Min lilla ponny - J26 Mustang B
first subassemblies ready. Wing spar is yellow zinc chromate from Model Master Acryl. I still consider it a great range of paints for airbrushing with a nice finish. Although they're best sprayed through a larger nozzle. There two panels - one finished with rudder pedal from Yahu and the one from the box with decals applied. Was it not for the raised panel that is correct in Yahu - I wouldn't change it as it does the job nicely!
Cockpit starboard section. Without the oxygen regulator and the decals freshly applied on Tamiya X-22 gloss. There is one sink mark but it's located in a hard to reach way so I didn't bother much. Basecoat with Mr Hobby AVC 02 Silver and followed with a AK Interactive RC Interior Green with some chipping medium in between.
Port side. Even more details and decals.
All of the placards and dials etc. are decals. Printed by Techmod they react marvelously with the Microscale solutions and are very friendly to apply. Given the minute size of most designs - that's a major advantage! Although you still have to be careful and patient! There is around 30 decals to apply throughout the cockpit area.
Basic cockpit assembly. More or less as it should be painted - sources differ. The only thing I am not sure is when you assembly it without the fuselage fuel tank - it is the majority of the support for the radio rack! I also didn't bother with ejection marks on the seat's support as they will be hidden by the seat itself.
Cockpit floor assembled, decaled, varnished and weathered. Still it looks quite busy for the 1/72 scale.
PE seatbelts are a nice touch but can be a little fiddly to paint as they are very finely etched and the wash likes to get wiped off fully.
Radio rack and the tank in all its glory. There are - in fact - decals for the fuel level gauges. It's more of an art for the sake of it as not much will be visible when the fuselage is assembled. Also virtually only the box nearest to the seat will be visible through the windows.
Wheel wells. I do believe the detail is simply insane. It took me a while of digging through the sources to confirm that I can skip the YZC on the riveted stripes. To do it quickly and nicely - impossible. So I went with all aluminum.
You still have to remember that all those details are made and moulded in a 1/72 scale!
Thankfully the part design is clever so it's more or less easy to paint. The spar is YZC and I didn't bother in super detailing those areas as I planned to close the main doors as was typical for Mustangs.
And the dashboard. Panel is from Yahu models and it really looks well, besides it fit to the original parts just like the plastic counterpart. The only difference is that you need to use CA glue. Only the final assembly is a tad tricky as you have to glue it to one side of the fuselage first. It won't go in if they are first joined together!
And the finished port side. YZC here, Interior Green there, Silver elsewhere... You have to attach the tailwheel at this point. I poses some problems later on while painting but nothing some pieces of masking tape can't fix.
Starboard side with everything attached. Tailwheel well is really nicely detailed but you won't be able to see much of it when the fuselage is glued together.
And here's the Swedish pony in all its glory! As I wrote - nothing fancy with the weathering as there is not supposed to be one. I painted the green using Hataka C053 Olive Green that is also labelled as RLM80 lightened with some sand/buff colours and. Undersides are XF-66 Light Grey from Tamiya lightened up with white.
Decals are from a set by Moose Republic Decals, printed by Cartograf - nothing else to say apart from the usual "superb decals".
To add some visual variation, I painted the "hinge" area of the flaps silver. It might have been YZC or also the main camo colour. But at least the uniformity of the green is broken a little.
Main challenge was to achieve the "Swedish look" without painting such small aircraft too dark. I believe my solution worked.
Unfortunately - no underwing stores for this one. Didn't see any picture of this a/c in this camo with either drop tanks or other ordnance.
Another challenge was the landing gear. It's just a single strut on the left and right that has to support the weight of the model. They are quite sturdy, yes, but the rounded mounting piece is not the easiest one to position on both sides equally as it allows for too much play for me. I managed to get right, but won't be surprised to see some of those models leaning to one side or the other because of the impatient positioning. A square keying for the struts would have been better in my opinion.
And the underside. When given a model that well engineered and injected all you have to do is to nicely accent those details...
A little view on the inside. Not much visible, byt that's to be expected. If you have the option - go for the aftermarket masks e.g. from Eduard for this one as I did. They are so much better cut than the set ones with all the proper cutouts. There is a slight fit issue with the front canopy and you have to make a tough decision - leave it as it is and have all those beautiful rivets or make it right but either lose or painstakingly recreate them... The choice is yours!
A little view on the panel. The manual gunsight is from Master set with gun barrels. I did some chipping on the walkway to have ANY weathering on this one 😉
Top view with the seat. Really - I've seen 1/48 model with more rudimentary interior than this one. And it's in fact almost entirely OOB!
I widened the holes to accept the Master's gun barrels. There is currently only a set for D version so you will be left with some surplus guns. But this replacement gives a nice touch - apart from the fact, that you have only one try to position the guns correctly if you're inserting them to a finished model kit like I did 😉 They are blackened using Master Blackening Solution.
By the time I was making this one there were no resin wheels available at hand so I went with the set ones. Great on the sides, not so great on the tread but they have to do. Also the mounting point is slightly short which again gives them some play. Patience and care require to set them straight.
By the time I was making this one there were no resin wheels available at hand so I went with the set ones. Great on the sides, not so great on the tread but they have to do. Also the mounting point is slightly short which again gives them some play. Patience and care require to set them straight.
Hozzászólások
29 5 June 2022, 14:40
Thomas KolbAaaaand now my Airfix Mustang build does not feel like so much fun any more... 😉 Seriously, an absolutely astonishing build you've got here. I cannot believe it's not 48. Or even 32.
5 June 2022, 14:55
Hanno KleineckeAmazing amount of interior detailing for a 72nd kit, excellently taken advantage of. Superior looking overall result ! 👍
5 June 2022, 15:04
Wojciech KuczaThanks all! @Thomas Kolb - to be honest, for me any other model kit than from Arma Hobby feels not that much fun anymore... 😉 But the Airfix Mustang is also a nice kit! And they announced that the D variant will be released around end of this year... 😉
7 June 2022, 07:22
Wojciech KuczaAlways worth trying! It's a timeless design and always looks nice! 🙂
23 June 2022, 16:30
Album info
Being an avid fan od everything flying and riding bearing either Three Crowns or Hakaristi (and later blue/white/blue roundel) I just couldn't pass the opportunity to make a rarely portrayed Swedish P-51 in B variant. Initially I planned to make it out of the AZ Model P-51B that I won at some model contest, but then Arma Hobby with their stunning kit came along. And the wheels went into motion...
This is a part of a joint group project in our local model club, that was to build the Mustangs donated by the manufacturer. Most of my friends did one or another box markings, but why not make this one into my plans as well... ?
This is a J26001 model, the first interned P-51B that was previously named Z-Hub. It was repainted in a typical Swedish camo but it didn't flew much in it before it was stripped and finished in a typical way of ponies from those days i.e. silver. As such - no stencilling because it was applied on the silver one and virtually no weathering at all on the outside as photos indicate it was freshly painted. And frankly as it didn't took part in any war activities it really didn't have any chance to get dirty.
I replaced the instrument panel and MG barrels. Rest is OOB as the kit is remarkable and I really think that there is no need to swap e.g. interior for PE parts. Seatbelts and some PE meshes are included in the Expert Set box.
In the upcoming silver one I would probably replace the wheels and exhaust stacks for the Eduard's printed ones as the wheels are the weakest part of this kit and I'm not very keen on drilling the exhaust pipes.
