As I write this I've nearly finished it, with still a month to go. I haven't taken many images fo this build but being a Tamiya kit, you know what to expect, great fit, great detail and no real problems.
Here's the obligatory box shot and references.
I've also added a Ultracast seat, scrounged from a clubmate (Thanks Kent), a Ultracast prop, and I found a seat of P-51B exhausts in the spares box, they look close enough so I'll used them as well.
I also grabbed a set of BarracudaCast wheels as Roy was having a free shipping offer.
As usual the cockpit was up first. I painted it with Mr Color Interior green and NATO black. The Kit decal was used for the instrument panel. I'm a big fan of decals for panels as they a quick and easy but look great (as long as the decal fits which this one does).
The side console detail was picked out with Vallejo acrylics.
The worst bit of all the Tamiya Mustang kits is getting rid of the seam on the underside, particularly in the vent. I sand it as smooth as I can then cover it with some 0.005" thou card
The rest goes together well, just don't forget the radiator ....
Once the seams were gone I gave it a primer coat of Mr Surfacer 500 through my Sparmax Airbrush. to check for seams and other issues. A few touch ups were carried out and then then a base coat of Tamiya AS12, decanted and sprayed through the airbrush was applied to the model.
Once I was happy with the base coat I added some shades of Alclad. I'm not a fan of the patchwork quilt approach where various panels are painted different shades. As a general rule I don't see that sort of finish as typical of a bare metal aircraft, and apart from the tail and area around the exhausts, the RNZAF P-51 images I saw didn't show this.
I used some various shades of Alclad (primarily Dark Aluminium and Duraluminium) to alter the shades of the silver.
I then masked out the anti glare panel and painted it with Tamiya NATO Black.
