1/32 to 1/144 Mustangs - Bottisham Four |
Gallery Article by Chris
Parsons
on July 15 2014
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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".
Click on
images below to see larger images
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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.