resetting it. This is how it looked today before I set about smoothing it all out.



I'm mulling over filling all of the panel lines to reduce the severity of their apprearance a bit. A couple of sprayed passes of Tamiya Surface Primer should leave a bit of relief there but soften them up. Not fully decided yet but stay tuned.

 

• Apr 3, 2023

• #46

Vic Balshaw

Major General

23,250

9,369

Jul 20, 2009

Canberra

I'm tuned in

 

• Apr 4, 2023

• #47

Wurger

Siggy Master

Staff

Admin

Mod

117,499

34,540

Jun 19, 2005

Poland

 

• Apr 4, 2023

• #48

le_steph40

Chief Master Sergeant

4,302

2,687

Jan 18, 2011

Montech

www.facebook.com

Nice fix Andy

 

• Apr 4, 2023

• #49

Donivanp

Lieutenant Colonel

11,457

11,036

Feb 23, 2014

Katy Texas

Good on ya Andy as always great catch and work.

 

• Apr 29, 2023

• #50

T Bolt

Colonel

14,143

4,476

Mar 24, 2010

Chicago, Illinois

Great work here Andy.
How do you like this kit compared with the Tamiya mustang?

 

• May 1, 2023

• Thread starter
• #51

Crimea_River

Marshal

47,242

15,568

Nov 16, 2008

Calgary

T Bolt said:

Great work here Andy.
How do you like this kit compared with the Tamiya mustang?

Click to expand...

Thanks Glenn, jury is out really. Lots of detail on this one that Tamiya doesn't have. Tamiya's surface details are more to my liking though.

I've been filling the wing panel lines on this kit but have been concentrating on the Spitty. Hope to get back at this build soon but lots of things are competing for my time.

 

• May 4, 2023

• Thread starter
• #52

Crimea_River

Marshal

47,242

15,568

Nov 16, 2008

Calgary

Wing panels filled and sanded. I used Tamiya's grey surface primer.



I expect that some will still be visible once paint goes on so I'll splash on a coat of primer first and fix as needed.

 

• May 4, 2023

• #53

Wurger

Siggy Master

Staff

Admin

Mod

117,499

34,540

Jun 19, 2005

Poland

 

• May 4, 2023

• #54

Donivanp

Lieutenant Colonel

11,457

11,036

Feb 23, 2014

Katy Texas

It's a pain but somebody's got to do it, as usual great work

 

• May 4, 2023

• #55

rochie

Moderator

Staff

Mod

23,795

9,174

Aug 9, 2006

billingham nr middlesbrough uk

Nice work, always admire your attention to detail Andy.

 

• May 4, 2023

• #56

Vic Balshaw

Major General

23,250

9,369

Jul 20, 2009

Canberra

Looks good Andy.

 

• May 4, 2023

• Thread starter
• #57

Crimea_River

Marshal

47,242

15,568

Nov 16, 2008

Calgary

Thanks gents.

 

• May 6, 2023

• #58

Gnomey

Globetrotting Surgeon General

Staff

Mod

74,305

10,546

Nov 28, 2004

London / Southsea / Royal Deeside, UK

www.flickr.com

Lovely work so far Andy!

 

• May 7, 2023

• #59

Wayne Little

Moderator

Staff

Mod

65,126

7,826

Oct 7, 2006

Adelaide Sth. Aust.

Good stuff Andy.

 

• May 11, 2023

• Thread starter
• #60

Crimea_River

Marshal

47,242

15,568

Nov 16, 2008

Calgary

Decided to paint the stringers in the wheel wells YZC and I did this by hand. It was easier than masking but admittedly not as tidy. A wash will help to even things out. I hate these close-ups......



The instructions have you glue in the clear lenses for the signal lights but say nothing about painting them so I went ahead and painted the inside surfaces of the lenses before gluing the wing halves together.



The guns are nicely moulded but the inserts are a bit clunky. Even after some trimming to improve fit there will still need to be some filling and sanding to blend them in.



The above shot was taken just after assembly of the wing halves and gun inserts and the leading edges and inserts will all need to be smoothed out.

I'm losing a bit of mojo on my two builds for this GB. Fortunately the Spit is almost done but this one may fall back in the box unless I can find a way to give it the attention it deserves. Thanks for looking anyway.