Peterpools

Jeroen PE work looks spectacular Keep ‘em comin Peter

Tom Way to go - your work looks fantastic Keep ‘em comin Peter

Rob Paint and colors looks good Keep ‘em comin Peter

Cees Terrific start on the throttle quadrant and some excellent research pi’s. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Harv Nice progress - and a good strat on the big radial Keep 'em comin Peter

John Looking might good - just love your air brush work. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Gaz Keep ‘em comin Peter

Gaz Paint work is awesome Keep ‘em comin Peter

Cees seats are looking so good Keep ‘em comin Peter

Ron Looking real good Keep ‘em comin Peter

Alberto Good to know Keep ‘em comin Peter

Jeroen You might hate doing the PE flaps but the first one look fantastic and so worth the extra work! Keep ‘em comin Peter

Frank Fantastic work on the gun blister - looking spectacular. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Carl Got ya nice start on the Big P&W Keep ‘em comin Peter

Tony Yup, the flat seemed to add just enough texture. Looking so good Keep ‘em comin Peter

Nice work. Will be following Keep ‘em comin Peter

Looking mighty good Keep ‘em comin Peter

Thanks Gaz It’s been a lot of unexpected extra work and I’m glad the tweaking is close to being over and then onto paint time - my favorite part of ant build. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Rob Much appreciated and I’m also hoping plus fingers crossed, the majority of the fit issues are over and done with. Right with you - all the over engineering adding in countless internal parts, which are killers when trying to get the skins on, just never seems to fit, regardless of the manufacturer. Only way the interior detail seems to work, is to leave the panels off and the details can be seen. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Thanks Kai Just seems Nothing fits the way it should and I’m willing to bet it all stems from the cockpit assembly being a bit askew - just wish Revell would have used the drop in from below method of inserting the cockpit rather then the glue one side to the fuselage wall and then hope for the best in my case. I’m going to shoot some Alclad Micro Primer Gray on test mule piece of plastic, then when dry, polish it out to 12,000 grit and then on goes the the RAF Speed Silver. I’ll compare it to my standard NMF of Alclad or AK over Gloss Black and see how the colors match up. Hopefully there will a big difference plus I don’t want the Speed Silver too metallic but more of a paint look. If it works out, hopefully it will work for you when you do your a Tamiya a Mustang Keep ‘em comin Peter

P-51 Mustang Progress has been marked by constant tweaking, major part assembly adjustments, loads of sanding and filing and my glue of choice for added strength has been homemade sprue glue – as I needed to both fill gaps and increase the strength of the mating part surfaces. In the old days, we called it “Goop” and it was a combination of Testor’s Liquid Cement and good old sprue. These days, the mix has greatly changed to Tamiya Extra Thin Cement and Evergreen Styrene. First order of business was the wings and what a nightmare of getting them to fit or fit as closely as I could. Forget just the drop in and it fits – it was off by a good mile. Loads of sanding and filing over a weeks’ worth of work brought them close enough and then a combination of Sprue Glue and when dry Mr Surfacer 500 did the blending and filling and I’m still at it, with more filling and sanding needed.. The rear stabilizers were next and the fillets proved to need tweaking and a good deal of sanding to fit smoothly. The last major areas that needed a lot of work to fit was the radiator assembly, the lower cowl (not started yet) and the prop spinner assembly. Holy smokes, that’s just about the whole enchilada. While I was at it, I decided to follow up on Antonio’s suggestion of painting the upper armor plate flat black (MIG Rubber Black). Removed the seat assembly as carefully as I could, some delicate hand painting and the seat is ready to reinstall. Looks a lot better and a good reminder to double check references. I’ve been doing a lot of research and thought on the ‘Stangs wings’ and since Revell left the rivets off, no sweat on what to do. I have a well-researched set of drawings by J.R. Heilig, as to how to apply the painted aluminum finish. Right now I’m leaning in three directions: 1 ALCLAD II RAF High Speed Silver. 2 Tamiya Flat Aluminum and polish when dry. 3 Best solution might be to basecoat the wings wing medium gray, polish and then the High Speed Silver. The metallic shine should be a lot less than the fuselage and with a distinct color difference. I’ll need to do some testing to see which looks better and doesn’t have the appearance of Alclad Aluminum Metallic finishes. So far none of the three Tamiya Mustangs have the same wing finish! For what the Revell Mustang cost, I bought two, no complaints. No way are you going to get Tamiya fit, precision and detail at such a bargain price and taking everything into account, is still a gem – just needs a bunch of TLC, wet and dry sandpaper, loads of sanding sticks and Mr Surfacer 500. Over the past few months, the stash has been slowly growing and my next few builds are ready for their bench time when the Mustang is done: A Tamiya 1/48 F-14A and a F-14D Tomcats with the only AM being planned; Quinta 3D decal sets. My overall thought is to alternate 32nd and 48th scale builds to keep the juices fresh and flowing. Thanks for checking in Peter The armor plate is now black as it should be Loads of filling and sanding will be needed to blend the lower cowling in place.

Rob, right with you Keep ‘em comin Peter

Jeroen Looking so good and I’ve been filling and sanding Revell plastic for weeks on their P-51 trying get the parts to fit. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Cees A joy to follow and the extra bonus, picking up new techniques along the way. Keep ‘em comin Peter

Kai PE - absolutely perfect. My order arrived safe and sound and is packed safely way in the kit box. Keep ‘em comin Peter