'61 and Hobbie, many thanks. Very kind to say. =] Happy to share.
RM8, I remember looking at the F-6 and recall thinking how awesome it’d be to build up that one with the camera and all. Instead I came across William Shomo’s F-6D and figured I could easily convert Tamiya’s P-51D into an F-6D. Wasn’t too bad at all. A little scratchbuilding and some Milliput went a long way.
All these extras aren’t so bad really. Just take it one step at a time. Before you know it, voila, you’ve got a radio, then an IP, and so on. You just can’t be in a rush. As long as you know what you’re going to do, it doesn’t take quite as long as you think. Of course I say that but nowadays it takes me about 6-7 months to complete a build LOL. But basically it’s not too hard to add some extra life. Just be whole-assed and go all in. =]
As for the scotch tape…absolutely! Great question. I saw this trick on a P-51B or C with DDay stripes when I was building this. My solution was to take the kit glass piece and with a new No. 11 blade cut out some tamiya masking tape that was placed on top of it. Carefully. You could also trace it out with a pen or pencil and cut it on a mat or what have you. When you’re ready to handle the tape use a gloved hand to prevent finger prints. Use your masking tape pattern to cut the shape of the “glass” by placing a strip of clear scotch tape onto the (clean) masking tape. What I did was to cut a little bit of extra along the sides (left to right as it would fit onto the wing) so it has enough to bite on once you apply it. When you have it cut out, a good pair of tweezers will help to place it and the bottom end of a paint brush will aide in laying down. I started on top first to get it set and pulled it around as I laid it down on the surface. It really wasn’t too bad. And honestly, if you mess one up…you’ve likely still got plenty of scotch tape right?! I think I got mine on the first try. I even recall my hands shaking badly as I probably had to much coffee…with each heartbeat my hands bounced crazily. I had to steady my arms on the table surface to keep my hands still. I actually finished the build just after Christmas of 2016 and two years later I haven’t seen any dust or anything collect and stick to it.
Hope that’s of some use. Let me know when you try it. Especially if you come up with any better tweeks to that. 