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World War II: USA
Aircraft of the United States in WWII.
Hosted by Rowan Baylis
Tamiya P-51D 1/48
Joel_W
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Posted: Tuesday, November 21, 2017 - 05:48 AM UTC
Terri,
I'm ordering the Airfix as part of my Black Friday sale with Sprue Brothers (which isn't online as yet). But I'm holding off on any AM for it until I actually see what's in the kit, then I'll decide what it needs. Naturally I'm praying that it doesn't need a wheel well set. I still haven't gotten one for my Academy/Accurate Miniature B as yet even though I know it needs one.

As for the Eduard kit, I'm hoping that it's a Royal release, but whatever it is, I'm getting all the AM for it that Eduard makes. I'm also hoping that it doesn't need the Aires wheel well.

Joel

thegirl
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Posted: Tuesday, November 21, 2017 - 08:56 AM UTC
Thank-you guys for the positive feedback

Joel , the tail wheel housing is the Aires and the main wheel wells is the Vector set . I do have the Aires main well but this is for another build . I don't mind the resin AM stuff . But like everything it has its advantages and disadvantages .

I did pick up the new Airfix kit and it has a few wonky things but there isn't detail in the well wheel bay . Some wiring will address this easily . It's a pretty good kit . I also got Eduards ecth set and seatbelts to dress it up .
Also order Eduards Mustang pit , wheel set and prop/spinner resin sets , but I want to see if it will fit the meng kit


Rwan , yes it was worth it and would I do it again .... yes I would because I'm a sucker for punishment and it challenages the skills once in a while


Richard , few more things to do before I can start with the painting , but I'm getting close .




Terri
greif8
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Posted: Monday, November 27, 2017 - 09:54 PM UTC
Hi Terry, great work thus far on your build. The wheel wells look fantastic!

Ernest
thegirl
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Posted: Wednesday, November 29, 2017 - 04:54 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Terry, great work thus far on your build. The wheel wells look fantastic!

Ernest





Thank-you Ernest




Terri
thegirl
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Posted: Friday, December 08, 2017 - 05:58 AM UTC
Was not a very productive week at the bench . Last weekend I got everything with a coat of Tamiya black to start the natural metal finish . Sitting for a week now she should be good and dry and ready for masking the various panels .

The Prop and Spinner have been painted and ready for decals which will come later on .











Terri
Joel_W
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Posted: Friday, December 08, 2017 - 06:38 AM UTC
Terri,
You've made more progress then I have this week, which has been a big fat 0. And I'm itching to get back at the bench tomorrow.
Joel
mrockhill
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Posted: Friday, December 08, 2017 - 06:59 AM UTC
Nice work Terri! Ive been watching with great interest as I have a started tamiya 51D hot and ready to be continued with alot of the same resin bits. Actually I much appreciated the heads up on the fit of the rear wheel well PE. Id be sanding on a bent up piece otherwise
thegirl
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Posted: Saturday, December 09, 2017 - 08:02 PM UTC
Thank you Joel and Mike

Joel , must of the time I get is on the weekends , week days are just too busy and with only a few hours in the evening I just don't do much . It works out good in ways . When ever I have a painting session it gets a week to dry .

Mike , glad that the heads up came in handy for you . Hope you share your build with us . Would like to see it .


Started the natural metal yesterday . First was to mask off the wings for the dull alum and the panels around the exhaust I masked off and sprayed that area magnesium . Once this was dried the leading edge on the tail planes , panels around the rad area as well as the tail fin I sprayed a dark alum . and set this a side over night to dry . Here are the results so far .










Terri
Joel_W
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Posted: Saturday, December 09, 2017 - 09:55 PM UTC
Terri,
Nicely done. I tend to do it opposite of you with an overall coat of Aluminum, then mask individual panels. I'm also contemplating using a technique that PeeJay (Paul) used a few years ago, of painting various panels a different shade of primer, then the overall coat will show those areas completely differently. That in combination of masking other areas really opens up the book.

Joel
thegirl
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Posted: Tuesday, December 12, 2017 - 05:40 AM UTC
Hi Joel !

