Hi all,

My young lad brought me Revell's 1/32 P-51B for Christmas, bless him. However, he now wants to see it built. Problem is, what colours should all the interior bits be? I want to model it as an RAF aircraft, so, should it be RAF interior green, or would it be as all USAAF aircraft of the time were. Also, what colour would the wheel-wells be, ZC or standard RAF colours?
Did the RAF specify what colours they required or did they take waht they could get?

Thanks for any help...

Steve

US interior green. Black instrument panel. Are you going to add the Malcom Hood canopy and British control stick too? One of my favorite a/c. Good luck with your build. "Q"

Here's a site well worth visiting - it throws up some surprises as well: not all US aircraft were interior green.
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/01/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us.htm
http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2004/02/stuff_eng_interior_colours_us_part2.htm
Scroll down the page on part 2 and the P-51 will appear.

Taken from the site-


Great site. Thanks for the links-
"Q"

Gents,

Many thanks for your help. excellent refs. I can now proceed apace!! Photos soon (I hope!)

Steve

Hi,

A couple of photos to show progress. Pictures are not very good as I had to take them with my camera phone as my digital camera got broke over Xmas







The interior green isnt that bright in reality, my camera seems to over compensate for the light. There is still soome detail work to do in there and seatbelts to be added. Then a wash and I will close it up.

Comments welcome please

Steve

darn, I'm gonna have to go home this weekend and grab this kit. You're making me want to build it!

It's coming nicely, can't wait to see the update.

Looking pretty good thus far. Good luck with your build. "Q"

Here's the reason for the slow progress on this build:-



I have some progress shots, just need to figure out how to upload them now the server has moved!!

Blimey, think I've cracked it!!

Here are the latest progress pics:-



needs a fair bit of putty in the wing roots and the horizontal stabilizers



Also around the front loin to the fuselage and around the airscoop

This big hole needs sorting, and the seam needs levelling off



Most of the fit isn't too bad, just a couple of large gaps to attend to.

Overall, the kits not bad considering its age (1980 moulding inside fuselage halves. The main gripe is the raised rivet detail. I have sanded it back as you can skin your knuckles on it! I don't think I will go so far as to engrave new detail, I will leave a hint of whats already there as this is supposed to be a quick build for my son.

One question though for future builds, whats the best tool to use to engrave panel lines? I've tried an X-acto knife but it is too sharp to control. I currently have nothing else suitable in my toolbox so if I have to buy something might as well get it right from the get-go.

Any comments/critque welcome, I'm here to learn!

Steve

I have used several differing tools for panels lines over the years. Try looking at Squadron.com for dedicated scribing tools. If you can find them, some dental intruments make good tools for scribing. For a simple home made job try taking a sewing needle and chucking it in an exacto hamdle. Its simple and it works fairly well. Dymo label making tape works great as a flexible guide. Can be found in most office supply stores. Cut a piece to length, peel away the adhesive backing, stick it down next to your panel line, scribe, remove, repeat as needed until the tape loses its tackiness, then cut a new length and continue. Build is looking good so far. Thaks for sharing. "Q"

Hi All,

Time for a small update. Been away with work for a few weeks so building has stalled somewhat. But now I have made some progress on my Mustang

Halfords white primer on and some pre-shading done



Heres the topside



Close up of the wing to hopefully show pre-shading better after a coat of paint



The whole of the underside. Now its got some grey paint on it I can see where I need to go back and add a little Mr. Surfacer to fill a few small seams. Funny, they didn't show up that bad with the white primer.



Comments and critique please, I need to know whats good and whats bad to progress.

Steve

Looks good.

I just started the Trumpeter version of this. So far I am pleased with it.

Your build is looking good so far. The only thing that I see (and I know because I noticed the same thing on my kit upon examination of the parts) is the two recesses on the bottom of the nose. Other than that, I don't really see any messed up seems. I like it! And, as I said before, now I can't wait for an excuse to build this! (Batle for Europe campaign maybe!)

Hi Eric,

I noticed them too after the Grey coat went on. I not sure what to do with them yet, I may fill them for the perfect look, or I may weather them in and say some lazy groundcrew bashed the panel whilst it was off for maintenance. I will see hew the mood takes me

Steve

Hello Steve. The interior of P-51B Mustangs was usaaf interior green. I should know because i have built no end of P-51's over the years. Andrew.

Hi Steve, I just joined this thread. Amazing, I brought this kit out of my stash this past weekend and was researching interior color as Revell refers to dark gray. I did not think that was correct, so I Googled and up came this build. I know this is late, but do you have a couple of interior shots I could see? Looks like you may have posted earlier, but they are not longer available.