Tamiya 1/48 P-51B Build (4 Viewers)

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Looking great dale. As for stripes of any kind, I never use decals supplied in kits, preferring to mask and paint them.

Hey, Terry,
Thank you for your kind words. I got lazy with this one. I think I will paint the underside stripes. I have some acrylic flat white by Testors or Polly Scale I can use. I assume I can shoot this over the Future? Oh, hell, I'll take the Future off the that part of the wing. It is not THAT hard to strip.

Dale
 
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Good Evening, All,
Well, I stripped the future off the bottom of the wings in a limited area and I masked up the stripes and air brushed em this evening. I still need to clean up a lil bit on the underside. I gorilla glued the landing gear door in place for the stripe painting. I'll pull those off in the afternoon tomorrow.
IMG_5921.JPG


I did finish the prop tonight as well. All painted up with decals applied. That assembly is now set aside awaiting final wrap on the kit. In the pic of the prop you can see what I call a dubbing needle. I must have 15 of those. I made em up years ago when I was getting into fly tying as a teen ager. Just got some hard wood dowel rod and dipped into mom's sewing supplies and made up a bunch of them. I have been using this one for probably 15 years for modeling with RC aircraft and now back into scale. You know what scares the hell outa me? When I finally decide to merge those two worlds... RC and Scale. That will be expensive. I have a set of Zirolli plans for a 1/5th Jug around here someplace.
Prop Done.JPG


Well, I am off to bed all. Thank you for all the help and kind words.

Dale
 
Done a good job Dale looks the biz...

with decal stripes it depends on the quality and the kit you are doing as to whether i give them a go or not, some work well, other a headache so you need to pick your battles, having said that if you don't mind spending the time masking then painting is always the best path...
 
Well, after getting the underside stripes painted on the wings, I discovered the amazing differences of the painted stripes versus the decaled stripes on the upper surface of the wings. The "bleed" through of the OD was stunning to be honest. So, I am going backwards now. I am removing the decals from the upper surface of the wings and I am going to paint em on. Still working to clean up the upper side of the wings. Hopefully, I can make real progress tonight.
Dale
 
Couple of things.

Pollyscale paint would have gone onto Future easily. Both acrtylics.

Bleeding can be easily avoided by burnishing the tape into all panel lines with a finger nail. To be doubly sure, after masking, spray a thin coat of the colour you are painted the stripe over before spraying the white This seals any gaps between the mask and the surface and any bleeding that does occur will be in the same colour and therefore not visible.
 
I don't think I have any bleeding. I tried a lil clean up and I think I am dealing with an interaction of the tape and future. I did burnish the tape into the various seams and panel lines with the corner edge of a hotel key card. That seemed to have set the tape down down nicely. So, the underside is done, waiting for the last application of MicroSol to dissolve what is left of the upper wing stripe on one wing. Hopefully I will be able to paint the upper stripes tonight.

Guess I need to re-teach myself how to paint invasion stripes again. It has been years since I have painted those. Any hints or dimensions for 1/48 would be most appreciated.

Dale
 
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First off, you don't really need to remove the decal stripes - they can be painted over.
The black and white AEAF stripes were 18 inches wide each, so approximately 9.3 mm wide in 1/48th scale. Note though that Gentille's P-51 did not wear these stripes.
 
Hey, Terry,
Yeap, I realize that Gentile's bird did not have the invasion stripes. I am more worried about the Gabreski '47 that is one the pile and a couple of others I am looking into building. I had some bad experiences years ago painting over decals and I tend to avoid that whenever I can. I figure MicroSol-ing them to remove them just made sense. Like I said, I should have that all complete by this evening. Then it will be back to work on the final decals and weathering and finish. I hope I can make a real dent over this weekend towards getting Shangri-La done.
Dale
 
Ah, thanks Dale - I thought it strange wanting D-Day stripe info, but now I understand. And no problem removing the decals - it's worth it if they'll come off OK.
 
Ok, all,
Made progress today on getting more done. Pics follow:
Front rgt view.JPG
Top Left rear view.JPG
Underside View.JPG


So, what is left?
1) Weathering and panel hightlighting
2) Final paint on the remainder of the cockpit glass and installation - already masked off
3) Landing gear installation and wash in the wells to get em to pop a little better
4) Radio Mast and wire
5) Install the prop
6) Final matte coat.

I hope to finish her by Monday evening and get her on the shelf. Then it is time to dive back in to the Dora.

Dale
 

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