1/48 Tamiya P-51D Mustang

by Alan Williamson

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Kit: 1/48 Tamiya P-51D Mustang 61089

Additions: 

  • Aires P-51D Detail set 4089

  • Ultracast P-51 Mustang Wheels Diamond Tread 48132

  • Ultracast P-51D/K Seat

  • EagleCals P-51D Mustang EC-102 TO WAR WITH THE YOXFORD BOYS

Construction:

I acquired this kit when I was at Aeroworks one day along with the Aires detail set.  When I got it home I examined the Aires set my first thought was I must be a gluten for punishment however I started the build.  Like with all kits I started with the Aires cockpit painted in Model Master Interior green, with flat black for the control panel and switch boxes.  I then dry brushed silver around the cockpit and once dry I hit the cockpit with the Tamiya weathering master set B sealed off with a cote of matt clear.  My next job was to make the Aires set fit to the kit, this required some major re-modelling of the kit.  First I used my small sanding drill to sand out the cockpit walls from the kit, followed up with cutting of the cowling and front section of the kit to make room for the Rolls-Royce engine, mounts and firewall / bulkhead.  For this job I used my hobby saw, this was a trial and error once chance to get it right, Aires make note in their instructions with a shaded diagram of what part of the kit needed to be removed.  I happened to cut to much out oops.  This resulted in a lot of putty required to fill gaps.  Next on the list was to cut out the gun bays I used my re-scribing knife to accomplish this job.  Sorry no photo did not back them up and lost them in a computer snafu.  Last but not least before construction was to re-scribe all of the panel lines. 

Picture 03 show the cowling and front half of the kit removed ready for the Aires engine set. Picture 04 finished kit.

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Picture 03

  

Picture 04

  

  

Constructing this kit was no easy task I had bitten off more than I could handle, but after reading and checking out other modellers article's on ARC I wanted to build a P-51D with the Aires detail set.  My first drama started with the assembling of the cockpit.  I had lots of fit problems and I broke the Aires cockpit seat.  So I had to order one from Craig at Aeroworks, I ended up using  the Ultracast P-51D/K seat to complete the cockpit.  I must admit I don't like using super glue, not enough time to get the fit right, it can end up messy, I had to cut the air intake of the kit cockpit and make it fit the Aires cockpit.  Super gluing it behind the cockpit while dry fitting the cockpit to one halve of the fuselage.  Hopeing that once I had glued the cockpit to one side of the fuselage the other halve would fit, the moment of truth when the two halves came together....A slight gap emerged when the two halves were assembled, this was filled with Tamiya putty.  My next task was to attach the firewall, part of the fit went in with out any drama but I had removed to much off the kit when cutting of the front halve just in front of the cockpit window. This monumental mistake gave me nothing but head aches to repair, lots of putty was required and a heap of wet rubbing to reshape the section in front of the cockpit window, so much so I thought of scrapping the entire project.  No matter how much I tried, I just could not get the shape right every time I dry fit the cockpit window I had a gap, to over come this problem I had to glue the cockpit window to the kit.  Something I do not like to do, especially before painting.  There was no option left and the only way I was going to fix this was to glue the window in place.  Now that I had finally got the shape right in front of the cockpit window next on the list was the construction of the gun bays.  The right wing gun bay  went together quite well with little fuss, however not the left wing.  Once I placed the left gun bay into position I found I had a slight gap which turned out to be a big problem to fix. Using styrene I placed it between the gaps with some putty placed over the top to get the right fit followed up with some wet rub to obtain the right shape.  Gluing the wings to the fuselage went together with no problems, I then made my next mistake I glued the engine frame to the fire wall and painted it, but I managed to break them off at least four times during the remainder of construction and painting.   I Attached the Rolls-Royce engine and wiring more fiddly work, it was now time to paint.

Paint and Decals:

With the last putty and wet rub touches made to hopefully get rid of any imperfections the kit was ready to paint. My first idea was to paint the kit aluminium with the decals Big Beautiful Doll which were included in this kit.  But when I sat back and thought how much work would be involved in trying to place the checked deals on at least four parts of what would make the cowling I chickened out.  I searched the web for available decals for this kit, after finding decals I liked, I placed an order with Craig at Aeroworks for  EagleCals P-51D Mustang EC-102 TO WAR WITH THE YOXFORD BOYS.  I now had two colour schemes which I could use.  My usual method was to use Model Master  Aluminium Plate first followed up with Model Master Olive drab ANA 613 and Neutral Grey FS3621.  A slight wet rub to give the kit a faded and worn look.  Then the entire kit was then painted with Humbrol gloss clear ready for the decals.  The decals used on this kit are to represent Frenesi piloted by Fighter Ace Major Tommy Hayes Jr.  Tommy saw action in the Pacific Theatre were he accounted for at least two Japanese victories while stationed with the 17th Pursuit Squadron stationed at Java.  Tommy was also stationed in the European Theatre with the 364th FS Group were he accounted for nine more victories.  With the decals on, I covered the kit with another coat of gloss clear, and then went to work darkening the panel lines followed up with coat of matt clear to seal the pastel.  I wanted to make this bird look really worn and dirty so out came the Tamiya  Weathering  sets A and B to dirty up this model, maybe a little over done.  I was not happy with the exhaust stains, I should have paid more attention before I sealed the Weather set with Matt Clear.

Finish:

I decide to use Ultracast P-51 Mustang Wheels rather than the kit wheels, I added the landing gear door, drop tanks and tear drop canopy and the kit was finished even with all the mistakes and head aches.  I already have a Tamiya P-51B on order from Calum and a Aires P-51B detail set on order from Craig.  I guess I didn't learn my lesson.  All in all the kit took about one hundered and thirty hours to build.  The figures are a mixture of ICM P-51B ground crew and Monogram P-61 Black Widow, with drums and jerry cans from Tamiya M10 tank, ladder is from ICM Spitfire and ground crew.

Thanks to:

  • Steve Bamford for his inspiring web site

  • Craig at Aeroworks for getting a hold of the goodies. Drop Craig an E-mail for a list of goodies that are available. If you live in South Australian E-mail Craig for the address and go down and visit him at Aeroworks. aeroworks@iprimus.com.au

Alan

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Photos and text © by Alan Williamson