Airfix 1/48 P51D Mustang

[therapy]

Hi Guys, here is my completed example of the recently tooled 1/48 Airfix P51D Mustang. In keeping with my loose theme of building 'local' aircraft - when I do allied ones anyway - (not hard when you've lived all your life in Eastern England), this has been built out of the box as an aircraft flown from Martlesham Heath just outside Ipswich in 1945. It's a place I know well.

Completed over the past few months, this is my first attempt at a metallic finish and it's something I need to work on next time I give it a go. There seems to be a fine line between not enough and too many when it comes to number of coats. I also had a problem with the preceding gloss black coat on the underside at first, the rectification of which was only partially successful. I am happier with the transparencies on this build though and used Deluxe Materials 'Looks Like Glass' which certainly has helped. Paint was Vallejo metal colour white aluminium and I sprayed the black stripes rather than use the kit decals - the decals took ages as it was....

Anyway, here are the pics...















As always, thanks for looking in - tips and comments welcome....

Cheers,
Nick

 

[Mark1]

Looks good mate, know what you mean with the metal colours,just started playing with them myself.

 

[Andy the Sheep]

A very nice model, Nick, and a neat metal effect.
Sooner or later I will have to tackle with the natural metal colour finishing on an aircraft too : I hope I'll be able to reach your results.

Andrea

 

[scottie3158]

Nick,
That looks cool mate, the finish looks great.

 

[yak face]

Looks great nick , first go or not youve nailed it . “Looks like glass ?” Ill have to look at that , cheers tony

 

[stillp]

Now that is seriously good Nick.
Pete

 

[Tim Marlow]

That’s a great finish on an iconic aircraft Nick. Love it….

 

[JR]

A worthy contender for a,



Congratulations Nick from the committee .

 

[therapy]

Looks good mate, know what you mean with the metal colours,just started playing with them myself.

Thanks Mark.

A very nice model, Nick, and a neat metal effect.
Sooner or later I will have to tackle with the natural metal colour finishing on an aircraft too : I hope I'll be able to reach your results.

Andrea

Thanks Andrea, there is still room for improvement but the important thing is to take that first step. Good luck when you do.

Nick,
That looks cool mate, the finish looks great.

Thank you Scottie.

Looks great nick , first go or not youve nailed it . “Looks like glass ?” Ill have to look at that , cheers tony

Cheers Tony . It's certainly been a worthwhile purchase and easy enough to use.

Now that is seriously good Nick.
Pete

Thank you Pete.

That’s a great finish on an iconic aircraft Nick. Love it….

Thanks Tim.

A worthy contender for a,

View attachment 444382

Congratulations Nick from the committee .

Thank you John. It's an honour to be in receipt of the award.


And to everyone else who looked in and liked, I really appreciate it.

Cheers, Nick.

 

[colin m]

That looks like quite an impressive build you have there. Great job on the finish.

 

[The Smythe Meister]

That looks fantastic
Really like that.... Some tricky decal work there eh??!
Lovely stuff,
Andy

 

[therapy]

That looks like quite an impressive build you have there. Great job on the finish.

Thanks Colin.

That looks fantastic
Really like that.... Some tricky decal work there eh??!
Lovely stuff,
Andy

Thanks Andy. Yes, lots of decals. The spinner was worst, eight decals to line up on that alone and many applications of the old decal solutions before it looked acceptable...

Cheers, Nick.

 

[Ian M]

That is very nice. The metal effect is really very good. Those decals look a pain!