It's easy enough to make a replacement joystick. You need a bit of copper wire and a tiny drill bit. Find the broken bits of the joystick and trip off the grip, and the fabric boot at the bottom. Very carefully drill holes into each of them, and then snip the wire to the right length. Superglue it all together and you've got yourself an unbreakable joystick

My problem is that all pieces flew out into outer space, or inner space, not quite certain, but I have another 1/48 scale p-51 I might be able to cannibalize?? maybe I can reproduce it??

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My problem is that all pieces flew out into outer space, or inner space, not quite certain, but I have another 1/48 scale p-51 I might be able to cannibalize?? maybe I can reproduce it??

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No, save it, but copy the other control stick for size and shape.

You need to remove more paint from your brush before dry-brushing. You shouldn't really be able to see strokes. I also recommend using any colour other than silver. Silver (or other metalics) are just too harsh and you get a very unnatural contrast. Use a lightened colour of the base - i.e. for black use a gray, for the green, a gray would also work, or you could lighten the green with a few drops of yellow.

The contrast with a drybrush should be very subtle.

My problem is that all pieces flew out into outer space, or inner space, not quite certain, but I have another 1/48 scale p-51 I might be able to cannibalize?? maybe I can reproduce it??

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My problem is that all pieces flew out into outer space, or inner space, not quite certain, but I have another 1/48 scale p-51 I might be able to cannibalize?? maybe I can reproduce it??

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Okay, that's not insurmountable. Use the other kit's joystick as a pattern. Cut your wire a little longer than the pattern so you have something to glue into the floor, use a little epoxy putty to make the canvas boot at the bottom, and wrap the top with a sliver of masking tape to make the grip. Once it's painted up and in place nobody will notice the difference.

Julio,
For dry brushing interiors all I use is a few shades of medium gray. Really wipe off the tip of the brush so that it takes a few test strokes to leave the slightest residue of paint. When dry brushing use very light broke strokes. Like I said it will take a few strokes to leave a little paint, and that's exactly what you want.

Looking at the crude instruments on the Otaki IP, with the heavy dry brushing, they look more like electrical switches. Repaint the faces white, then paint the needle Black. Dry brush the bezel the best you can.

Also paint the boxes behind the pilot's armor plate flat black, then dry bush with light Gray.

I remember building this kit more then 40 years ago. Back then the Otaki kits were cutting edge

Joel