I managed to finish my first "real" model in a year-and-a-half this afternoon. It's Academy's 1/72 P-51C built as Lee Archer's "Ina the Macon Belle." I originally started the project back in February..our club had a "theme" contest, and the theme was "something red." I figured a Red Tail Tuskegee P-51 would be perfect. Also, it was Black History Month, and Archer (America's only black Ace) died about that time. I tried to keep this project fairly "box stock." However, I couldn't resist cutting out and dropping the flaps (since you'd never see them up on a Mustang that's been parked for more than a few minutes.) I also added some tape seatbelts and resin wheels, and replaced the gun barrels with brass tube.
Here's the cockpit before buttoning her up. A little drybrushing popped out the molded details. I went with Interior Green, but used Dull Dark Green on the seat for variety (apparently many "high back" Mustangs had DDG seats, made by a subcontractor.)
One reason this project took so long was that it fought me every single step of the way. First, I had problems with the paint. I used Floquil Bright Silver lacquer, but primed with Tamiya Gloss Black acrylic. I then masked off the red and yellow areas and shot them with Tamiya Flat White (cut with lacquer thinner) which promptly became riddled with cracks. Fortunately I had only done the wing stripes, but I had to sand them down and repaint..stalling the project for awhile.
Then I discovered that the silver didn't adhere very well to the primer. While adding decals I managed to rub it off a few spots. I masked off the decals with post-it notes to touch up the paint. I'd heard all sorts of horror stories about Academy decals, but figured they couldn't be THAT bad. It took liberal amounts of Solvaset to get them to lay down into the panel lines, and I figured it would take a tactical nuke to remove them. BUT..when I pulled off the "low tac" post-its, this was the result..
I set the project aside in disgust, and considered trashing it. Fortunately, a fellow club member encouraged me not to let it beat me, and another provided some Aeromaster decals..so the project was back on. I finally got her finished this afternoon..warts and all. She's OK as a "shelf sitter," as long as you don't look too close.
I flat-coated the portions of the wings that were puttied and painted on real Mustangs, and applied some Bare Metal self-adhesive foil to the panels around the exhaust stacks to simulate the stainless steel panels on the real thing.
I made a slight deviation from historical accuracy. Archer was only officially credited with four kills before being rotated back to the States, even though he actually got five. It's widely speculated that there was an unwritten policy to remove the Tuskegee Airmen from combat before they made Ace. Black flyers were good for PR, but the "powers that be" didn't want them to be "too" successful. A few years ago, Archer was finally given official credit for his fifth kill, officially making him an Ace. So in his honor I put five kill marks on the model (Kermit Weeks did the same when he restored his P-51C in Archer's markings.)
Cheers!
Steve
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