Hello!

As a part of ETO campaign I entered with Zoukei Mura's P-51D in 32nd scale. Model was waiting quite a long time on the shelf so I'm really looking forward to have some fun with it

Started with an engine

Bart beautiful engine. What metallics did you use ?

Hi James, mainly Alclad, details done with Xtreme Metal plus some drybrushed pigments. Interestingly Alclad's Black Base was perfect for the overall black

Will follow along on this build . It will be interesting to see how this compares with Tamiya's kit . Nice start on the merlin so far . Do you know what scheme she will wear ?


Terri .

Thats indeed a very nice engine. Great start.

Thanks Terri! Probably I'll go for Miss Marylin II

but not decided yet

Thanks Bernd!

Hi guys, a small update.
Spent few hours to find a good way to paint Zinc Chromate primer. Generally I didn't like the look of standard paints and was searching for my own way I know it's like a quest for the Holy Grail... but anyway here's the result which looks quite appealing to me:

Following that I did finish the engine mounting and started with next part which was the tank.

Very nice start Bart,
I follow this thread, it is very promising! The metal colors look great!

Oliver

Hi,

Added framing for radio pack and battery:

Seating done with seat-belts:

Started with the 'office furnishing' - that's for starters:

Interesting choice of colour of the inter green , it's different . Lovely job on the painting . Looking quit sharp so far . Are you using any aftermarket for this build or is this out of box ?




Terri

Looks very cool Bart. Going to follow this build for sure.

Regards,

Robert Jan

Bart, faultless construction and paint work thus far. That instrument panel is fantastic.

Care to enlighten us?

Thanks Terri, Robert Jan and James! Generally I wanted to make this one quite quick build as OOB, so didn't buy anything additional. But! I had some spare elements from previous builds, so I used seat belts (by HGW) - definitely what kit offered needed the upgrade, and placards (by Eduard) which gave the detailing.

Bart

Hello Matt, sure I can share my thoughts on this. First of all I wanted to keep the general look of aluminium structure with all its details and shine covered with untinted, raw zinc chromate. Secondly my idea was trying to follow the manufacturing process to see how will it affect the look of the model (treating the whole process more like small study). Besides that I generally assumed a slight drift towards licencia artistica than strictly keeping to 'ready-made' colors.
As Zinc Chromate does not refer to a paint color, but to a protective coating, (the precise color of it was not as important as the chemical composition) its natural tone is a bright greenish-yellow coming from crystalline salts.
Raw Zinc Chromate would also seem as semi-translucent not opaque like ready-made paints, and additionally aircraft manufacturing instructions often referred to just one coat of primer, thus the underlying surface would have distinct effect on the final look - raw untinted Zinc Chromate applied to aluminium would look like lime or apple green. On top of that my thought was that bright interior coating added to aluminium surfaces underneath caused excessive glare and eyestrain for the crews therefore a directive issued by the USAAF during the war specifically prohibiting the use of plain Zinc Chromate in occupied areas (not ot mention its toxic characteristics).
Keeping all that in mind I started with shiny black Base (Alclad) and followed with Aluminium Airframe (Alclad). Then using undiluted water-based inks prepared a heavy filter. Going with yellow and cyan gives the opportunity to balance in your own green shade. Application is quite straightforward with an airbrush. One tip tho - undiluted inks force very thin and delicate airbrushing as each layer shifts the color significantly from yellow to green - but on the other hand it gives you also the possibility to control the final color to your liking.
What is still left to be done what I'm considering is to cover it with semi-matte or Klear Kote Light Sheen to slightly reduce the reflectivity.

cheers
Bart

Products used:

Bart,
A excellent start to the ZM P-51D. I really like the glossy black that you applied to the engine and gear housing. The Alcad Glossy Black is an enamel based paint rather then a true primer. I'm just not a big fan of enamel paints these days just for the drying time aspect. Some times it dried quickly for me, other times it took days and was still a little tacky. Never did figure that issue out as back in the 70s all we used was enamel based paints and can't honestly remembering having that issue.

I'm really interested in your interpretation of Zinc Chromate, and in this case GZC. You've certainly done your homework as ZC is a clear chemical coating that has a hue towards a shiny Greenish yellow apple color to it once dried. GZC usually is the end result of it being applied over Aluminum, and is somewhat translucent. Every aircraft manufacture usually added a dark/black enamel paint pigment and some kind of Aluminum paste to it as it degraded from UV light issues. The Black is what actually caused it to look Greener and less translucent. I've seen what seems like hundreds of old color photographs, and no two seem to show the same hue. YZC is the same coating with different enamel color pigments.

I do like your interpretation as it stands out from the usual greens we have been using for years. the variation in color tone of GZC and what I'm assuming is Interior Green really drives home the tonal differences and types of coatings each are. Very well done.

Joel