Snaps 1/32 Tamiya P-51 D Mustang Build

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Hi Chaps!

Once again my bench recieved a quick clean with a sweep of my arm into a box with a muttered "Sort that lot out later and a large pile of grey plastic hit the bench.

I won’t bore you with an OOB review, you can all see the sprues etc on Tamiyas website and elsewhere around the net. except to say that the detail and fit of this bird is the best I have ever seen and I wish ALL kit producers would gives us this level of detail and quality all the time!

A necessary trip to the little boys room (due to tablets) and with the build manual produced a longer stay than needed and help was required after my legs had gone numb and there was a large red ring around… well I think you get the idea!

I was going to use the rub n buff system to do the metal exterior as I don’t use an airbrush but after much thought I purshased Tamiyas AS12 spray tin. Please don’t laugh as it is my first time using this stuff!.

On we go.

Forgoing the manual which starts with the engine I started with the cockpit and my paints. A mixture of Vallejo and tamiya soon saw parts start to take life on with the colours of Interior Green, Black, Olive Drab, Chrome Silver, Red & Yellow.

As I worked I saw that despite tamiya including a few decals for the cockpit and some seatbelts in etched metal apart from the paintwork in various colours the cockpit does look bare despite all the detail that tamiya has moulded to various parts and and the parts you add in yourself during the building progress.

As THis is going to be displayed in a friends restaurant for a month or so after being finished and with it being so new there is more or less nothing in the way of after parts for this kit then I turned to airscale and bought a set of their placards to use to busy up their cockpit. These arrived this morning and do look really good.

Below is a series of photos of the cockpit and how it goes together. At the moment everything is dry fit but ready to be glued when I have placed extra placards from the sirscale set and also painted and built the seatbelts.

There are still some parts to be added before the cockpit goes together properly, but I thought members would like to see how the tub etc goes together.

The instrument panel put together and after a couple of extra placards to go on ready to be glued in place

The instrument panel top cover with the gyro gunsight in place. Just a decal from Tamiyas’ stencil sheet to apply. The gunsight is a small item and needs concentration to build up and paint. A etched metal part is used and care must be applied to avoid fogging up the clear plastic used.

The basic cockpit tub. This is painted up as Tamiya suggest with vallejo and Tamiya paints. There are still parts and manybe a placard to add, but the stick is in place.

The radio and battery parts along with their frame. All this bit is glued up and painted and just needs a couple of placards before adding to the top of the fuel tanks

The seat. About seven parts, etched parts,paint and decals here. I have yet to make, paint and attach the etched seatbelts to the seat before adding the back to the seat and installing to the base of the tub.

The front section of the cockpit where the instrument panel and top cover/gunsight attach. The rudder pedals already attached in place and painted.

All together - this is a dry fit

The seat and armoured back panel together, this is a dry fit and the seatbelts have yet to be added, as well as some extra paint detailing.

Here we see the radio and battery panel on top of the fuel tanks.

The seat added

All together. This is a dry fit and shows you just how close tamiya have got the tolerences for fixing… when it is together you can’t see the joint… and if there is one just a little extra paint will hide it.

All I have to do here is add some placards, do the seatbelts and add a couple more parts and it is ready to go into the fuselage!

Comments welcome

James

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Are you hiding an aircraft factory there snap? First that He111 and now this, you are one busy beaver! Looks fantastic. Just curious, in many of the pony builds those aux fuel tanks behind pilot are painted the interior green (as instructions say) but I read somewhere that they are supposed to be black (as you have done) what do the Tamiya instructions recommend?

3

Going to be hard for us to keep up with what your building. I don’t know how you are copeing.

That P-51 pit looks amazing. So, at this early stage, is it worth the price.

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tamiya say to use XF-1 which is their matt black. Remember that these are meant to be self-sealing and I think that the cladding only came in black

5

Very Nice! Good job!

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At this stage, Bish, with dry fitting of the fuselage etc I think that if you can get this for anything below £100 jump on it as quick as you can.

