I figured I’d drop in and show what I’ve been up to lately. I’m building two Tamiya Mustangs at the same time for two separate people. It’s all about efficiency. The first being Robin Olds’ 479th FG “Scat VI” and the second being “Jasper’s Joker II”, flown by Don Vulgamore of the 361 FG.
Scat gets an Ultracast seat and a PE instrument panel. The recipient of Joker wants the canopy closed, so there is no sense in over detailing the pit. I threw on a PE seatbelt I had in the stash and called it done.
I replaced the pitiful gun barrels with brass tubing. It makes a huge improvement.
Tamiya’s Mustangs go together beautifully. No need to show both.
Decals were Aeromaster and Cutting Edge. No issues…
Guess I’m gonna have to start calling you Master Lawdog.[:D[ I tried painting using your cockpit tutorial on my lastest plane. I got the paint them black first down right but that’s where the similarities ended. Just masterful work. Trying to figure out if I’m inspired or just massively depressed
Looking good, Joe. I don’t have any P-51’s in my collection; BUT now i’m waiting for Mengs upcoming offering. It looks like its going to blow Tamiys out of the water. Granted Tams offering can he had cheap nowa days.
Fantastic work, Lawdog. I keep itching to build another P-51D, but I am waiting for Meng’s release to see how that goes. Lot’s of interesting things on it. And of course Eduard in 2018…
But yeah those Tamiya ones are nice, and you’re bringing out the best in them.
Thanks guys for the compliments. To quote Ace Ventura…reeeeeeeeeee-he-he-he-he-he-he-ly? So someone has decided to tackle the P-51D again in 1/48. I don’t know much about Meng, their stuff really isn’t my thing, but I bet the Eduard example will be a stunner. Let’s be honest, the Tamiya and Hasegawa kits are getting long in the tooth. The Tamiya kit will be 20 years old next year I do believe, and the Hasegawa one is even older. I hope Eduard doesn’t rebox an old kit with new resin like the P-38 (puke) or overcomplicate it like their FW190 series. Let’s pray it’s like their Spitfire MK IX.
Anyways, these turkeys are done. I’ll start with Scat VI, flown by Major Robin Olds of 479th FG, who really needs no introduction amongst us military aviation mavens. Olds scored 12.0 kills in WW2 and 4 in Vietnam flying the F-4 Phantom. This one got PE in the pit and an Ultracast seat. I added a set of Ultracast wheels too. I tried out the new Eduard Brassin resin 108 gas tanks. I wasn’t particularly impressed and found them to be more work to assemble than they were worth. I still hate the look of these tanks, much preferring the 75’ers. The canopy is a Hasegawa replacement which is much better than Tamiya’s two piece abomination. I added plumbing to the tanks and gears. The lousy fifties were replaced with brass tubing.
Next is Jasper’s Joker. Flown by Donald Vulgamore of the 361st FG. This is one of those circumstances where the plane seems to be more popular than the pilot, as I couldn’t find much information on him. I learned he was from Jasper, Ohio and may have scored three kills as evidenced by the canopy swastikas. Regardless, they were all heroes to me, ace or not. This one was out of the box aside from a PE seatbelt harness and Ultracast tires. I plumbed this one and added brass fifties as well. As I previously mentioned, it was requested that the canopy be closed, so I made due with the abomination of a kit canopy.
Overall, I’m pleased with them both.
Next I’m going to build the newer tooled (pre-fixed original release) Eduard Bf 109G with a Brassin engine kit. I’m probably getting in way over my head…[:|]
Good luck Mr. Striker…we’re all counting on you[whstl]
Very nice Fermis…if mine turns out half as nice I’ll be pleased. Do you have a work in progress thread on that anywhere?..and thanks for the kind words…
Well gee, I think those turned out better than good. They’re stunning. I’ve always loved the look of a yellow nose on a P-51, but that just may well be the old Monogram influence sneaking in there lol. I wish they still included those markings with the Monovell re-release. I’ve got it in my stash and I hope to be able to turn it into something just a gorgeous as one of these two builds, someday.
I think what really puts these into the far above average standard is the ground work on the bases and the pilot figures, of which you did a superb job on. I’d be happy with whatever amount I spent to have you build one of those for me.
Just beautiful work, Lawdog. Just beautiful, professional grade work on both of them.
Perfection as a display, and the background info about the unit and pilot was more than interesting. Mighty fast builds too, are you trying to displace Toshi as the King of Speed???
