Hello all. I thought I’d switch gears and do my yearly Mustang now. This one will be for the Mustang Group Build, a 1/48 Tamiya P-51 B. This time I’m doing a subject I’ve always wanted to do, Ralph “Kidd” Hofer’s Salem Representative from the 4th FG. Hofer was reportedly sort of a Maverick and not particularly fond of discipline. You’ll have that. I don’t think he was one of Don Blakeslee favorites, however, Hofer was also one of the top strafers in the 8th AF and would amass 15 kills before being KIA in July of 1944. Here is my tribute to Hofer’s P-51B Serial # 42-106924.
I’m starting with Tamiya’s excellent P-51B. I grabbed an Eduard PE set for the cockpit and Ultracast tires.
The cockpit was my starting point. The Tamiya 'pit is passable, better than their D, but not great. I normally replace it but this time I wanted to see if I could get away with using a bit of color PE. I used Gunze Aqueous Interior Green which I think is dead on Also, Merlin Mustangs had a flat floor and the kit’s is curved. I didn’t feel like fixing it, so I painted it XF-49 Khaki and added Tamiya Clear Orange over it to make it look like wood. Truthfully, once assembled, the seat hides the curve so no big whoop here. I added the PE seatbelts and used the PE instruments. I thought Eduard did a nice job here and even added the belt stitching. I also added some wiring around the battery to spice it up a bit. Rather than rehash my whole cockpit process, check out my Dauntless build for an actual tutorial:
Damn! At it again. I’m still trying to wrap up this Hawk. lol I’ve been considering jumping into either the Boeing GB or Mustang GB. Maybe both if I can squeeze out a Mustang without much fuss. I always seem to make it more complicated though. You always pull off a clean build nice and quick…and here I am still fooling around with the same kit. *womp womp
Beautiful start! =] Who doesn’t love your cockpits. I mean really. =]
Steve: I know theres several out there. I’ll probably use the Kits World decals which are readily available (I think?). The only thing that annoys me about them is they general don’t offer the insignias and such. For that price they should.
Britt: By all means friend…squeeze one out! (sounds gross…lol). That aside, reference the floor, Merlin Mustangs had a flat plywood floor. The Tamiya B has the floor in the contour of the upper wing, which is only correct for an Allison powered Mustang. Even Verlinden screwed this up too. I have no idea why they changed it but it could be a number of reasons. I was just mentioning how I deal with it, which is not to deal with it at all…lol. Perhaps someone in here will know.
II’ll tell ya, modeling and spring time just don’t mix. Oh so much yard work to do. I did get to sit down at the bench the other day and I got quite alot done. I squeezed the pit between the fuselage without issue.
It wasn’t long before I was here. These are a piece of cake to assemble. I taped off the back windows and glued them in place. I sprayed the area Gunze Interior Green. Note: I also sanded off the bumpy things on top of the wing by the gun ports. Those were apparently not present on war tiime Mustangs.
Now…the area I truely hate about the Tamiya Mustang series…the lower radiator seam. It goes right through all the detail (which is weak to begin with) and the sanding to remove the seam takes off most of it. Very Monogram-like. Not Tamiya’s best design. Here is how I “improvise” with Evergreen stock, a trick I came up with several years ago.
Salem Rep was NMF with Oilve Drab or RAF Dark Green upper wings and fuselage top. I think its a cool scheme. I started by spraying the fuselage and underside Alclad Duraluminum, the perfect war weary shade to my eye. Not too shiny or dull. The prominent panel near the exhausts was sprayed Alclad Magnesium. This panel is always darker on NMF Mustangs. Other panels were taped off and sprayed different shades og Alclad.
I hope to continue painting soon…gotta go plant more grass seed…
Here is my idea of an afternoon in lawdog’s life. He finishes a masterful brain transplant, and then decides to put a flawless nmf on an airplane he is building. ( after all, he already has a mask and gloves on. ) All the while thinking of the grass seed he has developed which stops growing at 3".
