Peterpools

Thanks John. so far, the Mustang has been all fun and enjoyment.

Carl Sure does. My idea is just a large model, can be any scale.

Carl We're inside except for an appointment with our oncologist tomorrow. Diane and I will be wearing KN95 masks.

Carl I went back and saw your Lanc. I just thought a GB based on Large/Big kits and not by scale would be a great idea. The possibilities are nearly endless. ,

Thanks Gaz and I'm right with you. Back in the day, we all use to guess and wonder the next 32nd scale release and wished for a P-47 and P-38 but that has proven never to be. I just can't see any hope that Tamiya will ever revisit 32nd scale with a completely new kit - as it seems their talent has going down the 48th scale path.

Bill Glad your smoke isn't as bad. Souther Conn and just north of NYC and norther NJ are supposedly pretty bad as well.

The smoke from the wildfires in Nova Scotia has reached us here on Long Island. The vis is less then a half mile, the smoke is orange and thick. We're inside and safe (not safe for us old folk to be outside) but I had to go outside for a minute and it smells just as if we're in the fire and smoke.😷

Thanks Kev Making progress is small steps and enjoying the build.

CLOSING UP THE FUSELAGE With the Mustang being manufactured on our side of the pond, she was fitted with the Packard built Merlin. There are a number of differences between the Rolls Royce and Packard Merlin’s and the parts for each are included in all the Tamiya Spitfire and Mustang kits, so follow the instructions. The Merlin went together without a hitch, as I’ve had lots of practice building Tamiya Merlin’s over the years. Air brushed with Tamiya LP-5 Semi Gloss Black Lacquer, a few parts brush painted Tamiya Flat Aluminum Lacquer LP-38, the larger NBW were picked out with gloss aluminum (just for effect) and then a light dry brushing to bring out the details. Done, finished and unfortunately, much of the details will not be seen. The Merlin is attached to the firewall with a nice size screw for a solid fit as compared to how I struggled with the DB engine in the ZM 109G. Tamiya’s method was simple, secure and full proof. ZM’s chosen method was anything but. The Merlin and firewall were solidly glued to the forward fuel tank and let dry for a few hours. The last of the internal fuselage parts were now added and then it was time to glue up the two fuselage halves. Time was devoted to removing paint from all of the gluing surfaces to help with the fit. Of course, things didn’t go perfectly, a lot of tweaking and tinkering were required, as there are so many assemblies coming together. A good number of the cowl framing and forward engine parts have been built but left off until all the air brush work and decaling has been completed, as what I have on now, is just being test fitted. All the screw attachment holes have been drilled out and adds quite a bit to the overall look. Going back to Tamiya’s Spitfires and Mustangs, I never liked the toy like features of movable control surfaces, vent doors and even a sliding canopy. Suffering through them but next time around, they all will be left off.

Carl Absolutely amazing and going to be an epic build. Looking at the box and packaging, it surely seems to equal the Border Lancaster in size and especially care. I've often thought of a GB, based around the following guideline: The kit comes in a very large box with lots of sprues and parts, will occupy a lot of space when finished and is going to take time to build. Of course, I had in mine aircraft kits such as the Border and HM Lancasters, large size ships, large size armor and of course large size cars. The kit/model has to be BIG. Not sure how many of the guys would be interested in such a GB but who knows. Just food for thought as I keep getting nearer and nearer to building the Lancaster.

Kriss Nice progress with the primer and white fuselage stripe. And so true about the: "Chief"

Dave Very nice progress on the Big Corsair. Absolutely, dislay her at the Nats and please take a few photographs the Corsair on the dislay table.

John Front office is looking mighty busy and the details do the job so very nicely. Pretty easy to have missed the step and thanks for pointing it out, as I'm sure it will save a lot of corrections for cavalier builds down the road.

Oliver Looking mighty good

Carl Enjoy the Apache and of course, looking forward to a build thread not to far down the road.

Some mighty nice progress

Rob Completely agree and right with Carl but I know I'm going to give them a try either on the Mustang or my next build.

John Nice start on the P-51 Interior - good call on the light Gray for the interior color.

I know and I've had an eye on the 1 Man Army Stencil Masks - a lot can be universally applied.

John Looks terrific to me.

Dave Looking mighty good and nice to see you haven't missed any of the small details that really add up. Are you using the kit decals since you are going with the box art color scheme?

Oliver Awesome progress and you're in the paint shop now - brilliant work and amazing progress.

Another terrific build in the books. Just over a to the completed build forum and left a comment, 🏆

John Another awesome P-39 and you're so right the scheme and markings represent how most P-39's looked in that area of operations. So very well done.

Kev Thanks for the detailed photographs and procedures. The office does look mighty good and hard to believe SH never realized the issue having the window rank in the wrong spot would cause. I have the Quinta set for the Tempest II, which I'm planning to build and nearly the same kit, sometime this year and of course it does solve the seatbelt issue. Right with you on having a fit issue and when figuring out why, realized a part was missed.