Along with Kyle (Killerbe83) I'm building Tamiya's 1/48 P-51D in the markings of LOU IV. Kyles thread
Of course I am using masks to paint on the markings. This is a particularly interesting subject, as far as masking is concerned, as the markings have a natural metal surround which is depicted on the decals, but it is not very convincing. This aircraft is often quoted has having blue upper surfaces but this is wrong, they were actually olive green (the film used at the time made colour photos look blue).

This first pic was taken after the invasion stripes had been painted below the wings and fuselage. The invasion stripes on the wings are the normal 18" but P-51s had 15" stripes on the fuselage, to make it easier to fit them in.



The next few were taken after the upper surfaces were painted and the masking removed.









The next couple show the underside.





And this last one because I thought that it would be nice to include it

That is one gorgeous Mustang. Another great build Mal
How did the move go?

Taylor

Njce clean masking job Mal ! and the spit looks great as well . Looking forward on seeing more of the mustang .

Excellent masking job. This is one of my favorite P-51s color schemes, so I'll be checking back.

Did you do any preshading on the wings? They look very good.

Keep it up.

Hi Taylor,


Thanks, We'll see I have to mask and paint the markings, which I'm hoping to do this week end. However I don't have a difinative colour for the USAF insignia blue.


Thanks for asking but I haven't moved yet, the house has just gone on the market

Hi Terri,


It was easy using my USAF Stars and Bars with NMF surround masking set


The markings were masked on the Spitfire, it's so easy to do, but I haven't yet had a go with USAF insignia but, as they're only 2 colours they should be even simpler.

Hi Samual,


Thanks, I like the look of this aircraft too, natural metal, combined with colour and a single colour camo top side to make less boring. I will be producing masks for "Big Beautiful Doll" sometime in the future. As well as doing them in 1/48 scale I will be building models in 1/32 too.


Thanks again, yes the wings are pre-shaded, but it doesn't show up well in the pics. To be able to weather back through the camo to the NMF surface I used the actual camo colour (Olive Drab) to pre-shade the panel lines. I then lightly filled in each panel, leaving the centre area with a little less paint on, then oversprayed the whole area. I'll try and get a pic that shows the effect, but it is quite subtle and difficult to photograph.

I have found some of the pics that I took before the first lot that I posted.
You will see that I tried pre-shading under the Allclad II. It showed a little promise but needs work.





Here theAlclad II has been applied.






These 2 are just after the olive drab has been sprayed on.




This is the masking for the yellow nose.

It's been quite some time since I have been able to post but here are a few more pictures. These first few show the star and bar NMF surround masks removed.









The next 2 show the star and bar insignia, complete with the NMF surround being positioned. The transfer tape (supplied) is used to keep all elements together while the mask is being transfered to the model. I piece of the backing paper is used to hold the mask which also enables you to position the mask without the adhesive "grabbing". Once in position the transfer tape is removed.






When in position the masks are burnished down and masking tape is used to mask around the edge of the mask. The white mask elements are then "weeded" and kept together, in the correct orientation, on the backing sheet.







Next up painting.

Mal:
It has been a while and great to see the Mustang again. IStar and bar is always a problem for me on mustangs cause of the lumpy wing. Can't wait to see how it turns out

Taylor

Beautiful looking Mustang Mal and the masks (as usual) look fantastic. Just a quickie thought, is that WEM Olive drab? looks lighter than mine but may be the photo's or my monitor.

Cheers

Howard

Thanks guys

Yes Howard the olive drab is WEM paint. It possibly looks lighter as it is very thinly applied over the Alclad?

This is the first time that I have used my masks to paint on star and bar insignia and I was plesently surprised as to how easy it is. Far easier than doing 4 colour roundels (although with my system they are not too difficult either). Now paint the exposed areas white, use low pressure and low volume and fill the area slowly, starting at the edges so that they get sealed. Build up the paint gradually, do a little on one insignia, go to another and so on, then back to the first, do a little more, etc, etc. You want coverage but the paint should be very much thinner than the thickness of the mask, which is only 80 microns. Hold the airbrush at right angles to the surface to prevent paint being forced under the mask.



Leave the paint to dry and then, very carefully and accurately, replace the white elements. (My instructions suggest drawing aligning marks on the masks but I found these to be unnecessary)





Now weed out the areas that require painting blue (this part of the mask can be discarded), paint blue, using the same techniques as before.






