GB-64 1/48 Mustang Mk.IV - One Trick Pony (4 Viewers)

Those decals are really fighting you Andy !
Re the red fuel filler caps. I have one photo of a "silver" P-51K from my late friend Stan Farmiloe showing his aircraft in 1945, and it has red filler caps.
However, all pics of camouflaged aircraft appear to show a lack of red caps, presumably painted over when sprayed in cammo colours.

Shame about the decals Andy, not sure I'd want to go too so much trouble but have filed that PDF from George just in case. Thank Geo.

Thanks everyone. So, bottom line in my opinion is that peeling these decals is not really necessary as they will come out just fine by leaving the carrier film on IF you clear coat the decals afterwards. A successful removal of the carrier film does result in a marginally better finished look, closely resembling a painted-on look but getting to that point involves a lot of risk that could damage the decal and/or underlying paint.

To demonstrate, here are some pictures of the decals which have not had the film removed. The BEFORE pictures were taken after the decals have fully set (24+ hours). Note the odd patchy appearance. Decal setting solution was Tamiya Mark Fit Strong unless noted. The AFTER pictures are the same decals with a Tamiya Flat Clear coat applied.

BEFORE:



AFTER:



BEFORE



AFTER ( In addition to the Mark Fit, this decal had Solvaset applied over the the aileron hinge fairing to help it snuggle down). Some traces of the patchiness remain, though it takes the form of a texture difference rather than glossiness.



BEFORE:



AFTER:



As you can see, much of the patchiness has disappeared with the clear coat, though some evidence of the pattern can still be seen in these extreme close-ups. There is very little evidence of the carrier film.

So, with that, I think I will not bother removing the film in the future. for camouflaged surfaces. The story may be different for NMF where the benefits of removing the film may be more pronounced.

Thanks for that Andy, one really does have to think if removing the film is worth the trouble and risk.

Those snuggled down nicely over the fences, much better than Tamiya. I read the PDF and seeing your final results, I'm sticking with no peal. Thanks for that Andy

That's encouraging info, thanks Andy.

You're welcome guys. It's a learning experience for me too. I have Eduard's new Spitfire XVI in the stash and know how I'll proceed with that.

Anyhow, I didn't want to clutter the above thread with other stuff I did today because I linked it to the tutorial thread. Here are a couple of other things done today.

I gave the model an overall wash with thinned artist oils in the panel lines, around the engine, and streaked it back subtly over all surfaces. After that had dried, I sprayed the model with Tamiya Flat Clear as described above.

The landing gear was installed and this is a bit tricky. The struts fit into very small slots and need to be jiggled into place so that a pin on the back of the strut locks into a tiny hole on the wheel well wall. For this, I didn't follow the instructions, which would have you assemble the strut, wheel, and cover before inserting the whole thing into the wing. I had enough trouble as it was and managed to snap off one of the torque links while I was pushing the strut into place. In the below pic, the wheels are still loose and await gluing when I can stand the model upright onto the flat spots.



The tail wheel is another frustration. The good news is that Eduard leaves it out until near the end of the build so you don't end up breaking it off. The bad news is that you need a guy who's about 5mm tall to crawl into the well and guide the damned thing into the slot that it's supposed to fit in. The thing has to go in on an angle and you can't bloody see where you're going! It took several tries and, to be honest, I'm still not sure it's properly fitted.



With the flat coat applied, I was excited to peel off the canopy masks. Note the NMF frames, unlike the fully yellow frames Eduard call up. The bare aluminum ones are clearly seen in the reference pics on page 1.



I was surprised and annoyed to see the frosted bit on the base of the windscreen. This wasn't there when I glued the clear part in and must have developed over time. Dang...

The sliding hood also had the masks removed and I've loosely fit it into place so you can see what it will look like. I mentioned earlier that the thing is too narrow at the bottom and I will need to find a way to get it over the rails and secured.



That's it for today. I'm going to pour a glass of wine and reflect.

Beauty

It looks beautiful from here.

Even better from here!

Looks the biz !
Don't dazzle people with your reflecting ...........

Well done overcoming those problems and thanks for taking the time to illustrate the decal differences.

Thanks everyone.

Jock Tamson said:

Well done overcoming those problems and thanks for taking the time to illustrate the decal differences.

Click to expand...

You're welcome Greg. I hope that my observations make you reconsider avoiding Eduard's decals. The printing is outstanding and, as mentioned, they work fine leaving the carrier film on.

Undercarriage is in place.



Note the nice, accurate gun details the kit provides. The barrels still need to be painted.

That said, I'm not happy with the tail wheel. I now know that I f!cked up as the thing appears to sit way too deep in the bay.




As mentioned above, the assembly instructions don't make this easy. Here is the instruction diagram:



As you can see, the strut is installed into the well late in the build and the only location clue is a notch in the roof of the well which, the moment you have the strut inserted into the well, is completely hidden. You can't even feel it with the strut on your tweezers. This could have been designed much better in my opinion. The detail represented is very realistic but completely impractical.

It looks like I missed the notch and set the top of the strut too far back and on a shallower angle. So now I have to shoot some debonder into the hole in hopes that the CA will free up so I can reinstall the thing properly.

Oh, one other point if anyone is actually using this build as a guide, Eduard missed an instruction step for work needed before the wing halves go together. The below detail from the instruction show a necessary drill call-out omitted for the hole that is needed to mount the pitot tube.

Dayum. Hope that debonder works for you

Disaster.

Went to drip some debonder into the well using an eyedropper but the stuff dripped out before I could get it in there and ran down the fuselage and fin. It doesn't like Tamiya paint.

Stepping away.

Ah, b*ll*cks !