1/32 to 1/144 Mustangs - Bottisham Four

Gallery Article by Chris Parsons on July 15 2014

 

Inspired by the memory of a magazine article showing pictures of an incredibly well built and painted model of "Lou IV" published back in the 1970's (mine will never be that good) I picked up Tamiya's 1/32 scale P-51D with the intent of building my own Lou IV, many years later I finally have a Lou IV.  I have never been a fan of the P-51, I don't know why I don't like it but I don't...having said that...after building the 32nd scale Tamiya P-51D I immediately went back to the hobby shop and bought another one. This kit personifies the "add glue, paint and shake the box".

 

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On with the project. I used some pictures I could find on the net, ignored all the debate over the "were they blue or green?" camouflage arguments and went ahead with the recommendations on the Baracudacal instructions...did I mention I used Baracudacal decals? Ok, so I used aftermarket decals which, incidentally have all the stencils etc. and can be applied to the kit using the kit decal placement instructions (A direct replacement I call that).  I finished the kit with Tamiya acrylics weathered it very lightly and set it on the shelf...it looked kind of naked sitting there on it's wheels so, I went out and bought another Tamiya P-51D and built it as the next one in formation in the famous Bottisham Four poster...then another Tamiya P-51D but in 1/72nd scale and finally a 1/144 scale Minicraft (I think?) P-51D this last one could have been a B model? I used the handy screw driver Tamiya included in the kit and retracted the wheels and installed the stand, the other models were all built "wheels up", permanently set on stands and now fly in formation with Lou IV.

So, for a guy who professed to never liked the P-51 I now have four built ones and three more in my stash (all Tamiya kits).

Chris Parsons

      

Photos and text © by Chris Parsons