I have done natural metal finishes using many different methods and brand of paints . I used to use the Testors Model Master buffable paints , until the shops stop carrying the brand . Started using Alclad and this gave me nothing but issues .
I started using the Vallejo meatl coat line and this is my third NM finish using these paints .
For this finish I went with this method and I must say that it turned out better then the last two , which I sprayed Alum first and then did the individual panels

It does take a few days for the paint to harder up , but masking can be done any where from an hour to 24 hours . Depending on how think one goes . There is no difference on whether your base coat is grey , white or black or even bare plastic results are then same . Next one I will not use a black base .

You can't buff these though but if your paint work is nice and smooth you are good to go . AND don't use lacquer clear as your first sealant coat , use acrylic ! ( ask me how I know )


The meatl finish is done ! Spent all weekend working on it and the glare panel is also painted .

The trim tabd I masked and sprayed white alum . The lower panel up by the wing root area got a coat of steel . Around the cockpit area this was masked and sprayed chrome . Once everything was had cured for a spell anything that wasn't black got masked off and final alum got sprayed . Anti glaring followed next . For this I used Tamiya Olive drab . I'm ready for clear coating and start the decaling !












Terri
Joel_W
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Posted: Wednesday, December 13, 2017 - 11:32 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Joel !

I have done natural metal finishes using many different methods and brand of paints . I used to use the Testors Model Master buffable paints , until the shops stop carrying the brand . Started using Alclad and this gave me nothing but issues .
I started using the Vallejo meatl coat line and this is my third NM finish using these paints .
For this finish I went with this method and I must say that it turned out better then the last two , which I sprayed Alum first and then did the individual panels

It does take a few days for the paint to harder up , but masking can be done any where from an hour to 24 hours . Depending on how think one goes . There is no difference on whether your base coat is grey , white or black or even bare plastic results are then same . Next one I will not use a black base .

You can't buff these though but if your paint work is nice and smooth you are good to go . AND don't use lacquer clear as your first sealant coat , use acrylic ! ( ask me how I know )


The meatl finish is done ! Spent all weekend working on it and the glare panel is also painted .

The trim tabd I masked and sprayed white alum . The lower panel up by the wing root area got a coat of steel . Around the cockpit area this was masked and sprayed chrome . Once everything was had cured for a spell anything that wasn't black got masked off and final alum got sprayed . Anti glaring followed next . For this I used Tamiya Olive drab . I'm ready for clear coating and start the decaling !












Terri



Terri,
The NMK finish really looks the part in the pictures. I'm surprised that pre-shading panels doesn't change the tink of Aluminum as the paint is so thin and applied in light coats. I'm surprised to hear that the Alcad2 metalizers didn't work for you. if something generally works for me, it will work for anyone.

Joel
Merlin
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Posted: Thursday, December 14, 2017 - 03:44 AM UTC
Hi Terri

Nice work! I haven't tried the Vallejo paints, but your results are impressive.

I share Joel's surprise at the trouble you've had with Alclad, because it's always been a breeze for me. I'm a notoriously haphazard modeller in my approach to paints, and I don't always follow the best practice approach of gloss-black undercoating, but it's just "worked" with no hassle at all.

All the best

Rowan
thegirl
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Posted: Saturday, December 16, 2017 - 08:17 PM UTC
Joel and Rowan , thanks for the continuing support during this project . Much appreciated

It surprised myself as well since alclad was held in such high esteem . My greatest success comes from using acrylics , just love them !

Rowan , I recommend giving them a whirl

Over the past few days I was able to get some more progress made on the build . Decaling has started and his time around I did have some trouble with the checkers . The decals are brittle and had a few repairs to make on where they tore . It took many and I mean many coats of super sol to get them to lay down .
Other bits I'm still working on , but the wheels are painted up and the exhaust is ready , just needs a sealant coat .
















Terri
Joel_W
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Posted: Saturday, December 16, 2017 - 08:34 PM UTC
Terri,
Now that's progress for sure. Decals in the end look outstanding.

