Academy 1/72 P-51B, Bud Anderson's Old Crow

 At the age of 102, Clarence "Bud" Anderson is America's only living triple ace. I decided I'd build a replica of one of his planes, and Academy has a kit to let you do this right out of the box. I put the completed model on display at AAA Hobbies in Magnolia, NJ. Only two photos so far, more to follow.

I didn't quite build it out of the box, since having the gear up is not an option, and there's no pilot figure in the box.

First step was to make the main gear doors fit, which took some shaving down of the raised detail on the inner surface of the doors, and to cut away the tailwheel doors and widen the tailwheel opening to allow them to fit.

I didn't quite get the doors perfectly flush, so a bit of filler was required.

Lots of sanding and filling, using Bondo, Perfect Plastic Putty, and Mr. Surfacer. The fit between the cowling and lower wing would have been better if I had glued the lower wing to the fuselage before gluing the upper wing surfaces to the lower wing. As a result, I needed to fill in the lower wing behind the cowling tapering back to the landing gear bays.

Oops, sorry, no photos of the cockpit or the figure of then-Captain Anderson, which

I swiped from an Airfix P-51 (the new tool kit, so the figure's not bad). Here you see the primered model with Vallejo masking fluid over the canopy. I like the Vallejo product much better than Microscale Micro Mask, which beads up on smooth surfaces. The Vallejo mask stays where I put it.

 I got out my trusty Paasche Model H and preshaded the whole airframe with Mr. Color flat black. That single action airbrush is excellent for all but the finest lines, and it has only three parts to clean. Cleaning the Paasche H is even quicker and easier than cleaning a paintbrush, but you can get a beautiful paint job you'd never achieve with a paintbrush. Those are the two things I look for in a tool: better results and/or less trouble.

The important thing to remember about preshading is to airbrush very light coats over it and stop before you totally obscure it! I had a stock of Hataka paint I'd bought for various projects, and decided to use their Olive Drab (Late) and Neutral Gray. 

I'll have to take some more pictures of the finished model and post them later.

Okay, I'm done ruining this model

 

Here's Academy's 1/72 P-51C "Red Tails" which came with markings for two aircraft flown by the Tuskeegee airmen. Quite a few years agi, I had done most of the assembly and cut out the flaps, scratchbuilding the part that's exposed when the flaps are dropped, then airbrushed the whole thing with Metalizer Buffing Aluminum. Then I decided to repaint the wing aluminum dope, like the real thing. I masked off the wing, then it went to the Shelf of Doom.

When I revisited it, the first thing I did was to airbrush the wing with Rustoleum Aluminum, of which I have a gallon can, using a Paasche Model H I bought on clearance at Hobby Lobby. This airbrush works great and is a breeze to clean up, being external mix. I do more airbrushing now, since it's hardly any more hassle than a paintbrush. I also chose the markings for Capt. Ed Toppins of the 99th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group.

I masked and airbrushed the red areas and yellow stripes. The kit comes with decals for the stripes, but the decals were really weak near the edge and needed two coats of Superfilm to hold together. They also don't stick well. I discovered the problem starting with the national markings. The one on the left side of the fuselage flaked off so I replaced it with one from an AeroMaster sheet. Common sense would have had me replace them all, but instead I touched them up with paint. This started the snowball rolling, and unfortunately it was pretty much all downhill after that. 

I free handed the canopy painting. The framing is in sharp relief, so it was less trouble than masking but the results are just as good. I also painted some scotch tape to make seat belts that you can't see very well with the canopy closed. I used fine wire for the aerial, then broke it while weathering and redid it. As a result the tail is a little messed up where the aerial is attached.

The coup de grace of model ruination was the exhaust staining. I did this with some Metalizer exhaust that had totally dried up and which I revived using lacquer thinner, and sprayed through my Paasche VL. Despite the thinness of the metalizer, it started sputtering and made a horrible mess on the model. I went back and cleaned it up as best I could with some brush and Q-tip application of Metalizer buffing aluminum, then lightly brushed on some Vallejo black. The result is still a godawful mess.

You'll notice a second, lower streak I added on the right side of the cowling. I have seen this in photos (some P-51s have this on the left, maybe some on both). It looks like oil, and it originates from a hole on the side of the cowling. I expect this hole is some kind of crankcase vent. I'll need to do more research into this feature of the P-51.

Anyhow, you will probably never find any photo of a P-51 of the Tuskeegee airmen that's this dirty, unless it came back with engine problems. Photographic evidence convinces me that they kept their birds clean.

Postcript: this kit (No. 2225, since re-released as 12501) also contains a jeep. If you remember, Academy's first 1/72 P-51 kit had the bizarre inaccuracy of seven exhaust pipes per side. They fixed that since, but their penchant for miscounting wasn't over. The jeep's grille has ten slots instead of nine.