A Pair of Ponies...

[Brad Cancian]

Hi all,

The Australian Capital Territory Scale Model Society (ACTSMS) here in Canberra runs an annual competition called "The Kittyhawk Cup", where all participants must build the same kit, out of the box. This year, the kit selected is the series of Airfix 1/48 Mustangs (any of the boxings). Kits must be built OOB, with the option to utilise other decals. I haven't entered the competition for a very long time, and have no real idea about Mustangs, but I decided to enter anyways (and I also needed a nice OOB build after my last build, the Lindberg Bristol Bulldog, also in this folder).  But not only that, I also foolishly decided to build not one, but two Mustangs, both at the same time (insert recipe for disaster here). I've selected their P-51D and Mustang IV, and will build a USAAF and RAF/RAAF machine respectively. 



So far I have been very impressed with Airfix's engineering. The parts fit together nicely (including the separate vertical stabiliser), and the cockpit seems nicely detailed. I am not sure how accurate the seat back or seat belts are, but as this is an OOB build, there's not much I can do. I have followed the painting guide in the instructions, so I make no apologies if I have the colours wrong somewhere (did I mention I pretty much know nothing about Mustangs?). Here is where things are at right now - the cockpit is painted up and ready to go. The instrument panel was done with a combination of decals and dry brushing, and I applied a splash of white glue on the dials to represent glass faces.  I think i'll be able to get away with fitting the seat / seat back and radio boxes after painting is done (to aid with masking with the canopy off).  here are some pics:









The interior colour was Gunze Interior Green, with a bit of dry brushing. Humbrol Leather was used for the seat back as per the instructions, and the wooden floor was done with oil paints. Next step is fitting the interior, radiator / coolers and getting the fuselage together. It looks like this should be relatively trouble free from my test fitting.

Anyone have any tips with building the Airfix Pony?

All comments and feedback welcomed.

Cheers,

BC

[Vickers]

Looks great, Brad. Your Mustangs are coming along nicely- colors of the structures and components look accurate and your techniques for creating depth, shadows, and highlights really make the details pop. The "P-51 purists" might point out that "most" of the wooden floors were painted flat black at the factory and in vintage photos of operational machines you can often see a matching scuff marks in front of the rudder pedals with the wood showing through. However, I personally wouldn't want to see you cover that lovely wood grain just to appease the potential nitpickers.

[Alexis]

Well , you know I be following your ponies , which both are off to an excellent start . I have built this kit already and didn't have any fit issues over all , test fitting will take care of this . Only trouble with the kit is the rear canopy doesn't sit right when in the open position , rear tail sits high in the air and doesn't rest on the fuselage . Other then that she builds up nicely . Can't comment on the decals though . I used aftermarket to do a checker nose bird of 383 FG . Looking forward to the next up-date Brad .


Terri

[RAGIII]

Outstanding detailing and painting as always Brad! Looking forward to the next update!
RAGIII

[Brad Cancian]

A minor update - fuselage halved are now together, and I have painted the gear bays. Colours for mustang bays appears to be a point of contention, so I went with what I could find online... in the end I settled on natural metal doors and roof, and interior green spars. No idea if it's right, but oh well...






Wing halves are now together and drying as we speak. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get them mated onto the fuselage (always a big milestone).

Cheers,

BC

[RichieW]

These are looking great Brad, I am a huge fan of both the P51 and the kits Airfix are now making. Your metal work and interiors looks amazing.

Richie

[Bughunter]

No matter from which era the originals of your models come, they all look great! The coloring and aging is incredibly pleasing.
And I really like the Mustang. This is one of the most beautiful planes ever built.

Cheers,
Frank

[Brad Cancian]

Hi all - finally got some paint onto them... I wasn't originally going to do two natural metal finishes (one was going to be a USAAF OD green and grey) but found a NMF scheme I wanted to do, so they're both now silver. I tried my hand at a few Alclads (well, 7 in total), and they came up ok... surface prep is so important with these, as you can see every little scratch (annoyingly). I'm probably going to flat coat it in the end as from what I can tell, the aircraft weren't generally polished, plus I want to use an oil wash... which means that it'll probably just look like 'silver' in the end, and i'll probably lose most of the tonal variation ...unless someone can suggest a good clear coat to help preserve some of the 'shine' of the finish?



Cheers,

BC

[Alexis]

Ponies are coming along really well Brad . I use Vallejo Metal Cote and seal this after it is fully dried with Tamiya clear , apply the decals seal with clear again . Do my wash and other weathering and seal with a final coat of Tamiya semi gloss . Don't use flat coat at all or you will lose the semi shine of the metal effect .


Terri

[jeroen_R90S]

Looking really nice!
I don't have direct experience myself, but some modelling friends use Alclad clearcoats that as far as I can see only slightly mute the effects.

[RAGIII]

Your usual beautiful work Brad! I am sure you will come up with a solution to preserve the tonal variations.
RAGIII

[Brad Cancian]

Well, after spending several hours masking, spraying, and going cross-eyed, I think I can say that i'll never want to play checkers ever again....



Cheers,

BC

[FAf]

Terrific masking! Did you use small squares or did you mask them with longer tape twice?!
/FAf

[Brad Cancian]

Thanks FAf - all were done with small squares. The white went down first, then the squares, then the black, then the red. The nose of the mustang is a compound curve, so it took a bit of time as the size and shape of the squares changes from front to rear. It's far from perfect, as everything was a bit difficult to align, but most of the sins are on the underside of the nose where the misalignment is a bit harder to spot

Cheers,

BC

[Alexis]

Brad , really nice job on masking the checkers 


Terri