Downfall builds - Bearcat/Mustang. * * F I N I S H E D* *

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Academy 1:48 Bearcat and Tamiya 1:48 Mustang, a general view to start with:





and a couple of views of the P-51's wings. As you can see, like the real thing, I've filled all the panel lines except the gun bay access. As soon as I've typed this it's off to the paint shed for both. The Bearcat to be pre-shaded, the Mustang to have its' wings painted Tamiya 'Aluminium'










Thanks as ever for looking, and as usual all comments, questions and criticism are welcome.

Ian

[Cliffy B]

They look good so far man!  But why did you fill all of the panel lines?  Are they too deep or do you not like them?

Are these for "Operation Downfall" or are they giving you more trouble than they are worth? 

F8Fs are automatically awesome, can't wait for this duo to be finished!

[van883]

They look good so far man!  But why did you fill all of the panel lines?  Are they too deep or do you not like them?

Are these for "Operation Downfall" or are they giving you more trouble than they are worth? 

F8Fs are automatically awesome, can't wait for this duo to be finished!

Real Mustangs had their wing panel lines filled! Then painted with aluminium paint of some sort-no NMF wings-I may be wrong on this....

Van

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

They look good so far man!  But why did you fill all of the panel lines?  Are they too deep or do you not like them?

Filled to improve airflow and 'M.P.G.' ! 

Ian

[Taiidantomcat]

Loved your last Japan 1946 build, Cant wait for these  Any hints about the paint job? 

[PR19_Kit]

RW P-51s had their wing panel lines filled to make sure the airflow stayed laminar, one reason why the Mustang was so quick. Even bugs on the wings caused significant air-flow disruption and so make the wings less laminar than designed.

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Will get some progress photos up in the morning. As this is written, the Mustang has its' wings sprayed Tamiya 'Aluminium' and the fuselage has had a coat of Tamiya glossy black, straight from the rattle-can - it's drying/hardening in the paint shed - in preparation for a coat or three of Alclad on Friday morning.

The Bearcat is pre-shaded, but I want to do a little more as it's just a little to 'blotchy', needs to be more consistant.

After Friday all work stops whilst we go on hols for a couple of weeks. Pics in the morning.

Ian

[Cliffy B]

Well that definitely makes sense about the panel lines now.

Ian, are these birds to be clean or weathered?  I've never actually seen a heavily weathered Bearcat before, might look pretty friggin' awesome!  Just a suggestion 

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Cliff, I'm guessing we haven't seen too many weathered F8F's simply because they spent almost all of their very short service lives (in the USA) with second line, training and USNR units. However if you look at the ones that the French used (quite extensively) in Vietnam, then you'll see that they got pretty rough.

All of which will mean absolutely nothing, when you see what I'm going to do with it, paint-wise 

Ian

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

So here's a general view of the pair of them:





Now a little closer at the pre-shading on the F8F. Going to put some dark olive drab and very dark brown shades in here too:





The 'Stang looks quite odd like this, cannot really see the depth of 'shine' on the acryllic black fuselage in this shot:





Can get a better idea from this picture, though:





Flash didn't co-operate on this, but you get some idea of the very smooth finish on the 'aluminium painted' wings.





As ever any questions or comments welcomed. Thanks for looking.



Ian

[Cliffy B]

What the heck do you in store for that F8F???!!!  Should I call and get a padded room ready?    That Mustang looks soooooooooooooo nice is gloss black.  Think I'll have to build one in overall black now....

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Alclad 'White Aluminium' and 'Polished Aluminium' mixed 60/40 and sprayed in three thin coats over two hours this morning (before it got too warm to spray anything !

Without wings:









With wings - note the difference in tone between the NMF and the 'painted' aluminium:









Ian

[PR19_Kit]

Ian,

That black finish on the fuse of the P-51 is to DIE for! I've seen custom cars with a worse finish than that!

Almost a pity that it's now covered up, but we all know it's there of course. 

[nev]

The Alclad-fu is strong with this one.

[NARSES2]

Fantastic quality of workmanship Ian 

And whats the story on the little purple car in the background ?