Revell P-51-5NA Mustang

[Peterpools]

North American P-51D-5NA Mustang

Revell 1/32 Scale

Paints:

Air brush: MRP and Ammo by Mig

Brush Painting: Model Air and Tamiya

I decided I needed to have two kits underway to provide as much therapy for my hands as possible, with the second kit needing having loads of small parts, with and both air brush and hand painting almost on a daily basis. I would like to report, the therapy is working better then expected: I’m able to use my hands so much better now and most of all Friday was the first time I could actually write legibly and comfortably, which I haven’t been able to do since October!

 The Sufa was moving along at a nice clip and what I thought would be a smooth fit of the Zacto NSI Intake, turned out to be just the opposite. In fact, I wound up ditching the Zacto intake, went back to the kit parts and have been grinding, filling and sanding for days on end – talk about a mojo killer and not much in the way of therapy for me and the main reason to start the second kit.

I had read a lot about the Revell kit: for the price, it’s a winner. I decided to start the build thread at the point of being ready to close up the fuselage with all the detail painting done and that’s where I am now. Only AM used was the Eduard P-51D Look IP and Seat belt set and what can I say: awesome and highly recommended. I also bought the Quinto Decal Set which requires using the kit parts as a base for the decals, while the Eduard Look parts do not use the kit parts at all.  Either way, you can’t go wrong – both are brilliant.

I followed the instructions for the assembly sequence and have run into a few minor issues:

Why Revell decided to locate the parts randomly on the frets, following no rhyme or reason, surely became a pain. in places and in some places the instructions weren’t that clear; the engine exhausts, which should have been a simple 1,2,3 left me mystified as how they went together.

Revell could be saving a bundle by cutting back on the mold release – I’ve never seen a kit with so much mold release unless it was a limited edition, multi media kit, which the Mustang isn’t.

Most of the parts needed the mold parting lines removed, which I did to the extent my hands at this point allowed.

After all the assemblies were done and painted, everything was glossed with Hataka Clear Gloss, decals applied and a Tamiya Pin Wash applied when dry. The radiator ramps were prepped with Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black and then Alcad II Dura Aluminum – I never seal my NMF and no problems to report. Mentally still needing to catch up after a few years away from the hobby, I should have masked and air brushed the stainless-steel clamps and will go back and redo them a bit later in the build.

Thanks for checking in

Peter  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Martinnfb]

For a second I though that I am looking at Tamiya. Very fine work Peter .

Cheers Martin

[Martinnfb]

few more motivational pics.

 

[Bomber_County]

Peter, beautiful as ever, I’ve heard good things about the Revell boxing. It’s amazing that ZM have had a complete different approach to their 51’s........

[Kaireckstadt]

1 hour ago, Peterpools said:

North American P-51D-5NA Mustang

 

Revell 1/32 Scale

 

Paints:

 

Air brush: MRP and Ammo by Mig

 

Brush Painting: Model Air and Tamiya

 

I decided I needed to have two kits underway to provide as much therapy for my hands as possible, with the second kit needing having loads of small parts, with and both air brush and hand painting almost on a daily basis. I would like to report, the therapy is working better then expected: I’m able to use my hands so much better now and most of all Friday was the first time I could actually write legibly and comfortably, which I haven’t been able to do since October!

 

 The Sufa was moving along at a nice clip and what I thought would be a smooth fit of the Zacto NSI Intake, turned out to be just the opposite. In fact, I wound up ditching the Zacto intake, went back to the kit parts and have been grinding, filling and sanding for days on end – talk about a mojo killer and not much in the way of therapy for me and the main reason to start the second kit.

 

I had read a lot about the Revell kit: for the price, it’s a winner. I decided to start the build thread at the point of being ready to close up the fuselage with all the detail painting done and that’s where I am now. Only AM used was the Eduard P-51D Look IP and Seat belt set and what can I say: awesome and highly recommended. I also bought the Quinto Decal Set which requires using the kit parts as a base for the decals, while the Eduard Look parts do not use the kit parts at all.  Either way, you can’t go wrong – both are brilliant.

