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

[fubar57]

Great to see you pushing on with this Andy. Quick build for you with the minor issues

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Geo. Yeah, I'm letting some things go but I will add that crankcase vent yet.

 

[Wayne Little]

Good work there Andy, for you that tidy up where it all comes together should be pretty straight forward

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Wayne. Busy weekend so only about an hour was spent on the bench in total. On the underside, the cooler flaps have been installed as was the landing light in the wheel well. Smoothing of seams has begun. On the topside, the instrument coaming and gun sight were painted and installed in the clear canopy. Thanks God there was no fogging of the windscreen.

I keep apluggin'.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Donivanp]

Super nice

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Beaver away old chum, beaver away.

 

[fubar57]

Love that style of windscreen

 

[le_steph40]

great progress Andy

 

[Airframes]

Neat, and I like th.at windscreen arrangement too. Much better to fit and neater all round.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Need to attend to the windscreen masking before going much further. I have some old Montex masks somewhere and hope they fit.

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Hugh. Spritzing has begun after masking the clear bits with a combination of Montex masks and Tamiya tape. I've found the Montex masks to be too stiff to stick properly so extra Tamiya tape was added and caution exercised.

I agree about the nifty extended clear windscreen parts but one down side is that they make it harder to see fit issues. Case in point - the step seen on the stbd side which showed up only after paint was applied.

I filed down the step and drilled the crankcase vent hole.

Next was application of a smelly coat of Alclad II Aluminum on the NMF areas:

And that's how she sits right now. A busy three days ahead so no work likely on this one. However, I should be in the clear to finish this build by the deadline barring any catastrophes. Thanks again for looking and liking.

 

[fubar57]

Very nice. I could never file down a step and make it look neat

 

[Donivanp]

Very nice Andy

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

Good work Andy.
Note tha RAF Mustang IV's were not bare metal - they were painted overall in "Aluminium".

 

[Crimea_River]

Very nice. I could never file down a step and make it look neat

Thanks Geo. I start with a coarse cheapo file, making sure there are no ridges and then finish with a flat jeweller's file to polish out any scratches.

Good work Andy.
Note tha RAF Mustang IV's were not bare metal - they were painted overall in "Aluminium".

Oh, that's interesting. Airfix has it wrong then. They show the painted wing surfaces but the rest in bare metal. Why would the RAF have painted silver over the bare aluminum?

 

[Airframes]

I don't know, but they did it on Spitfires and Meteors too, possibly for protection against the elements.
Below is the paint spec for the Mustang IV, hope it helps.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Terry. It may make the rest of the paint scheme easier as I was still pondering how to do the puttied parts of the wing with what I have.