Revell P51B Mustang

[Guest]

I think this is going extreemly well and all credit to you for sharing it with us all. Modelling is a learning challenge for us all of every single different level of expertise and none of us are ever completely happy with a model we build. That's what always drives me on to try to achieve that perfection and to learn better and better techniques along the way.

You are already learning what you would rather do next time, good on you!!

[Guest]

Thanks for the encouragement. I have never spent so much time on a model, even when I was a kid and really into building. It would be paint one day and build the next.

My wife asked this morning what was taking me so long! She can remember her brother starting in the morning and finishing in the afternoon.

I hope when I'm finished it will be worth it.

I must admit to being a bit concerned about applying the decals as I can remember that bit being a bit fraught and reading advice and questions on here and other sites it seems to still be the case.

Oh well that's to come.

I'm off to paint my undercarriage:shocking:

[Guest]

Decals still give me challenges and my last attempt on a tug hull were pretty terrible. I am still trying to get the hang of micro-sol and micro-set and not getting it right yet!

[Guest]

I have seen and read about micro sol and micro set. I know that one of them softens the decals and allows them to closely fit the panel after fitting. What does the other do?

I have also read that vinegar can be used as a substitute.

I've got one of those "round the tail" decals to put on and if I remember rightly they never fit properly. I might paint it on instead, Its like a slightly off white colour. Any colour suggestions? Its an RAF colour scheme. Could be called sky I think?

[Guest]

I have seen and read about micro sol and micro set. I know that one of them softens the decals and allows them to closely fit the panel after fitting. What does the other do?I have also read that vinegar can be used as a substitute.

I've got one of those "round the tail" decals to put on and if I remember rightly they never fit properly. I might paint it on instead, Its like a slightly off white colour. Any colour suggestions? Its an RAF colour scheme. Could be called sky I think?

Strong chance it could be sky. Also, I'd probably try to paint the wraparound decal - I'v had a bad experience of wraparounds after doing the rear fuselage bands of an F-86 :soapbox:

[Guest]

I have sprayed the underside of the model, unfortunately I got the amount of paint wrong and I ended up putting it on a little too thickly, so the pre shading was a bit of a waste of time!

I then turned to the camoflage. Now the kit instructions are 80% of this colour, 10% of that and another 10% of something else. Unfortunately the colour came out as

a bit too green for sea grey! But the pre shading had worked brilliantly!! Success.

I gave it a very light coat of grey to tone the green down which has worked ok, but has obliterated the pre shading! Doh.

A few bluetack sausages and a bit of masking later and we have

and

I was very carefull to remove the vaseline but it looks like I got it onto the planes fuselage, unless it "bled" somehow. I'm not too impressed with it Those edges need cleaning up. I have tried copydex on something else and that has worked like a charm so I won't be using the vaseline again.

You can actually make out the seat belts in this pic!

The next step is to paint a few bits and pieces (yellow on the leading edges, white stripes on the wings and fuselage rather than transfers) and finish the build before trying my hand at some detailing.

[Guest]

Things I have learnt so far!

Take more time in preparation

Be careful with the amounts of paint you mix and don't believe the instructions!

copydex is fantastic for masking canopies.

Bluetack is the best invention ever!

Oh, and this modelling lark is addictive.

[Guest]

Things I have learnt so far!Take more time in preparation

Be careful with the amounts of paint you mix and don't believe the instructions!

copydex is fantastic for masking canopies.

Bluetack is the best invention ever!

Oh, and this modelling lark is addictive.

Good work mate, I like the paint job and the preshading looks successful!!! Sorry to hear about the vaseline, but that's the kinda thing I suffered from when I masked that scratchplate a while ago!!! Copydex is the bizness for freehand masking, much better than Maskol!!!

Nice build.

Stuart

[Guest]

I think this is a great model and if you have learned so much from it then all the better. The blue tac process on the camoflage edges has worked extreemly well but I think the vaseline idea wasn't quite as successfull. Stiill next time you'll do it even better!

[Guest]

I can't believe its been a week since my last post. Where does the time go?

I've finished painting....hurrah!

and building...............hurrah!

pics first.

I'm quite pleased with the exhausts, you can't really see in the pic but the original faun colour has been overpainted with some real rust mixed with a little matt clear. Its gives it a bit of texture and looks quite real (although probably miles away scale wise)

The silver for the drop tanks is rubbish (humbrol 11) and I'll perhaps look for some alclad or similar next time.

I had some serious problems masking for the white bands and the yellow leading edges. The paint just crept along the panel lines under the tape. I managed to paint over the "paint creep" with a very fine brush and a steady hand. I've tidied up the frame lines on the canopy a bit (the photo came out too blurry). There are still greasy marks on the fuselage despite being cleaned with soapy water. I'm hoping the klear I'm going to spray won't react with it. Wish me luck!

I'm not looking forward to putting the decals on. It never used to bother me but I don't want to cock it all up after putting so much time into what Ive done so far. I'm going to klear first to put a gloss finish on and I might pick up some micro sol or something to try to get the painted on look.

I have enjoyed this so much I've already become a model junky and have five more kits sat on the shelf waiting to go!

[Guest]

A couple of coats of clear (in an attempt to get fully gloss rather than satin).

In the end I gave up and went with the satin!

Then transfers on. I used micro sol/set and... wow what a great effect. Much different to when I used to just "wack em on" when I was a kid.

and another coat of Klear to seal them in. I'm going to try my hand with some weathering.

Even though I say it myself I'm really pleased with the results. This is the first model i've made in years and I'm really hooked.

Please post any advice/criticism, I'm thick skinned I can take it!

[Guest]

Nice job:bravo:

Glad to see the stain at the side of the cockpit disappeared under the Klear! I guess it was the vaseline that caused it?

Anyway, nice work, a great finish to the 'Stang!

Stuart

[Guest]

Thanks Stuart.

Yes the stain just disappeared! (big sigh of relief)

[Guest]

Finished!

I struggled to find any good pics of raf mustangs to model the wear and tear on so I used a kind of artistic license, yep I made it up!

I mixed some water soluble oil paint (black and burnt umber) into a wash and applied liberally (read slapped about!) all over the model. I left it to dry and then wiped off the excess. It really brought the panel lines out on the wings, less so on the fuselage though. It dirtied everything up as well making it look a little less new.

When this dried I applied some silver paint for chips on the leading edge of the wings props and where the pilot stands to get in (I probably should have done this before the wash really).

I bought some chalk pastels (good old ebay) and attempted to apply streaks around the wing cannons and from the exhaust, but couldn't get the chalk to stick to the klear. I ended up wetting the brush and making a kind of chalk paste. The effect is poor and I'm not sure if I should have done the chalk bit onto the matt paint surface before I went any where near the klear?

So there she is. I'll clear it once more and will experiment with adding talc to the klear to get a matt surface. I've also ordered some acrylic rod to mount it in flight as it were. I'll post a pic when its all mounted up.

In the mean time here she is!

[Guest]

The final pic's

Its been weathered using a dirty wash, pastels and a bit of silver paint, a matt coating of klear put on, by spraying from a greater distance allowing it to go a bit dusty! Seems to have worked well.

I've ordered some acrylic rod and I'm going to mount it on a plinth of some kind.

Thank you every one who has given encouragement and advice.

It was much appreciated.

Rob