I’m working on a Tamiya 1:48 F-51D (61044) and have an Eduard PE kit for the cockpit. The Eduard instructions suggest grinding off the existing Tamiya instrument panel. Is this really necessary, and has anyone done this? I can see that it might be wise (or necessary) to remove some of the other details that are more protruding. [%-)]
Not with that particular kit, but I have done it with others. A small chisel, a fine, flat needle file, and some coarse grit wet-or-dry sandpaper will do the trick.
Just be sure not to remove anything you don’t have a PE replacement for! [#oops][banghead]
I have done a couple of 51’s with that detail set. The IP is filed down to give a flat surafce to mount the PE IP to, which then give you a part that will still fit correctly into the cockpit. If you can figure a way to mount to new IP without the kit part as a a backing, no reason why that wouldn’t work too.
Thanks for the replies, guys. I guess that I will bow to Eduard instructions (which, by the way, are pretty sketchy) and your experience and start filing. Wow, those are small pieces in that kit, but I’m determined to make this a respectable model. It’s the first military aircraft that I worked on as a radio and nav technician.