There is lots of plastic, nuts, bolts, screws, little plastic round thingies, tiny magnets by the packet load. Will keep you busy for a long time. The fit is excellent. I glued the tail to the fuselage for painting and with a coat of paint the join just looks like what it is meant to be - a panel line!

To all forum members following this - It is the definitive P51D kit and you need it!

Also, reading the manual which has a list of not to use parts in it, there could be a variant on the way!

So… 3 spits, 1 Mustang, a Zero and a Zeke… What’s next? or what would You all like Tamiya to do?

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Awesome Snap… very nice indeed!!

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You DO realize that, not only do I have to build the 1/32 Revell B-model to counter-point this premise but, I now have to pull out my only remaining 1/32 Monogram P-51D “Phantom Mustang”…

Sigh…

Nice work though…REALLY nice…

For a Shake & Bake…[;)]

(Just yankin’ yer chain, sir… It really IS a fine job…)

Release a 1/32 scale single-engine/single seat fighter for under 30.00 and a 1/48th for under 16.00… [;)]

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Thanks for all the comments. Makes showing my work more pleasurable!

On with another update.

Is this an easy build? Yes and no.

It is easy in the way that the parts fit together so well that you can’t see the join in most cases. The hardness of this kit is that there are so many options. You have to not glance at the instructions, but actually read them before putting anything anywhere and test fit many times and refer back to the instructions before committing glue to parts!.

The cockpit tub is now complete with the kit etched seatbelts painted, put together and installed to the seat, extra placards added to various items that fit onto the cockpit tub and all the individual items glued (carefully) into place.

It looks so much better with just a few placards from airscales’ 1/32 allied placard set.

I have moved onto the undercart bay as I thought viewers would like to see how it fits.

There is about 15 parts that goes together for the undercart bay including magnets and bolts. The above picture shows the uninteresting side with the bracing strut fixed onto the lower wing. The actual weel well doesn’t fit where you think it fits, and when building paint first with all the detail done before assembly. It is much easier to do any patching afterwards than actually paint this bit fully assembled.

Assembly is easy with the parts fitting into place easily. start at the outside and work your way in and mark off parts on the instructions when fitted so you don’t muss anything… there are some small parts here!

The above picture shows the wheel well build and installed onto the lower wing. just some paint patching to do with a fine brush.

I think I will continue with the wings with the machine gun sections and ammo belt painting, otherwise it is the cockpit sidewalls.

Comments welcome

James

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James, I just couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong with your cockpit until now… And it’s no reflection on you or your skill-sets either… But anyway, I got to looking at my copy of the “Pilot’s Operating Handbook for the P-51D-K Mustang” and it JUMPED out at me there…

While Tamiya has made a fine kit with exceptional molds, they must have ran outta development-money for the cockpit… The seat and the back-cushion you got there is ALL wrong… The cushion looks like it’s an over-stuffed vinyl couch cushion. Mustang seat-cushions were MUCH thinner, and covered in OD/Tan canvas…

Here’s a “wartime” P-51D seat (purported to be MAJ George Preddy’s seat from the wreckage of “Cripes a’ Mighty 3rd”), which was shot down in a “Blue on Blue” engagement near Liège, Belgium after an M-16 half-track AA Gunner mistook Preddy’s plane for a Bf109 that was reported to be in the area on Christmas Day, 1944.

!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Aircraft Profiles/Aircraft details/Preddy-seat.jpg)

I know it’s too late now, but I just thought I’d post the photo anyway, in case someone else gets ambitious and tackles the correction…

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In actual fact there is two seats in this kit depending in the variant (early or late).

The seat you have above is in the kit for the options available for two of the aircraft out of the three you can depict from this kit.

I chose to use this as it was easier for me to fix on the seatbelts and looked a little beefier and different. Once the fuselage is all together It won’t be noticable as much as the cockpit is very tight.

Thanks for the comments, Hans. Very appreciated as I only do this for fun and to keep me occupied.

