This
is my rendition of a P-51 on a British base shortly after D-day.
A
couple of pilots have a casual chat with a crew chief in front of Geronimo, the
personal aircraft of Captain John F. Pugh. The end of the war is at last in
sight: the allies have landed and a huge share of air operations are devoted to
the support of this all important battle.
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The
model is Tamiya P-51B with the Malcolm Hood. The cockpit was replaced with a
beautiful Aires kit as was the landing gear bay. The exhaust stacks are from
Ultracast and are perfect. The aircraft was painted with Gunze acrylics and
weathered with oil paints thinned with lighter fluid. The dirt and mud visible
on top of the wings are simulated with Prince August acrylics thinned with
water. I admit that the a/c shouldn’t have been that weathered so soon after
it received its invasion stripes, but , oh well, it’s called artistic licence.
The camo scheme itself is not ascertained: it is painted after two pictures
visible in Squadron’s books dedicated to the 357th FG on which very
contrasted stripes are visible on the wings leading edge. It was enough for me
to acknowledge these marks as D-day stripes… All I wanted was a colourful
aircraft and judging by the end result, I think I got the job done.
The
small diorama was made using a bathroom mirror as a frame onto which I adjusted
PSP planking from Headquarters (French made). The pilot standing next to the
Mustang is from Productions Legend (as is the fuel drum), the other one and the
crew chief are made by Verlinden. The rest of the accessories are home made with
balsa.
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The
protection wall is made of Styrofoam, covered with rough wall coating. All the
earth parts of the diorama were then covered with a mix of white glue and brown
paint and sprinkled with grass. A coat of hairspray helped settling all this
definitely.
This
set was built for the French magazine Wingmasters and even though I was not
especially interested in dioramas I’m now considering making more of these
since it was a lot of fun actually. Try it, you’ll like it.
Julien
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