 

I followed the instructions for the assembly sequence and have run into a few minor issues:

 

Why Revell decided to locate the parts randomly on the frets, following no rhyme or reason, surely became a pain. in places and in some places the instructions weren’t that clear; the engine exhausts, which should have been a simple 1,2,3 left me mystified as how they went together.

 

Revell could be saving a bundle by cutting back on the mold release – I’ve never seen a kit with so much mold release unless it was a limited edition, multi media kit, which the Mustang isn’t.

 

Most of the parts needed the mold parting lines removed, which I did to the extent my hands at this point allowed.

 

After all the assemblies were done and painted, everything was glossed with Hataka Clear Gloss, decals applied and a Tamiya Pin Wash applied when dry. The radiator ramps were prepped with Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black and then Alcad II Dura Aluminum – I never seal my NMF and no problems to report. Mentally still needing to catch up after a few years away from the hobby, I should have masked and air brushed the stainless-steel clamps and will go back and redo them a bit later in the build.

 

Thanks for checking in

 

Peter  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very good description of your progress and the flaws of the kit, Peter.

Like Martin I also thought it was the Tamiya kit on your desk.

Awesome looking what you have build so far! Nice weathering and wooden cockpit floor. 

Keep em coming!

Cheers  Kai
 

[Spitfire]

Beautiful work that is really neat.

 

Cheers

 

ennis

[BlrwestSiR]

Very nice work Peter. Glad to hear the feedback on the Look IP as well as the Quinta ones. Might have to try one of them on a future build. Although the Quinta seems a bit pricy.

Carl

[GusMac]

Looking great Peter. 

Pity about the Sufa issues, but I've always found resin intakes a mixed bag.

[Peterpools]

Thanks Martin for the compliment. While the Revell kit is a super bargain and offers the builder a lot for the dollar. While not not in Tamiya's class of fit and detail, a great value for the builder. Greatly appreciate the pics as I'm leaning towards a NMF.

Peter

[Peterpools]

Phil

Much appreciated the kind words. The Revell kit is a nice value, has details waiting to be found but suffers from a lot of fit issues as I tinker with getting the fuselage together. Pound for pound, I think the ZM is actually a better value, offering a lot ore detail in the box, where the Revell kit leans towards providing details only in the major areas that will be seen.

Peter  

[Peterpools]

Thanks Kai

The kit is well worth the money and a nice value - fun building and nice to see what can be done relying mainly on kit parts and detail painting.

Peter

[Peterpools]

Thanks Ennis

Much appreciated

Peter

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Carl for the very kind comments.

I actually decided to use the Quintas Interior set tonight and the extra details that come with the set, really spruce up the front office - seems to add the missing touch

Peter

[Peterpools]

Gus

Right with you and some how, resin just has a nasty habit of making life a bit difficult when least expected

Peter

[Peterpools]

First order of business – finish the front office. After comparing both the Quinta 3D Decals and the Look Decal sets for a second time, there were a few differences I overlooked before: The Quinta set contained a host of detail decals which brought the detail level of the front office, battery and radio boxes to a much higher level. The other plus on this build was to use the decal and the kit IP’s which dropped right into place. The Look Resin IP would need thinning to fit and I was a bit lazy in this department. I followed the Quinto instructions and let the decals come loose from the backing after a quick bath in warm water and glued the decals in place using Micro Kristal Klear to be on the safe side. The front office looked really good at this point and except for a few missing bits, was very close to Tamiya’s offering – now ain’t that something!

Closing up the two fuselage halves was a completely different act and Revell’s method was to glue the cockpit interior to one of the sidewalls and then add the other side; easier said than done. Some areas of the assembly fit fine and others didn’t line up at all. A lot of tweaking was needed before I could move on and there were still a few alignment errors. I did discover later, the cockpit assembly had become a bit askew adding to the alignment issue.