When the blue is dry remove all masking. Even with all the precautions taken during the painting there may still be a little overspray. This will be confined to areas where raised detail prevents the mask sitting down properly, such as on the upper wing of a P-51. However using the methods that I outlined keep this overspray to a minimum and simple touch up will rectify it.





The next stage will be the codes and I’m going to see if I can cut the serils too.

Hi Mal,

Impressive job so far!




Knowing you, I'm sure you will do the serials with masks as well...

Jean-Luc

Hi Mal.
Looking great, and its good to see my building pace seems to be matching yours at the moment! ( a snails pace).
I have found the Xtra colour insignia blue to be quite a good match for the American blue, for my eyes anyway.



The "oversize" star and bar masks in 1:24th are huge
Only another month and I can get back to the bench,,lol.

Hope you manage to find a way to cut the serials sucessfully in 1:48th.
Nige

Very nice masking job Mal ! The guy's are right Mal , you'll be able to do in 48 scale . Piece of cake Over all I'm very impressed with how clean lines your mask produce . Love the shade of yellow as well . It's spot on ! Most builder's tend to use one that is brighter . Is this your own mix ?

Very nice Mal. Nice and neat. I like your shading on the panel lines. Good job, Wingman out.

Thanks Jean-Luc
The serials are particularly difficult as they are of the stencil type which means the seperate parts of the numbers are even smaller than none stencil type. However I have now "tamed" my machine and these things are now within reach.




Thanks Nige,
Snails pace when drunk, (2 paces forward, 1 back)
Yes that does look like a good match



Thanks Terri, I have just done a test cut and I think that it's going to work


No Terri, not my own mix, the yellow is WEM insignia yellow



Thank you Mike

I finally got around to painting the codes and, as you will see, I did indeed manage to produce masks for the serial

Mal , Mal , Mal ...........New you could do it !! Excellent job on the tail codes If I tried to cut those out a few ending results would occur ................................

1 . loss of finger tips .......................
2. deep cuts in work mat
3. loss of other finger tips ..............

Looking forward on more progress pic's !

Excellent stuff, Mal- amazing work on those codes! I really like the scheme- but then again, anything with a yellow nose... Kinda wonder if they didn't think about all those yellow-coded 109's when they painted it, hmm... I know that was OstFront, but still!

Terri,


Thank you



Ha, well, you see Terri I cheat, the drawing of the serials is the hard part, I let the machine do the cutting. However it isn't easy producing serials like these in 1/48 scale. If I did try and cut them by hand I would have no fingers left

Chuk,



Thanks, and I know what you mean about the yellow nose I will be doing this scheme in 1/32, one day, I think that it will look spectacular (as will Big Beautifull Doll). I have learnt that this aircraft was in fact an early P-51D and shouldn't have the fin fillet, so unless some one can point me to a pic showing it added (most early "Ds" had the fillet retro fitted) I may have to butcher this bird. I also now believe that the upper wing S&B didn't have a NMF surround. I hope to be able to mask out the S&B and rectify this, when I can confirm). I'm not too worried about these mistakes as this was all about trying out the masks, but knowing that I could have removed the fin early doors is a bit of

As the pilot, Col T.J. Christian (375th fighter Squadron) was killed in this aircraft, during a dive bombing raid, there are no photos with the fin fillet, so off it came:




I have also confirmed that the upper wing roundel did not have the NMF suround so, when I re-paint the fin edge, I'll mask out the star & bar and paint over it. The Tamiya box art does show this aircraft without the fin fillet so I feel even more dim DOH!! The instructions would have you paint the panel around the gun muzzles yellow but this is wrong. E2-S, another aircraft from the same Squadron does have the yellow panels around the gun muzzles and it has the upper wing star & bar with a NMF suround.

LOU IV actually has nose art on both sides, LOU IV on the port, that everyone knows, and "ATHELENE" on the starboard, which isn't included in the Tamiya decals. I had tried to produce a mask for LOU IV but failed, I have drawn up "ATHELENE" but have yet to test cut it. With the LOU IV art in the kit decals there isn't a problem but I have had a couple or three enquires abot the masks for this aircraft, one in 1/32 so I am going to have another go at producing a mask. It will be easier in 1/32 but I'm gonna have a go in 1/48. The fact that it has "drop shadows" is the difficult bit and the drawing of it but, with new found knowledge of my drawing prog, I'm quietly confident. Watch this space

Any progress recently, Mal? This bird is looking really good—love the paint scheme.