Republic American P-49 Mustang

[sequoiaranger]

Ah, no fear! You can still "rectify" the green hand-brush with the same putty-squiggle method you used in the first place. Put a squiggle just outside the ragged edge, then "mask" the rest of the brown off with cardboard or tape, and spray the green on again (and probably again, just to make sure) to get the spray edge back. I have done this many times over the years with good results.

As far as the dark showing under the white, there may be nothing you can do at this point, but in the future, put an appropriate-diameter extra round white circle under the white decal (either the diameter of the entire thing, or just the inner circle). You still might be able to find a white circle the proper diameter to put over it. I have sheet of various white circles from a Japanese decal sheet that I sometimes use under thin white decals that I think my show dark underneath. Another thing you might do is get a duplicate set of decals and put a new one directly over the old one---that will "brighten" the marking as well.

To make the holes in the cowl through the decal, clasp a pin in a long-nosed pliers, heat it up over a match or burner to glowing, then poke it through the holes--it will sear a "clean", round hole in the decal with no leftover "flaps" that a cut might make.

Irregardless (double negative notwithstanding), the aircraft looks wonderful.

[Mossie]

Baz, there's two approaches I can think of that might sort out the see-through decal problem.  Firstly, the Flying Tigers often had their emblems painted on top of the Chinese roundels.  IFAIK, it was limited to the the fuselage, but WTH?  Second , I noticed a yin yang shape under the decal, why not go with this, it's a symbol common in Chinese culture & I think modded roundels weren't unknown?

With the brush painted portion, you could worry at it with some wet & dry to show a worn patch with the other colour showing through?  Follow this up with a few patches elsewhere on the airframe, should go with your battered look?

[John Howling Mouse]

Oh, I've done the see-through decal thing before.    I usually paint a silver disc under roundels first but was just lazy this time.  I'll simply paint in the off-white inner circle by hand.  I've dull-coated the model and am liking it more than I thought I would.  Now, for weathering with pastels, Prismacolor silver pencil, and a few q-tips.  Then it's time to do the canopy and add the paper drop-tanks, landing gear, and take pics with suitable background.

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

When he eventually gets around to turning-up here, he really does do some very, very good models..... 

Superb as ever Mr Shrieking Rodent. Glad to have you back amongst us..... where you belong 

Ian

[John Howling Mouse]

Even though I realize pre-cut masks save you a lot of time and likely end up with a better-looking canopy, there's some sort of "old world craftsmanship" that I still appreciate about masking off your own canopy the hard way.



The Sharkmouth decal looks good but the space between the upper and lower rows of teeth are clear so the decal provides very little contrast with the camo grey underneath.  The teeth do not show up well





So I very carefully (no caffeine!) painted in the blue area between the upper and lower rows of teeth to make them stand out better.  It's not perfect but, between this and re-doing the eyes, the shark's face looks much more menacing to me.

[Pablo1965]

Incredible, this is one of this interesting planes I love. I have objeting over the size of the radiator  for a Merlin, but stetically is superb.

[BlackOps]

Barry, watching your builds is like watching a favorite old movie.  

[sequoiaranger]

...just adding a "pupil" to the eye can make it "come to life". I like what you did.

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

The pupil and blue mouth make a h*ll of a difference - Brilliant 

Ian

[sotoolslinger]

Such a supreme level of patience and skill required for that awesome detailing

[Old Wombat]

This is an fantastic melding of forms.

Half the time I'm seeing the P-40, then half the time I'm seeing the P-51 & the other half I'm seeing the awesome, stand-alone P-49.

It's freaky!

[van883]

I really like this one. 

Van

[Tophe]

Belated congratulations!

[John Howling Mouse]

So, not to be a complete tease    but I've got the fuel tanks/scratchbuilt pylons, landing gear, gear doors painted and attached.

All that's left now is to affix the canopy and custom-made prop.  And, oh yeah, I glued both fuel tanks on and soon realized something was weird.  Aren't those filler bungs supposed to be on the outward side of each tank to make access easier?  Sure they are!  Needle-nose plier yoink-swear-pull without busting all the fittings....re-glue/position/swear some more.  Ahhhhh.

[Pablo1965]

Nice fuel tanks