Hi all:

I'm currently working on the Tamiya 1/48 P51B, and bought some Eagle Strike decals to represent the "West Virginian" from the Blue Nose Birds of Bodney set.

All the major components are done, and I just finished applying an Alclad polished aluminum finish. I wanted to get your impressions of the finish and also to let me know if you think it is TOO shiney.

Thanks in advance for any input you can offer!



The line that looks like a seam along the back is really just a reflection from the verticle stabilizer




Cheers!

John

Hi John!
Its looking great!!
Too shiny?,,,no of course not :-)
Remember that ground crews used to polish these planes in an attempt to get that extra few miles an hour out of them.
I would definately go for painting some panels in different shades of Alclad.Its the one thing I didnt do on my P47 and wish I had.
Ive got the Tamiya P51D in my stash,and that will be a NMF too.
Looking forward too seeing this Mustang finished!
Nige

Hi John:

Your P 51 is looking very nice. Just one little thing, I don´t know if it´s an effect of the pic but I think that the seams in the front edges of the wings are still visible. The rest looks great.

Hi Nigel and Carlos:

Thanks for the kind words. I intened on addind some matte aluminum to various panels and the rudders and ailerons in the next day or so.

Carlos, it's a trick of the lighting. The thing is so darn reflective, it's making lines everywhere when I photograph it. LOL

I just checked closely though and there is no seam, thank goodness.

I'll keep you guys updated on the progress.

Oh, one more question....the decal instructions from Eagle strike just call out the nose as being a "Medium Blue", but no specific number or brand. Do any of you have a good suggestion for what blue I should use for this?

Thanks!

John

Hi John.
Your cowling colour seems to be a bit of a grey area,( or in this case a blue area :-) )
Ive just had a look around my references and have come up with three suggestions.
1.A 50/50 mix of Tamiya X4 and XF8.Blue/Flat Blue.
2.A 50/50 mix of Gunze H15 Bright Blue H65 RLM light blue.
3.A blue approximating to FS 35102.
Im sure that this has only confused the issue more but it points to people not being sure what the exact colour was.
From a purely personal viewpoint,I would look around at P51's other people have done,find a blue you like and mix it up. But bear in mind I just build for my own enjoyment and in no way could be described as a rivet counter.
Hope these ramblings have helped.
You could always finish the Fokker while your making your mind up :-)
Nige

Looks great so far John.
Definitely would go for the different colour panels to break it up a notch.
Will you be painting the invasion stripes on or using decals?
Andy

Hey John,
The Blue Noses were, to my mind, one of the more appealing looking schemes applied to the P-51s - good choice. (I've built the P-51B flown by Lt Edwin Heller, one of the early O/D and neutral gray versions with the lighter blue around the nose.)

Because the wings were filled, primed and doped on the Mustangs the finish wasn't quite as shiny as the natural metal fuselage, and it was more uniform in tone.

Citadel paints have a colour called 'Ultramarines Blue' in their range, which may do.

Jeff W.

Thanks for the additional responses!

Nige, I'm going to go with the "looks good to the eye" method. Thanks for the suggested colors. I'll see what the Tamiya mix looks like.

Andy, I do intend on painting the invasion stripes myself unless you can talk me out of it. LOL I've never done something like that before, so if I'm heading for a cliff and don't know it, please let me know!

Jeff, by your last sentence I'm assuming you're telling me my paint is too shiney then? Are you referring to all mustangs, or specifically the blue nose group? I'm somewhat of a noobie to this so your help is appreciated.

Thanks guys!

John

Looking awesome John....looking forward to see it finished.

Great choice of units to model! I have an affinity for the blue nosed P-51's as my father flew one with the 487th FS out of Bodney. Of course it's not a biased opinion when I say the blue-nose mustangs were by far the best looking A/C in the European theatre.

Keep progress postings so we can see.

As a side post, Robert "Punchy" Powell, the pilot of the 'West Virginian' resides in Georgia and is active in the 352nd Group made up of former members and associates.

Cheers,
Charles

I think what he's saying is that the Mustang came from the factory with the seams on the wings filled in and then the wings were covered in silver dope (painted silver). The NMF look would be a bit much for the wings but fully appropriate for the fuselage.
I use MM enamel chrome silver on the wings of my NMF mustangs and varous shades of Alclad on the fuse and control surfaces. Remember, the Mustangs had both metal and fabric control surfaces and these looked differently because the fabric was painted while the metal was not.