1/48 HobbyBoss P-51D Mustang

& 1/43 Maisto Ford Mustang 1964

Gallery Article by Thomas Brückelt on Aug 28 2019

 

      

On 13th of June 2019 I enjoyed a flight with the P-51D "Louisiana Kid" ( http://www.louisiana-kid.com/english.html ) from Albstadt/Degerfeld, a nice airfield in south/west Germany. The flight took about 20 min and I really enjoyed the 1600 hp of the Merlin engine. Wilhelm Heinz (pilot and owner) made some soft (positive g) aerobatic maneuvers, here is a short video of my flight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46HThvBH0SA

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Of cause there had to be a model of the Louisiana Kid in my collection, so I bought the kit of the P-51D in 1/48 from HobbyBoss. A nice kit, basically for beginners, designed as a snap kit but with very lovely detailling on the surfaces. 

DRAW Decal (
https://www.drawdecal.com/ ) offers a decal sheet for the Louisiana Kid in different sizes, so I ordered the decals and after 2 weeks they arrived in a save packaging here in Germany. 

There were some modifications necessary, to make the Louisiana Kid: I had to make a twoseater cockpit and the side walls were naked. So I made details out of plastic sheet and stretched spures according to the pictures I took. The gunsight and the oil cooler was added. Further I glued a piece of wood with a silicone tube inside the fuselage, so that I can plug in the display later. Of cause a flying plane needs a crew, so I added two figures I had left from other model kits. 

It´s not foreseen to build the model airborne, so I had to adapt the landing gear bay doors. But this was easy, the parts fitted very well in the closed position. 

I painted the model with brush (Enamels from Humbrol and Revell).  Attaching the decals worked fine. They look like painted on, the carrier film is very thin and they are good to handle. You have to cut them off one by another, this demands a bit patience. 

I sealed the P-51 with silk varnish from Tamiya.

Further I had the idea to give a Ford Mustang the same painting as the P-51 has. After I found out that the car got its name from the plane, not from the horse, I thought it´s a good idea to place it beside the airplane. I bought the 1964-version from Maisto in the ebay-shop " alles-meine.de GmbH". The trader offers individual printed numberplates on stickers. They look fine so I ordered them. The plates to fit the stickers I had to make out of thin plastic sheets, because German numberplates are wider. It´s more a toy than a model; it has a pullback motor and the detailling level is not very high. So I had to make all the details by my own (antenna, driving mirrors and wipers). Further there were no side windows. I made them out of transparent packaging material. 
There were some gaps to close at the windscreen and the rear window. 

Like the P-51 the model was painted with brush. I printed decals by myself and sealed it with clear, shiny varnish. 

I enjoyed this project, because I could put in some creativity there and it reminds me on a really cool historic flying experience! 

Greetings from Germany

Thomas Brückelt

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Photos and text © by Thomas Brückelt