After a bit of sprue glue filler all the seams looked nice and tight and it was on to the wings. At first nothing seemed like much until I added the 50 cal. MG’s assembly at the leading edge. Fit wasn’t very good and a lot of tweaking was needed for what should have been a drop in part. MG’s were drilled out and another milestone reached in using my hands as a few weeks ago, I never could have accomplished this at all.

Thanks for checking in

Peter

 

 

[harv]

Looking good !!......harv 

[Kaireckstadt]

1 hour ago, Peterpools said:

First order of business – finish the front office. After comparing both the Quinta 3D Decals and the Look Decal sets for a second time, there were a few differences I overlooked before: The Quinta set contained a host of detail decals which brought the detail level of the front office, battery and radio boxes to a much higher level. The other plus on this build was to use the decal and the kit IP’s which dropped right into place. The Look Resin IP would need thinning to fit and I was a bit lazy in this department. I followed the Quinto instructions and let the decals come loose from the backing after a quick bath in warm water and glued the decals in place using Micro Kristal Klear to be on the safe side. The front office looked really good at this point and except for a few missing bits, was very close to Tamiya’s offering – now ain’t that something!

 

Closing up the two fuselage halves was a completely different act and Revell’s method was to glue the cockpit interior to one of the sidewalls and then add the other side; easier said than done. Some areas of the assembly fit fine and others didn’t line up at all. A lot of tweaking was needed before I could move on and there were still a few alignment errors. I did discover later, the cockpit assembly had become a bit askew adding to the alignment issue.

 

After a bit of sprue glue filler all the seams looked nice and tight and it was on to the wings. At first nothing seemed like much until I added the 50 cal. MG’s assembly at the leading edge. Fit wasn’t very good and a lot of tweaking was needed for what should have been a drop in part. MG’s were drilled out and another milestone reached in using my hands as a few weeks ago, I never could have accomplished this at all.

 

Thanks for checking in

 

Peter

 

 

 

 

Wow, fast progress with this build Peter.

Looks really stunning what you did up to now and the cockpit is a real eyecatcher. Really looks more like Tamiya than Revell! These Quinta-3D-Decals are really awesome. I have some in my stash for the Mirage 2000 (and some others from RedFox for other planes) and as you describe they seem to be easy to use.

That there are some fit-issues in places you wouldn’t expect seems to be normal for Revell but you faced them all.

Cheers

Kai

 

[antonio argudo]

looking good,  the top armour seat were painted black 

[DocRob]

I hear you Peter, about the shortcomings of the Revell kit, but can notice none of it in the progress pics. You seem to breeze through the build and make it look easy. Do I hear NMF soon?

Cheers Rob

[BlrwestSiR]

Great progress there Pete, especially on your hands getting back to normal.

I keep balking at the Quinta stuff but I'd they come out with one for the F-5F or Mig-29UB I may just have to get one. 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Harv - I just discovered The end result of the alignment issues - getting the wing to fit. Oh what fun 

Peter

 

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Kai

you are going to love the decals - easy to use with no mess or fuss. Having all sorts of fun with the fit issues and the latest is fitting the wing assembly in place. Not having the fuselage assembly aligned perfectly seems to be the culprit in getting the wing assembly to fit without needing a modeling chain saw. Oh what fun

Peter

 

 

[Peterpools]

Antonio

Thanks for the pics and I should have done a bit more research. At this stage of the game, painting the armor plate flat black is going to take a bit of work and is under way.

Peter

[Peterpools]

Thanks Rob, just wish I was gliding through the build and solving the issues as fast as I find them. Planning on a NMF, using Alclad paints with the wings being finished with Alclad RAF Speed Aluminum - replicating the paint aluminum and the fuselage with various shades of Alclad as well.

Peter

[Peterpools]

Thanks Carl

Much appreciated. I’m betting that giving Quinta time, they will be releasing decal sets ar a good pace

Peter