I figured I would peek in here. Great stuff folks…some I’ve seen already. Got room for me? Well here I am here with my Tamiya P-51B. I’m doing a subject I’ve always wanted to do, Ralph “Kid” 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 on June 26th 1944. Here is my trubute 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 thibk 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:
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/160714.aspx
The best part of out of the box parts…everything fits like a glove…
A test fit…I don’t forsee issues…
Joe