Lawdog, you make things good so easy Nice build so far. knox
Thanks guys. Reasoned, I think I remember reading that the dog was actually his, as there are other pictures of the two together. You see this alot in old pilot pictures…
I have been plugging away at this thing. A little here…a little there. Lets begin with the paint. I poured over as many reference pictures of Salem that I could find and I’ve come to the conclusion it was originally NMF and it was painted OD or RAF Green on the upper wings, upper fuselage,and upper stabs in the field at some point. There was a picture that showed the wing ID strip(s) as black on the bottom, therefore, its more probable than not they were black on top too…not white (same with the tail stripe of course). I painted these stripes on accordingly. It was also reasonable to assume (to me anyway) that the green was sprayed right over the stripes. I then followed suit with Gunze Olive Drab where appropriate (I’m out of RAF Green). I only dusted the OD over the stripes as I wanted them to show through the OD slightly. I think this is about right. I added XF-57 Buff to the paint, then added some sun fading followed by condensation streaks. I then sprayed the 4th FG red nose and tail stripe. Once done, it was sprayed with a few coats of Alclad Gloss.
Kit’s World decals are sort of a sore subject with me. The decals do go down nice, but I’m just not impressed by this company. For one, they charge 15 bucks for these and only offer the scheme specific decals. They tell you to use the kit’s stars and bars and stencil for which everyone knows are lousy and unforgiving. Is it that hard to include these…really? Everyone else does? Lower the damn price then. Also, Kidd Hofer’s plane had the word “Kidd” on the port landing door. They did not include this…poor research? To add insult to injury, I have since discovered Life Like Decals has a sheet with these markings and they even thoughtfully include decals for those snazzy white wall tires! Ugh!. Anyways, they went down nice and I used an old Aeromaster sheet for the rest of the decals. I had no issues. I added the rear opera windows which fit nice. I’m thinking Kits World won’t be getting much more of my hard earned dinero…
It was then time for a Flory wash. I mixed Dark Dirt with Black and left it just a tad grimy. This is one of my favorite parts of modeling. I’m not sure why…Perhaps I’m just a fan of Flory which is fantastic stuff.
It was time to turn my attention to the little stuff. I Ultracast tires (and prop too) and I decided to replicate the white walls. I sprayed the wheel Alclad Aluminum and then hand painted the tires portion XF-24 cut with a tad of XF-1 Flat Black. Tires are one of the only things I still hand brush. If you thin it heavily with 91% Isoprophyl it will go down nice and thin without brush marks. Capillary action will take the paint around the rim too. Once done, and with the aid of a circle template, I cut out a mask for the hub. I then used the appropriate sized circle in the template, held it on top of the tire, then sprayed it Xf-2 Flat White. Decals? We don’t need no stinkin’ decals!..
A Detailer wash to all of the parts and we are almost done…
Time to start putting this turkey together. A few more days I should be done…
Thanks guys. Steve, it’s just Tamiya XF-7 Flat Red over XF-1 Flat Black to darken it. Junkie, I’ve never had issues with the Detaler but I don’t use it in that manner described in that thread. It’s good for cockpits, gear bays and other such areas. The key is to thin it down with water on a brush after you apply it until you get the look your after.
I got some bench time in last night and I do believe I’m done. To recap, it’s your basic 1/48 Tamiya P-51 B in the 4th FG markings of Ralph “Kidd” Hofer’s Salem Representative around May of 1944. Hofer has been deemed, whether fair or not, a “screwball ace” and apparently had little use for authority. His tomfoolery and little regard to the inherent danger of air-to-air combat likely contributed to his being KIA in on July 2nd 1944 after tangling with Bf 109s. That said, he was a 15 kill ace and destroyed an FW190 on his first mission.
What can be said about the Tamiya P-51 series, B or D . Aside from a few small issues, they are generally excellent. This one got PE in the cockpit and Ultracast wheels. I drilled out the gun barrels and exhausts then added drop tank plumbing. I’ve heard that the kit props are mishaped, so I added an Ultracast replacement. Truthfully I can’t tell the difference, but I’m no expert here. I prefer the looks of the birdcage version, but Salem Rep had the Malcomb hood. The one thing that shocked me was that the Malcomb canopy cannot be displayed open with this kit. I had to use a Squadron vacuform replacement, which I hate because they are an absolute pain to cut out, at least for me.
The figure and dog came from the Tamiya Spitfire Vb I built which is originally from ICM. I know its not a German Shepard, but I tried to paint it as such. Figure painting is not my forte.
That about sums it up. Thanks for following. Questions and comments are welcome.
Nice build so far. knox
