David Rapasi

PS Incase you missed this article I posted in the gallery, this covers what the model will look like after the paint is weathered and how different lighting and backgrounds effect the overall colors of a model. My link Dave

Thank you all again for helping me decide which colors to paint these Mustangs. I digitally scanned the photo and found that the dark colors on all four of the aircraft are very close in color Hue. The two P-51s will be painted 41 Dark OD / 43 Neutral Gray. The Lend Lease Mustangs will be painted 41 Dark OD / DuPont 71-009 Dark Earth / DuPont 71-021 Light Gray. HOW I MIX / MATCH MY PAINT COLORS TO PAINT CHIPS All of the paint chips I am going to use for a model are printed on printer paper (using the normal setting) and taken to the work bench for matching the paint. I will choose a Mod

Thank you all for your input. Let me try this a different way. I would like to know which colors were used on these four Mustangs so I can mix my paint to a color chip so I have base colors to paint these models. All of my color chips are from Don Color that I downloaded in 2003, some of the colors chips are no longer available. The chips below are from Don Color, if someone could tell me which one of these colors were used on these Mustangs or post color chips of the colors used, I would appreciate it. Dave

Thanks for the information. I placed the color chips you mentioned plus a couple more for comparison. The dark color on all the aircraft looks like it could be RAF Dark Gray? Where would I find the North American drawings for the color information? Dave

I have a project to build the four mustangs in the photo. I can’t find any information about them or what colors they were painted. I searched Joseph Baugher’s site for FD 553 with no results. The closest aircraft appears to be in British marking, somewhat faded and weathered. The bottom color is close to QMS # 10 light gray, and the earth color is close to QMS # 34 Rust Brown. The thee aircraft in the rear appear to be fresh out of the paint shop. The color on the bottom of the second aircraft appears to be QMS # 43 neutral gray. The third aircraft looks to be the same colors as th

The dark Blue Gray / Sea gray color I use on aircraft from this era starts from a base color of Model Master # 1723 Gunship Gray, FS 36118. I usually add about 10% flat white and a few drops of Testors 1111 Dark Blue. I compare this mix to the ANA 603 paint chip using Photo Shop, just to make sure the Hue and Saturation are close. From this mix I will make three basic starting colors by adding another 10% flat white to one bottle, and one bottle with 30% flat white, and one bottle with 50% flat white. Depending on how faded the aircraft is determines which color I will start with. The met

Some finished photos. Dave

Thanks Terry I built GWL 4806 and did an article pointing out the problems with this kit. link The way that the ad was worded and that the kit has been out six months or so, I understood the ad to mean they updated 4806 to fix it’s problems. Dave

In the December 2012 Squadron catalogue the ad for GWL 4806 P-61 claims, “ retooled cowling, retooled segmented canopy glazing, cylindrical crankcase housing and retooled single piece 4-blade propeller/spinner assembliesâ€. Has anyone seen this updated kit? Has anyone reviewed this updated kit? How do you know which version you are buying? It appears to be in the same box in the picture used in their ad. Dave

Overall I was happy with the kit until I tried to install the cockpit glass. After the modification to the fuselage to fit the glass it looked better, ( link) but when compared to the real aircraft it still doesn’t look right. Installation of the wings was a bit of a problem due to the lack of mounting tabs. Dave

Terry Thank you. All of the panel line staining was done with a thin (50-60% lacquer thinner) mix of ANA 613 that was faded with 10-15% white. All of the dark paint on the model was airbrushed. The surfaces on the rudders were painted using stencils. The stencils were made by enlarging the photo of 313 to the same size of the model and printed out. The stencils were cut from this print using an Xacto knife. Dave

Painted in basic colors, ready for decals and weathering. Dave

Sergey I superimposed the two photos of the cowls and viewing the two cowls from the bottom there is a difference. The view of a model is usually from the side, the kit cowls looked close enough for me. The aftermarket cowls I have seen don’t match the real aircraft from either view. Dave

Why would I need aftermarket parts when the kit cowls are almost a perfect match to the real aircraft. The props are from the spare parts box, and with a little work they are the are a good match. Dave

The model of the PV-1 that I am building was built in late ’42, or early’43. It was flown by Marine pilots in the Solomon Islands until the end of the war. To compare the Revell kit cowling to the real aircraft, I made a red template of the kit cowling and placed it on a photo of a Ventura. The left side of the photo shows the red template on the real aircraft, the right side of the photo shows the kit cowling superimposed. A radius was made on the leading edge of the nacelles to give this area a better appearance. Also the trailing edge of the cowl flaps were thinned down.

This is the Birdcage rescued from Lake Michigan. Dave

A few more photos. Dave

A few photos of the finished P-61A-1 from the 419th NFS. After assembling the landing gear I found the added nose weight wasn’t enough. I added six 44 cal. balls to the cockpit and the model still wouldn’t sit on the nose wheel. The radar nose would probably have to be filled with lead to accomplish this. Since the landing gear is so delicate, I didn’t want to overload it with lead, so I added a stand to the bottom of the rudder to support the rear of the model. Dave

Step #1 Place a piece of food wrap in the cavity where you want the weight. Step #2 Kneed a piece of modeling clay to make it soft and press it into the cavity. Cut the front of the clay off flat to fit the front of the opening. Step #3 Pull the plastic wrap from the cavity and remove the clay. Place the clay on a piece of heavy card stock. Step #4 Place the card stock on the sticky side of masking tape. Cut a strip of card stock 1 inch wide and form a wall around the base card stock. Step #5 Spray some cooking oil (PAM) on the clay, base, and walls. Mix a soupy batch of Plaster

Seeing the nose of my model after I raised it .030 inch, in comparison with a real aircraft, it looks like the front of the wind screen was chopped off. Somehow the dimensions of the canopy were distorted on the original kit and the new kit. If they would remove .040 inch from the pilot’s third side glass and then add .040 inch to the length of the wind screen this would have a twofold effect. It would lower the front frame of the windscreen to match the fuselage and also lengthen the armored glass area to closer match the size of the gunners glass. Dave

The most unique feature of the P-61 were its ailerons…………….. To see how they function and look in the retracted position….6:15 Dave

The canopy now matches the nose and won’t look bad once it’s painted and weathered. The fit of the other canopy pieces is acceptable. Now about that turret. Dave

The first time I fitted the canopy I filed the sills and the bottom of the canopy and had about a .040 inch step from the fuselage to the canopy as shown in the earlier photo of the nose. After reading HistnScale reply I filed more off the sills and the canopy bottom. I filed the bottom of the canopy at an angle so the rear of the canopy wouldn’t misalign. I removed almost .030 inch from both areas and I still had a .020 inch step. Plus the canopy would have to be forced and bent to get it to fit in the front and rear, then it wouldn’t fit in any of the other critical areas. I glued

Forty or fifty years ago I would have thought nothing of this because some of the lower quality kits were this bad when it came to the canopies. Today I don’t even check the parts for fit because of the quality of modern kits, it became a waste of time. Just assemble and paint with very minor body work. I thought I was ready to finish sanding and start painting when I removed the clear parts from the bag for masking. To my surprise the front of the canopy was about .040 inch above the front of the fuselage. I filed the canopy and the sill of the fuselage for a better fit, the photo show