1/48 P-51 D FINISHED- (Improving the Tamiya kit tutorial)

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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The putty used on the wings was not very resilient to field cleaning and would eventually wear away in many cases. Crews sometimes used solvents and even fuel to clean surfaces which would remove the putty. When I built my 32nd I opted to save the exquisite surface detail on the Tamiya wings much to chagrin of the experts, but it’s all about what makes you happy as the builder.

Excellent work so far on this one. Keep it up.

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That sounds good to me…lets go with that…lol Thanks for the compliment

Joe

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Looking great Joe ! Very timely as I’m building a 1/7 scale Blue nose and need some motivation! Your NMF is simply stunning ! cheers Trey

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You are really motivating me to finish my -C. It won’t look nearly this good though. Big shoes to fill there. Great job, as always.

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Thanks for the kind words. I’m in for a quick update. I had been waiting on the Aeromaster decals I bought off Ebay. The oher day I got impatient and decided to utilize an old Eagle Cal sheet for the insignias and stenciling that’s not plane specific. This ended up being a mistake and the insignia on the upper wing had dried with wrinkles in it…ugh! I then tried every solvent I had to no avail. I’ll either live with it or sand-repaint-re decal it…[bnghead]. The Aeromaster sheet showed up yesterday and I finished up.

I gave it a Flory wash. This is where these start to come to life for me…

I turned my attention to the gears and wheels. I added fuse wire for brake lines. Ialso used the new Eduard “Brassin” wheels for this project. I wasn’t impressed. There is no weighted spot and eventhough they are supposed to be for this kit, they don’t fit on the axle. For this price, they should. I’ll stick with Ultracast from this point on.

Joe

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She looks sooooo good.

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Raymond, you should write an article about this for Fine Scale Modeler. That’s a very interesting subject that you don’t read about in our hobby. I would bet that it would get printed. Great stuff!

Gary Mason

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In a word WOW!

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Thanks Trey.

I got some much need time at the bench last night and I think I’m finally done. To recap, its the 1/48 Tamiya P-51D in Urban Drew’s 361st FG “Detroit Miss” markings. Drew was a 6 kill ace, to include two Messerschmitt 262’s destroyed on October 7th, 1944. This distinguished Drew as the first Allied airman to destroy two German jets in aerial combat.

As I said, my intent was to offer suggestions on how to improve the already nice Tamiya kit. I’ve built several and have found some ways to improve it. This is not to say I didn’t go off the path in this one, so to speak. The cockpit, at minumum the seat, needs replaced. I normally go True Details here but in this case I used a Ultracast seat with the TD pit. I normally use Ultracast wheels but I had the Eduard Brassin set so I figured I would try it. I found that I prefer the Ultracast. The “fifties” need love too, which are crap on this kit. I substituted Albion Alloy brass tubing. Also worth mentioning is the kit canopy (sliding part) which is a poor two part design. Its hard to mate these two convincingly which just looks sloppy to me. I either go with a Squadron vacuform or substitute a spare Hasegawa piece. I used the later since the Hase P-51 in my stash came with two (I suppose they all do). I scratch built the internal brace with sheet styrene and drilled out the lightening holes…

I went with the kit 75 gallon drop tanks and added plumbing with stereo wire painted black. I know there are pictures of “Miss” sportng the 108 paper tanks, but let’s face it, the 75’ers are much less of a pain in the [bnghead] to assemble with zero sanding. Besides, whose to say these weren’t used as well? I read somewhere that 8th AF Mustangs did not have aerial wires, so I didn’t add it. If I’m to stand corrected, I’ll add one

I decided the previously mentioned insignia decal mishap was not bad enough to mess with, so I listened to the inner voice and just left well enough alone. It ended up looking ok under the wash and dull coat. I didn’t like the way the windscreen fit on this particular build. This isn’t the greatest design either and tends to leave gaps where it meets the fuselage. I may fiddle with it more later.

Overall I’m fairly happy with how it turned out. Thanks for following. Hopefully I’ve offered some new ideas for your next “Cadillac of the Skies”…

Joe

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Just beautiful, nicely done!

Groot

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Nice work and great advice here Joe. Canopy looks right on to me. I wouldn’t mess with it.

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Thanks guys. Nathan, your probably right. This is the “leave well enough alone” build.

Joe

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Joe -

Shazam, another high mark set. A real beaut, thanks for all the writing and photos.

Patrick

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That is one good looking pony you got there ! Well done

Theuns

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Wow, another spectacular finish. Totally looks better than fantastic. SUPER DUPER !!

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Wow, another beauty Joe! “Detroit Miss” never looked so good, just beautiful work friend. Your earlier posts and pics caused me to dig my own “Detroit Miss” out of the cabinet for a look at her. Sheesh, I think I’d be embarrassed to show my Monogram version now! Your plane kills Joe! Thanks for the inspiration and great thread.[:D[

Gary

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Another beauty Joe! Your build inspired me to pull one of these out of the stash and give it a go.

Steve

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Joe another beauty. I missed this one entirely but ever so glad I found it now.

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That turned out really nice Joe!

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Thanks for the kind words all…

Joe