Tamiya 1/32 Mustang P51D. Creamer's Dream.

[BarryW]

This is one of the famous 'Red Tails' and while the movie was a bit 'iffy' on historical fact they were certainly an important and successful USAAF unit.

This aircraft was based in Italy and flown by Lt Charles White with some very 'inspiring' art work on the side. It is known that he had two air to air victories in this aircraft but little is really a known about it, not even its tail number.

There are a number of interpretations of how this aircraft looked on the web and some are obviously wrong. Red wing tips or not? White or yellow bit on the rudder? Just what was the actual position of the yellow stripes? etc etc.... there are even questions over whether this was one of a small number of P51s to go into service without puttied wings! From the few photos available on the latter point I think they were puttied but I decided to go with 'unputtied' on the model simply because I wanted to experiment a bit with a NMF.

The metalisers are AKI Extreme Metal. I have used AKI washes, liquid chrome pencils, Ushi metal powder, Vallejo MA and AKI paints.

The pics.

[ATTACH]278720[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]278721[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]278722[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]278723[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]278724[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]278725[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]278726[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]278727[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]278728[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]278729[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]278730[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]278731[/ATTACH]

[Guest]

Nice work Barry.
The paintwork looks fine, and the subtle weathering on the wings and the oil stains are really effective.
Good

[Guest]

That's an exceptional build Barry, truly a work of art.

[Ian M]

That is a stunningly good build Barry.
Those metal colours look very good... I understand they are easy to use as well.

[yak face]

Beautiful looking mustang barry! The aki paints seem very good , i might have to try them

[papa 695]

Another great build Barry

[flyjoe180]

Fantastic finish on your Mustang Barry, top work

[BarryW]

Thanks everyone. The AKI Extreme Metal are very good, spray them about 10psi, not much more and lay down thin coats slowly. I used Alclad Aqua Gloss to protect the paint and it is needed for before applying the washes but decals lay down well straight onto the AKI EM. I could see no degradation of the metallic effect with the Aqua Gloss applied.

[Robert1968]

A true beauty, fantastic and lovely build. A true masterpiece

Regards

Robert

[colin m]

Excellent job Barry.

[Guest]

Very nice indeed
I had fun building mine, It looks like you did the same.
I like the weathering on your "metal" ...well done

Theuns

[Guest]

I spotted this a bit belatedly, Barry. It's a beauty. I love the NMF with subtle weathering and staining, and the cockpit is sublime.

[Guest]

Filth, pure filth...................... The ground crew could clean the fuel up from the wings haha! Nice nose art too, crackin' build.

Have fun, John

[Guest]

Beautiful work here Barry. Stunning finish and great weathering.

[BarryW]

Thanks again, I have a few builds planned with artwork that would please Trekkie John, all pure filth.

Not my current build, but my other Spit mk VIII will be 'Pauline', one P51 will be Passion Wagon flown by Charles Weaver, another P51 also flown by Weaver with a later version of 'Passion Wagon' and a P61 for which I have two options 'Coopers Snooper' or 'Night Take-Off'.........if I enjoy the Hobbyboss P61 build, who knows I might get another for the markings not used....
Take a look...
[ATTACH]279515[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]279514[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]279513[/ATTACH]
Just had a thought.... I could actually complete the P61 as Coopers Snooper on one side and Night Take-Off on the other side..... any thoughts on that?