I’m getting back into the hobby after a 20 year break. My wife bought me a HB 1/72 P-51 B for Christmas. Seems like a good choice to get things rolling. After reading over the directions, I noticed there are no painting instruction while building the kit (like the cockpit). Only an exterior paint scheme is provided. My question is, is this “par for course” for all HB kits, or just 1/72 scale aircraft? I probably won’t buy another HB kit if the lack of painting instructions is the norm. Thanks.
I wouldn’t put off a company’s kit just because they don’t mention some interior colors. Most kits that do include colors for the interiors, etc are wrong anyway. The P-51B would have an interior green cockpit, with black consoles and black floor. The landing gear bays would be aluminum with a chromate yellow rear spar or overall aluminum.
Here’s a useful site for interior colors.
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/01/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us.htm
Good luck with your Mustang.
As they said…usually color call outs are wrong-ish anyway. I’ve only built a few H/B kits (F4F and a couple A-7s) and they were quite good. “Google images” are one of the most useful “tools” I have ever found for modeling.
www.primeportal.net/home.htm is also a great resource for “walk around” and detail shots.
Don’t give up just because of the color, or lack of, on the instructions. Wait till you get some of the kits that the instructions leave out parts, or label them wrong, and worst of all don’t make sense. [*-)] Just drop the Forum a line and these great guys, and gals, will try to help you out (they usually succeed). Hang in there.
Jim [cptn]
Thanks for the info. I have found quite a few photos online. Fortunately, I live about 20 miles down the Interstate from the Pima Air and Space museum. I guess I should grab the camera and go crazy. Anyways… I got about a 100 other questions.
There ya’ go! Nothing beats a field trip!
Glenn
Even if they do provide painting instructions, they are frequently overly simplistic or at the wrong spot in the instructions. I believe most mfgs figure very few modelers actually paint their kits. Confirmation comes in a press release on a new Nascar car kit where the mfg brags about the kit being molded in the right color plastic for the team the kit represents.
A lot of Hobby Boss’ 1/72 props are geared toward beginner/easy assembly and so they tend to play fast and loose with the details. I’ve got their 1/72 MiG-3 and it’s very light in the way of instructions.
On the other hand, Hobby Boss (and sister brand Trumpeter) does have a tendency to flub on paint callouts. Case in point, I’m building their 1/48 Me 262A-1a/U4 right now, and while many of the parts and details have appropriate callouts, there are a few that are just…totally absent.
Best bet is to find actual pics of actual aircraft and go from there, but if that’s not possible, you can usually find a consensus among other builds that pop up on Google Image Search.