James

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The seat cushion looks like flotation gear for ditching to me, I’ve seen similar on a B-17 pilot seat. But wouldn’t a fighter pilot wear a Mae West?

13

boy that looks engineered really well,looks good,keep em coming.

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Coming off the Spit VIII and having drooled over the Mustang in the box, I’m confident saying that 1) the Spitfire is amazing and 2) the Mustang outdoes it in several areas. Probably the single most ambitious kit I’ve ever encountered.

Still hate the vinyl tires.

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I have the spit VIII as well - half built [:$] I am looking at the XIV but it is very expensive here in the UK - may have to either save up or look on ebay.

The mustang fits together like a glove if you take care and if you have the dosh to folow through the sequence of releases from the Zero through the Spitfires to the Mustang you can see how the design, thought and moulding prosesses have improved from release to release.

I wonder if Tamiya actually read forums like these and react to customers thoughts, wants and ideas. Shame on any company that doesn’t!!!

There has obviously been very much R&D on not only the mustang kit but also the Spits and Zero/Zeke releases. On the colour painting plate there is an official boeing logo and licencing (which does add to the price) and I wonder if Tamiya not only had access to the actual aircraft but blueprints too.

I am not sure what the wheels are made of, looks like rubber though, but I am not sure. There is a seam and I wondered if members know how to get rid if that?

Now… if Tamiya were to upscale this kit to 1/24 just as it is… now THAT is a new benchmark for that scale of aircraft.

The problem is… who could afford it?

More photos shortly

James

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Could it be something like ABS plastic? I don’t have either kit but want one almost more than the new kidney I need! [:D]

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They describe it as vinyl. I tried to get rid of the seam in the Spitfire tires (same material) to no avail. Fortunately Barracudacast makes some mean Spitfire wheels. Hoping they or someone else follow suit with the Mustang post-haste.

18

Here we are with another update.

I have been busy with the paint brush and spray tins. It looks like I might just be asking for an airbrush and compressor set as a joint birthday/Christmas gift after all!

I decided to do the prop.

After all the painting etc putting it together required a few dry runs before I worked out how to stop everything wobbling.

The above parts are R20 & R23 - put them together wrong and your prop will just not fit right get the notch against the correct plug an it goes together like a glove

The prop blades need another coat of matt black before a coat of satin varnish and the decals.

Dry fit

The Wings are together, painted up with the flaps etc on. there is still some detail work to do and a couple of parts to add here and there.

The fuselage is all painted up and ready to be detailed up with the cockpit walls etc.

Just a little paint patching with a very small brush to do on some of the framework. The paint which matches the late interior green for the USAAF is Vallejo Model Colour German Cam. Bright Green 70883 - Go figure!

I have built the water and oil radiator cooling system. There are quite a few small parts from the etched sets plus a magnet and a large bolt. It took me an entire evening of dry fitting, tiny blobs of superglue to put this together.

This is how it fits into the fuselage.

That’s another update done for you all. Comments etc appreciated.

James

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Some great work there Snap. Now, if only tamiya would bring out some 32nd German aircraft.

20

Yet another update for you all.

The engine and firewall is complete,

I tried a paint mix for the Packard Merlin. I mixed together some matt and satin black and then added a drop of gunmetal blue. I also added a couple of data plates from airscales allied placard set to the engine and firewall. It just adds that little extra.

Like the Spitfires, this merlin is really well detailed and fits together with no problems at all so long as you READ the instructions and THEN follow them. For those who superdetails this is a dream for there are holes where you can put sparkplugs and HT leads etc.

I then moved on to the cockpit sidewalls with small parts, small brushes and a few more placards and data plates from Airscales. Tamiya do provide a couple of data plate decals but a couple of extra once again adds a little extra detail. Most of this stuff won’t be seen once the fuselage is together, but when you look carefully you can just make out a corner of a placard and the silver and black of a dataplate.

Everything for the fuselage is nearly built and ready to be fitted. Just a couple of items like the tail wheel mount and fixing.

Once again, comments greatly appreciated

James