Tonys chinese liberation air force mustang

[yak face]

Heres my entry , the lovely little Airfix p51 d in 1/72 , which will be finished in the Chinese peoples liberation army air force ( PLAAF ) scheme . Not very well known but the fledgling chinese air force had a good few mustangs , usually captured airframes , and formed the main fighter force for a few years . See link - https://plane-encyclopedia.com/cold-war/north-american-p-51-mustang-in-communist-chinese-service/
To this end I got some chinese decals ( from china , ironically ) so hopefully this weekend it will get started , cheers tony

 

[Jim R]

Well Tony I've learned something. I didn't know the Chinese Air Force had Mustangs. It will make a colourful and unusual subject.

 

[spanner570]

Nice choice mucker!
I built the Airfix 1/72 Mustang P-51 'Lollypop" a while back and can vouch for the excellent quality of these so called 'Starter' kits.

Ron

 

[Mickc1440]

Good luck Tony, nice choice for an unusual livery.

 

[Allen Dewire]

Veddy Interesting choice you've made here, Tony....Don't know much about wing thingy's, but this should be something different for sure. On the bright side, the decals look pretty easy, and you could have them done in an hour, when the time comes Sir................

Prost
Allen

PS, did the Chinese give their Mustangs names, like WonHungLow or EggFooYong or Chow Mein???

 

[Airborne01]

Veddy Interesting choice you've made here, Tony....Don't know much about wing thingy's, but this should be something different for sure. On the bright side, the decals look pretty easy, and you could have them done in an hour, when the time comes Sir................

Prost
Allen

PS, did the Chinese give their Mustangs names, like WonHungLow or EggFooYong or Chow Mein???

I knew it Nobby Long before somebody, having identified a chink in the armour plate, came up with a witticism ... (Sorry Admin! Won do it again)
Steve

 

[yak face]

Veddy Interesting choice you've made here, Tony....Don't know much about wing thingy's, but this should be something different for sure. On the bright side, the decals look pretty easy, and you could have them done in an hour, when the time comes Sir................

Prost
Allen

PS, did the Chinese give their Mustangs names, like WonHungLow or EggFooYong or Chow Mein???

Yes allen i think this ones chinese name was Nofu Qin Stencils

 

[yak face]

Made a start today , unsurprisingly with the cockpit . The kit is very finely detailed and features a full length insert that combines cockpit , radiator intake and tail wheel well .This has a couple of ejector pin marks but they were easily sorted . After a coat of black primer they have had the first coats of colour - interior green for the pit , silver for the rad intake and a mixed zinc chromate yellow for the tail wheel well. The main wheel wells have also been painted silver with the rear wing spar ( at the back of the well) painted zinc chromate yellow . The kit control column is very finely moulded , so much so that its virtually impossible to cut it off the TWO sprue gates without breaking it . This leaves two pieces that are so thin its impossible to glue them back together so they were cut off and the bottom gaiter drilled out and a piece of brass rod glued in . A blob of canopy glue formed the grip at the top. The pilots seat is very nicely done but missing the two seat pan supports so these were added from stretched sprue . Next up is a second coat of interior green then its detail painting .

 

[colin m]

Looking very nice Tony. These Mustang things, it's a bit funny how many variations of paint I've seen so far, and that's just the inside. My instructions are cockpit green for everything.

 

[Ian M]

Coming on nicely Tony. Quick too !

 

[Ian M]

Looking very nice Tony. These Mustang things, it's a bit funny how many variations of paint I've seen so far, and that's just the inside. My instructions are cockpit green for everything.

Well it is from '45 so maybe built to RAF spec? When you starting a build thread Colin?

 

[yak face]

Bit more paint on today , the interior green has had a second coat and the details painted black , these will be further picked out with colour . The instrument panel has had the decal fitted and doesn't look bad at all - accurate layout and a bit of colour. The seat has been painted and now just needs belts , im off to look if ive got any .

 

[colin m]

A nice collection of bits you have there, strangely looking familiar.

 

[yak face]

Well after a nice week on holiday ( cornwall) ive been playing catch-up with the threads on forum and the mustang build . Ive now painted the sidewall details and given them a wash and some silver drybrushing . The instrument decal has benefitted from a couple of extra bits of colour and the dials have each had a drop of clear varnish ( actually clear gel nail varnish ! ) to make them stand out a bit . I know its only a decal but it sits deep in the cockpit and is perfectly fine at this scale. The gunsight has been fitted but I removed the reflector part and will replace this with holographic confetti later .

I didnt have any US seat belts in the stash so ended up using some 1/72 soviet ones and just altering the ends on the shoulder straps to look like the L shaped US one. I also added wires to the radio and battery on the rear deck.
Once the seat and control column were added it was complete and the fuselage halves were glued together

 

[KarlW]

Just catching up.
You going to do the whole PLAAF with that decal sheet?

 

[Allen Dewire]

Dang Tony, Looks like the holiday really got the Mojo flying, back at the bench!!! The IP is fantastic, as well as all the very green internal thingy's. For a moment, I thought you would make the seatbelts out of wine foil again. Luckily you had some in the stash, or have you run out of wine...........Nice work Sir!!!...................

Prost
Allen

 

[Mickc1440]

That cockpit looks fantastic, pasties and cream teas have certainly worked their magic

 

[Mark1]

Looks the part so far Tony.

 

[adt70hk]

Very nice indeed Tony. That's coming on beautifully!

ATB.

Andrew

 

[Tim Marlow]

Looking good Tony. Office is really smart, especially for the scale.