International Scale Modeller

Wow...she's come on in leaps and bounds since I last checked in. Sorry to hear about the problems with fits...not what one would expect with Tamiya and a large scale kit like this one?!

Looking forward to when you decide to get back on it and start applying the finishes!

Looking good mike, shame about the fit issues, my panels all fit perfect around the engine?

Sweet...you're back onto her and she's got some clothes on! Looking good

Cheers

Martin

That is beautiful paint work Mike looks stunning.

Looks Good to me coen like women looks better with a bit of make up on

Thanks guys.
A tiny bit more progress on her this morning and she's on the shelf for a couple of days so her paint cures.

I painted her nose cone and the tips of her props, added the hard edge to the camo demarcation, and set up the display base in it's final orientation.

looks gorgeous, Mike.
Shitty about the warping issues - I see what you mean. If you keep the cowling off though, it would still look badass (with the engine)... and if it were off to the side, no one would even know that it doesn't fit properly

Are you displaying it wheels up? I'm having difficulty with a few of my kits not being built properly and not allowing for the wheels to be properly stored...

Courage! (as they say in french - kinda like a 'good luck')

This kit allows you to have bot the wheels up or the wheels down. It's a matter of switching out some panels and pulling screws.
From what I understand a lot of kits don't allow for both. It's either one or the other. Which I think is spectacularly stupid.
It's the same as not including pilots or stands..... Stupid.
I was going to do this as wheels up in flight but the warped panels make that difficult now.

Warped panels aside mate that is looking gooood buddy

So far, I think you have done a beautiful job with this build. When I was building mine, I found that the exhaust stacks had to be perfect in order of the cowlings to fit right. I re-glued one of them because if it was off by a hair, the cowlings would warp. Another thing you might try to put hot water to any warped parts. Sometimes this can help remove a warp.

Also, I've found that its better to glue sub-assemblies together and then paint them with primer and base coat. You can then use a detail brush to paint small details. It saves time and a lot of headache from trying to paint individual tiny parts. Either way, I hear what you are saying about the tedious nature of these Tamiya war birds. I'm working on the Zero right now. They are fun but extremely time consuming. I think you will enjoy the final product of the Mustang though. It was one of the most rewarding builds I've done. (but it was a pain in the a@@ sometimes).

That being aside, your build is going well I think. I can't wait to see it finished.

Another note: Tamiya decals suck. I would go with a third party set if possible. I used barracuda decals and they were fantastic. They take any kind of setting solution well. Anyway, keep up the great work.

Thanks bud.

I don't think that I'd want to use hot water on those cowlings. They're really thin and the styrene composition is unusual. I'm not sure that it would react well to the heat. Besides, they're painted now so they are what they are now.

Starting to look the biz now. I love that color scheme, it's almost similar to Luftwaffe camo.

It took 3 attempts, and lots of swearing.... but I got stripes!!!











Let it be known.... I love the look of invasion strips... I do not like putting them on.

haha.

So it's finished.
I think this might be my last build of 2014 that will get done before the year actually ends in four days.

Let it also be known... I like building aircraft... I don't like building tamiya's uber kits.
I really don't like tamiya's decals. Between my sad excuse for painting skills on aircraft and those shyte decals this thing is a total stinker.
However... it's not a crappy build because I learned a great deal from it. With that simple fact it makes this build a complete success for me.

Here's a shot of here... the rest are in the reveal section.
http://www.intscalemodeller.com/viewtop ... 12&t=10454

Outstanding finish Mike. Shame about the decals, you might think Tamiya might get that right with such a expensive mega kit.