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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

Dragon P51K


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Here are a few pictures of my Dragon P51K, which I'm building over on Aeroscale for my sins. It really isn't a pleasant build with lots of fit issues carried over from the D boxing (why Dragon. Why??). I used barracudas cockpit stencils, designed for the Tamiya kit and McGyvered them to fit. Lots of trimming and dissecting, but I think they really liven this area up. I also used some 1/48 scale dials and stencils from Airscale. The etched belts fell to bits when I was bending them into shape so I trimmed off the hardware and made my own from tape. I also replaced the seat back from card. The whole sorry tale so far can be found here http://www.aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=230350#1940355

 

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The fuselage went together fairly straight forwardly. The fit of the wings was another story. Lots of cutting and sanding required to get the wings together. The area around the gun ports looked really messy so I carefully cut off the kit parts and replaced them with rings, punched from card.

 

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The canopy windscreen appears to be designed for another kit alltogether and much trimming had to be carried out in order to get it to sit right. This resulted in a large gap which needed to be filled, sanded and will require polishing of the clear parts. All favourite tasks of mine! Oh joy :angry: !

 

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First attempt at sanding revealed some areas where the filler didn't quite take so these were addressed with some thick Mr Surfacer from the bottom of the bottle.

 

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  • 3 months later...

This time of year is notoriously slow, modelling wise, for me. Kids are off school and demanding my time, but finally managed to get some primer on the Mustang. I used Alclad grey primer, which was for the most part sucessful but went on a bit thick and pebbly in other areas, notably, the wing root. Also need to address a couple of flaws before proceeding with the NMF. More sanding and polishing ahead, woohoo! So glad to finally lose the clear cowling though.

Been off all week on vacation and have been eating and drinking exactly what I please. So hoping to make some significant progress on this and my Revell Spitfire this week, to take my mind off.... erm..... eating and drinking!

 

Regards, Mike.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Used Alclad alluminium for the NMF. Was surprised to see that the finish came out a bit patchy, but decided that I actually like the worn effect that I accidently achieved.

 

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To my eye, it looks like the aircraft has seen some abuse from the elements and has a used, patinated look. Hooray for happy accidents. I'd be interested what others think, but I think I'll leave as is and follow up with some dust dirt and oil after the decals are on.

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I like it, but you do know the Mustangs wings were puttied with ACME putty to seal any panel seams. This was to keep the laminar flow laminar. In service it did not work out that well with squashend insects, muddy groundcrewboots, wear tear etc..

Cees

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I like it, but you do know the Mustangs wings were puttied with ACME putty to seal any panel seams. This was to keep the laminar flow laminar. In service it did not work out that well with squashend insects, muddy groundcrewboots, wear tear etc..

Cees

Yeah I know, but some weren't and some had it removed. I'm depicting one of these latter machines. ;) (I've wasted too much of my life on this stupid model already).

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I was a bit concerned that the checker markings on the nose would be a right mare but fortunately this proved not to be the case. The 3 part decal (printed by Cartograph) went on fairly easily with some assistance from Micro Sol.

 

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  I carefully pushed, teased and prodded them into place as they softened. The fit isn't perfect but I am pleased with the result.

 

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It feels good to be able to say something nice about this kit

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Cees, wouldn't say 'unbuildable' just not a pleasant build.

 

Got some more of the decals on. These went down ok with a little help from a sharp blade and some micro sol. Good thing is, the carrier film almost disappears. Kill markings are going to be a pain. Each one is a seperate piece made from 3 tiny decals. And there are a few of them!

 

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  • 1 month later...

Not much time for modelling lately as my time has been taken up with a 1:1 scale kitchen reno, but managed to get a bit done over the last couple of days.
Those kill markings. Fiddly, fiddly, fiddly. Honestly! 3 tiny decals for each one! I managed to remove a couple of them accidentaly but luckily have spares.

 

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I began the weathering process by applying a dark wash. I am going to try some hot metal effects around the exhausts and top off with exhaust and cordite stains.

 

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The landing gear was assembled next which proved to be another fiddly job. They are over complex and the instructions are hopeless. There are multiple parts on the sprue with some parts duplicated so I spent a long time ensuring I had everything aligned and oriented the correct way before committing to glue. They don't look bad when assembled. Unfortunately though, you can't fit them into the holes in the gear bay without trimming some material off the ends of the attachment points.

 

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I'm going to deviate from the instructions and hang bombs under the wings as these are included as parts marked 'not for use'. These should look ok when painted and bashed around a bit.

 

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Really need this one done so I can crack on with the Mk II Spit.

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  • 1 month later...

So, just about at the end of my tether with this. I managed to tear off the nooky booky decals on the nose by a mixture of bad planning and bad luck ( you could probably insert the word stupidity in there somewhere and not be far off the mark). This was after spending some time and care detail painting the gear bays.

 

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And painting and assembling the prop (another fine example of Dragon engineering).

 

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So this is where it stands and will probably remain so. Unless anyone has a spare set of decals for this that they are willing to part with for a small consideration. If not, I can't see myself making much of an effort to finish it. It took all my willpower to get the damn thing onto its wheels.

 

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Shame, as I quite fancied getting this past the winning post. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

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