Tamiya 1:32 P-51D 'Blondie'

[Jeroenveen1]

I have to admit that I'm running out of 1:32 scale posts, but I have two to go. I will start building the WnW Hisso in a couple of weeks and I hope to do a full WIP on these forums. The WnW Gotha might be interesting to post as well, but for now I will show you some pics of the P-51. Everything that has been said about the kit is true: it's a marvel of engineering and crammed with detail. I added Roy Sutherlands cockpit goodies and Mal Mayfield was kind enough to cut me some masks for 'Blondie'. Blondie, stars and bars and codes are all painted on. Smaller codes and markings were done with kit decals. Promodeller sludge washes were used as well as oil paints in selected areas. I swear I will never even start smoothing out the wings. I used Mr Surface for that but it was a lot (a lot!) of work. This is how she turned out. I hope you enjoy the pics, all comments welcome as usual. Happy modeling, Jeroen

 

 

 

 

 

[JeroenPeters]

Holy crap! You just don't stop do you?

What a great finish. 

And then to think i usually don't fall for blonds...

 

Wow...

[thewrongguy]

Amazing!

 

If you don't mind me asking what did you use for the aluminium finish?

 

Jeff

[NOVAModeler]

I'm building this now and am having a lot of fun with it. Yours is amazing. Just the right amount of wear and tear.

[Dave J]

Wow Jeroen! Do you have any WIP photos?

[James H]

You're gonna have to tell me how you did that metal finish. I just don't get on with them.

 

Totally love the finish 

[rkranias]

Between you and James popping out these awesome 1:32 builds....yikes!

 

a beautiful job on this kit and yes, NMF data please.

[wemattson]

Jeroen,

 

You're killing me with these beautiful models! They are very inspirational.

 

Cheers,

Wayne

[Jeroenveen1]

Thank you guys! This model will probably be published in TMMI and here's some information from the article about how I painted the model:

'I used Xtracolor Metal, Duraluminium and Gun Metal for the wings and fuselage. Flaps and ailerons were painted with Xtracolor German Metal, which is very bright. I sprayed these straight on the plastic, and after drying I masked off the antiglare panel on the nose. That was painted with Xtracolor Olive Drab and highlighted with Faded Olive Drab. Next was the red nose. I’m not a big fan of decals in this scale and decided to use masks instead. Mal Mayfield from Miracle Masks cut me a set for the stars and bars, ‘Blondie’ nose art, codes and numbers. Of course, the masking process takes some time but the results are well worth it, because all the rivet detail remains visible. I then gave the whole plane a treat with Promodeller Sludge Wash. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the end result. The metal colors darkened slightly and I was contemplating how to solve this. I decided to use the Xtracolor German Metal and dab it on the spine of the airframe and wingroots with a piece of sponge to lighten them up. The effect was very pleasing: not only did the color become lighter but the walkway decal became nicely weathered and it gave certain panels a somewhat muffled look. I felt happy with the rescue attempt and decided to again seal it with some Gloss Varnish.'

 

Dave, yes, I have a lot of WIP pictures but because of the publication I'm a bit hesitant to show them here before Marcus used it for TMMI. If you want I can mail some of it, but in that case please give me your mailadress. 

 

Hope this all helps, cheers, Jeroen

[Jamme]

Helo Jeroen.

I really like the way you weathered your P-51.

Really clean build and discreet weathering.

Thank you for sharing this one with us.

Cheers,

Jamme

[Wingco57]

Like your style. Very realistic.

Cees

[harvey boyer]

CRAP ! how did this slip by ?? Jeroen, just beautiful. Weathering is top shelf, all the way. Great looking build..............Harv

[Grant]

ALERT .... A severe shortage of Alclad had just been reported in the Netherlands ..... ALERT

 

PS: beautiful build Jeroen.

[coolboxx]

Great! all of the above

[Devil Dog]

Beautiful!

[Mikester]

Excellent!  Love the way you've subdued the NMF.

[Guest styrenedemon]

Lovely and inspiring. I was going to ask you how you found the kit decals since I am considering using them for the insignias and whatnot, but you painted them...figures. I'm considering masks as well.

[nmayhew]

You're gonna have to tell me how you did that metal finish. I just don't get on with them.

 

Totally love the finish

Great looking bird!

 

I agree the finish looks wonderful - I have always felt uneasy about super shiny fighters, so this one really appeals

 

Thanks for sharing

[One-Oh-Four]

Hi Jeroen

 

Really impressive finish! Kudo's!

Btw, are you going to Euro Model Expo, the weekend of 6 & 7 april in Heiden, Germany?

 

Cheers,

Erik.

[Jeroenveen1]

Hi Erik, yes, I will be there, doing a demo on saturday! See you there I hope! Cheers, Jeroen

[One-Oh-Four]

Ah, nice! I'll be there on Saturday with the guys from IPMS NL, branch Regio Midden and my two sons. It looks like I'll be there on Sunday too. The boys from Amstelveen (your namesake and Wingco) are going to "take me out for a ride".... Heeeelp....