This is Tamiya’s 1/48 P-51B done as Capt. Clarence “Lucky” Lester’s “C” model, Italy, 1944. The kit exhibits Tamiya’s regular great fit but for the canopies which I’ll talk about in a second.
I began this project as an experiment for a new NMF idea I had. The idea worked. Sort of. The idea is to replicate the many but very subtle waves and dents most airplanes have. As the plastic comes from the factory it’s very smooth from this manufacturer. To smooth IMHO. A few minutes with a round #2 blade gave me some stressed skin.
A few more minutes with the same blade gave me some nice surface imperfections.
Following this there were a few more undocumented steps that included a coat of Alclad, primer, sanding, more Alclad, and application of missing rivet lines along the formers of the fuse. This was only done to the fuselage as the wings got my requisite filling of the panel lines and removal of weird rivets and such.
This was all done before the airframe was actually put together, right after the cockpit was installed. Speaking of the cockpit, it got nothing but assembled and painted, nothing fancy. No extras as I was interested in getting to the paint and intended to close the canopy. The result of the experiment is a surface that if studied closely and at the right angle in the light will reveal a more natural looking surface. The effect is to subtle to see in the pics.
I really had a hard time leaving certain things undone. I was going to build it OOB but still felt the kit needed brake lines. However, I did manage to NOT correct the wheel well rear wall, the first time I’ve not done this in five mustangs. Don’t know if I can let another go or not.
Some things I chose to change, one of which is the exhaust. The decal sheet indicated shrouded exhaust but I used the unshouded ones. They are also drilled out. Another change is the wheels. I rumaged through the spares box and discovered I had a set of resin ones waiting for glory so on they went. I don’t much care for the soft detail of the Tamiya wheels.
Speaking of decals, this sheet is from Warbird Decals and provide markings for four aircraft, all of the Tuskeegee airmen and I’d like to build them all. The decals went on well and behaved properly but for the red band around the nose which promtly broke into billions of atom sized fragments everytime I tried to correct the previous crack. I gave up and painted the band.
The afore mentioned canopies gave me some fits as the quarter windows didn’t want to fit. I took the kit for granted and didn’t test fit these and found out after the entire kit was complete. Next time I’ll know and address this before I get to paint. The front portion of the canopy fit well after the rear windows were hammered in place.
Paint on this one is Alclad in various forms, MM enamels and Tamiya gloss red for the tail and nose. I didn’t have the called for Guards Red. Polyscale flat was used to tone down the decals and the red a bit but the finish is otherwise bare.
It was said that this units planes were transfered from other units after their own planes had been upgraded to newer models so this left me thinking heavy weather was in order but I couldn’t do it. I gave the lines a wash and a few smears of “oil” in a few places and left it alone. It’ just to pretty to dirty up.
There are some boners and buggers in the build that shouldn’t be there, like the piece of debri that reared it’s ugly head AFTER I had the clear pieces on. There is a dent ahead of the right flap that seemed to appear right near the end of the build somehow. Who knows were it came from and why I missed it.
I’m not entirely happy with the NMF on this one. IN fact, I’m not happy with very many NMF processes we commonly use to replicate it. It just never seems to look like metal when all is done. Some of them capture the color. Some are freakishly mirror like and not usually seen on a war ready or weary airframe. But in the end they all still look like paint to me. The foil jobs don’t even look like metal in the scale. Nothing captures the natural patina that metal panels have from on panel to the next, from one side of the same panel to the next.
I guess I’ll keep at it but I’ve about decided that a real looking NMF job is next to impossible to do in scale and if possible will turn out to be very labor intensive.
Comments are welcome, good or bad.
Thanks for looking.
Great photos too.