Yet another P-51 Mustang?

[John Howling Mouse]

Yep.  Not even my favorite airplane yet I sure do seem to build quite a few of them.  Oh, and some of these photos are courtesy of my daughter, Cambria.  I won't reveal which ones as it's a little embarassing that my nine-year-old takes better photos than I do!













Only thing different is that this one is a tiny 1:144 model:





Here is the very teeny-tiny seat I scratchbuilt for the cockpit I carved out of the kit:





I embellished what little bits I could, like the details I drew onto the inner wheel well doors:



The kit comes without a cockpit so I hollowed out that area and plunked in the scratchbuilt seat and radio boxes.  I also painted some rudimentary dials on the IP.



And, in memory of the Master Of Dioramas (HOG), I did my best to reproduce my usual concrete tarmac and router-edged base in 1:144 scale:

[jorel62]

Very nice.....

[Captain Canada]

Don't be fooled by the pics...it's actually 72nd scale. He would have gotten away with it if he hadn't posted a pic of his giant, Wolverine sized meat-hooks in there !



Very nice, Baz ! I was perusing the pics and wondering why the gear doors etc. were so thick, thought it was some cheap Chinese knock off of maybe the Hawk/Testors kit.

[DaFROG]

yeah i was looking at teh pics and going thats no the worlds best effort for 1/48, then when I got to the LG bays though it was a decent job of a crap model for 1/72 then you say it's 1/144.
It's not fair I tells ya (goes off to burn stash of 1/144 kits and recycle them into knitting needels)

[frank2056]

I thought it was a 1/48 kit, too;  "Barry almost always builds in 1/48".

Just amazing. I'd take up knitting, but my wife is the knitter, and I don't think she would want to part with any of her yarn or knitting needles.

Is that the Platz kit?

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Cambria seems to have inherited her old mans' talent !! 

Ian

[Brian da Basher]

The giant hand again, trying to make us think this is 1/144 scale huh?

Yet another amazing modelling feat, Mr Howling Mouse! I really thought the Mustang was 1/48 until I got to the last couple of shots. Absolutely incredible work, especially on the invasion stripes!

Brian da Basher

[chrisonord]

That is just amazing Ian, the detail is something else
Now stop it, I feel club handed enough as it is without you doing stuff like this
Chris.

[John Howling Mouse]

That is just amazing Ian, the detail is something else
Now stop it, I feel club handed enough as it is without you doing stuff like this
Chris.

See?  Even when I build a model, people compliment Ian.  He's that good!!!     

[pyro-manic]

Cambria - that's an unusual name. Any history there, or did it just sound good?

The model looks great, but I must know how you did that base!

[Ed S]

Very nice Barry.  And in 1/144, that is most impressive.

Ed

[Cobra]

Awesome Job make sure Your Daughter gets Something Nice for Taking Great Pics like that!!!!!!!!

[John Howling Mouse]

Thanks, guys.

frank2056:
It's the old Academy/Minicraft kit.  I think it's a repop of the old LS kit.

pyro-maniac:
"Cambria" was the name of one of my girlfriends from way back but it suited what my wife, Adrienne, was looking for in a name so she chose it.
The base is just a simple sheet of styrene that has been scribed with some lines then painted to look like stained/cracked concrete.

The key is in the painting: I start with Krylon Sandable Grey Primer (spraycan) to give it a deep grey with "tooth" for the final painting stages.  Then, I stipple paint the surface using a standard Testors 1/4" flat nylon brush and various shades of grey-tan mixes (Polly Scale's "Aged Concrete" is a nice base).  I'm careful to stipple less paint near the scribed tarmac lines, which leaves some of the "pre-shade" effect.  Then I go over the lines with a very sharp pencil to make the various cracks in the concrete.  Just study real cracks in any concrete surface for tips.  Final step is to use some thinned deep-gray paint for the multitude of stains and drips.  Vary the size and shape of the stains and let them evaporate naturally to leave a realistic left-over stain.  Avoid using straight black for this as it won't look realistic in this scale.  A deep grey is better.

The painted tarmac-sheet is then glued (just used a "UHU glue stick") to a routered wooden base (but you can buy identical, ready-made bases at Michael's Craft Stores or Wal Mart, etc.).

Cobra:
The Little Spawn did get something nice for taking such pics: the camera that she's using!  She has a better digicam now than I do!

[kitnut617]

That's very nice Barry, doing small little kits like this is very challenging and that has turned out very well.

[pyro-manic]

Thanks JHM - I will have to give that a try.