Decals
The kit decals are very good going down well with Micro Set and Sol decal softening solutions. The following day some Alclad Matt Kote was lightly sprayed over these to blend them into the surrounding paintwork but go easy, you don’t want to affect the metallic look too much.
The only problem area are the raised hinges and the main upper wing roundels – with the best of efforts I couldn’t see the decals going down at all over these and so carefully cut around the hinges, removing the part of the decal that would sit on each. This is done while the decal is wet so that you can trim close to the raised area but also get the rest of the decal to sit flat where it should! When all is dry I just painted the raised hinges using a good colour-matched paint – in this case Xtracolor X122 Insignia Blue.
Weathering
The different tones create some of the weathering effects but this is enhanced further using pencil graphite.
Windscreen
Despite test-fitting this earlier in the build I found that there was a slight step along the front edge of the part where it joins the forward upper fuselage – arggh! So, out with the Post-It sticky notes and masking tape to protect the surrounding area and this area was sanded, polished and riveted again, spraying with Tamiya Khaki Drab (XF-51), a great colour to simulate older, weathered Olive Drab in my view.
Finishing off
Drop-tanks – The drop tanks look great on any P-51 Mustang and the only amendment I made was to replace with rubber hose the twin curved fuel lines connecting each tank to the underside of the wing. I just drilled holes in each location and fed the bendy rubber tube into each and they look good I think. I just found this approach easier than working with the formed plastic kit parts.
Gun covers – a great decal is supplied for the inside of each gun bay door and you can see that in situ here. I added the decal to a very thin section of plastic card and painted the edges Zinc Chromate Yellow (Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green) to match the gun bay interior. Weathering using Burnt Sienna oil wash adds a bit of realism. Actuating handles are also added now to finish off this area.
Coloured lens lights
The only real ‘extra’ I have added on this build are the three coloured lenses under the starboard wing tip and some great realistic lenses in different colours are supplied by Little-Cars. The kit parts look very good and can easily be used.
Aerial wire…
Thin gauge fishing line is used for the aerial wire with small holes drilled in the back of the headrest, canopy and fin leading edge – the line being fed through the canopy and secured with cyano (superglue) and set using activator (kicker). Another small section of line is created to represent the small loop down from the back of the headrest into the box below. Finally when dry, the line is lightly painted with Citadel Bolt Gun Metal to make it less translucent and more metallic to look at.