Over the last 2 years I've adopted Paul Budzik's decaling procedures and the end results have been far superior to the hit or miss issues I always had, especially with flash and silvering. One thing I did modify is the final setting solution. Paul's usual final step is Solvaset after the Micro system. I've found that if some very thin decals have already settled down into the nooks and crannies, I skip the Solvaset. On the other hand, if the decals after two coats of Solvaset are still not cooperating, I pull out the Bad Boys: Mr. Mark Softener, and Mr. Mark Setter. They will literally make the worst decals behave like they were made by Cartograf.

I've also found that the length of time for a solution to work, and using a warm damp towel is critical to the process.

The system works well enough for me now that I can decal directly on polished matt paint without a gloss clear coat, but I'm still to chicken to actually do it on a meaningful build. But I'm getting there.

Joel
thegirl
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Posted: Tuesday, December 19, 2017 - 04:58 AM UTC
Hi Joel .

My go to is Tamiya thin when decals don't behave , but this time around it didn't work for me . I did get them to lay down . I have always used the microscale system and just started using Tamiya's new line of setting solutions works well on their decals , not so good on others though .

I got the rest of the decals on and I should be able to clear cote tonight to seal everything up and in a few days can start the weathering and final assembly . I didn't take photos of this . The stenciling is to small to really see most of them . More to follow ...



Terri
SgtRam
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Posted: Tuesday, December 19, 2017 - 07:10 AM UTC
That is coming along great. Looking forward to seeing the finished build.
Joel_W
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Posted: Wednesday, December 20, 2017 - 03:46 AM UTC
Terri,
I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Mark and Tamiya decal solutions are the same product, as I doubt either company makes them.

I just find that the Mr. Mark solutions are the strongest I've tried on really stiff and thick decals.

Joel
greif8
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Posted: Thursday, December 21, 2017 - 02:01 PM UTC
Hi Terry, your build is very well executed and a beauty to look at. I have never tackled an NMF, but it looks like you pulled yours off exceptionally well. Just a beautiful job all around!

Ernest
thegirl
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Posted: Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - 06:53 AM UTC
Thanks guys for dropping by and having a peek . I actually got this done over the Christmas break but was lazy on taking the final picks . So here she is all button up .
I was an enjoyable build . Once I got started it was hard on putting it down .















Terri
rdt1953
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Posted: Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - 07:33 AM UTC
Terri - Very Nice and quickly done as well ! Now let's see another while I plod along with my project ! 👍

Best of the season to you - Richard
Joel_W
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Posted: Wednesday, December 27, 2017 - 10:51 PM UTC
Terri,
Double thumbs up. Just an impressive build. Like Richard said you really stayed focused on the build and crossed the finish line much sooner then later.

and like Richard, I'm also moving at a snail's pace with my F6F as this time of the year, bench time is hard to come by.

So what's the next build?

Joel
Merlin
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Posted: Thursday, December 28, 2017 - 01:18 AM UTC
Hi Terri

Fantastic job overcoming the brittle checkered nose decals - the result looks superb!

All the best

Rowan
thegirl
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Posted: Thursday, December 28, 2017 - 05:49 AM UTC
Thanks guys for the kind comments

Richard , Joel . Hard not to stay focused . It's a Mustang !

Have a few builds planned , but nothing set in stone . Working on shelf queens at the moment . They are starting to pile up .

However , to start of the new year I will start another mustang . Airfix's new Mustang . Built Tamiya's 48 many times over and built the Meng offering as well . My decals came in . Not doing the box schemes . Will be doing another 78FG Etta Jeanne II flown by Lt. Hule H. Lamb Jr .



Terri
greif8
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Posted: Sunday, December 31, 2017 - 02:21 PM UTC
Hi Terry, again great job on the build! It sounds like you will be in "Mustang Heaven" for the first couple of months of 2018. I hope you have fun with the builds!

Ernest
thegirl
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Posted: Sunday, December 31, 2017 - 07:46 PM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi Terry, again great job on the build! It sounds like you will be in "Mustang Heaven" for the first couple of months of 2018. I hope you have fun with the builds!

Ernest



Next couple of years I have covered Ernest . Still have 17 in the stash

Thanks for dropping by


Terri
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