1/32 Dragon Mustang (with aftermarket goodies) 505th FS 6N-X "Tar

[elger]

As some of you may know I spent a year building the Matchbox 1/72 Handley Page Halifax. The story of that particular aircraft was very interesting, but sadly the Halifax in itself is an incredibly boring airplane. It's not very pretty either. You can almost tell it was drizzling as it rolled off the production line in some gray factory outside of Liverpool.

I wanted something else. Not a boring British bomber, not something small scale, no...

...something large scale, not out of drizzly Britain, something more colorful, something perhaps originating from a sunnier place - with palm trees perhaps, something more kick *ss, something... American.

Ah, the P-51 Mustang, of course. Built Inglewood, California, and the Dragon 1/32 kit, exactly what I needed.

The reason the Halifax model took so long is because it was an attempt to bring an old model kit up to today's standards. Although I expect far fewer problems with the Dragon Mustang (famous last words!) it's not without its problems.

Even though it is a very recent kit (2006), Dragon's debut in the 1/32 scale market was heavily criticized. Although "from the box" it would certainly look like a Mustang, there are some serious issues.

This is the aftermarket stuff that's been acquired. Some of it is mainly to just improve on the kit's own parts, but other parts have been bought to address its fundamental flaws.

The shopping list included Jerry Rutman's interior set, his wheel wells, landing gear, propeller, rear canopy. From Eduard I got the interior detail set and some placards. Finally, from Red Roo models I ordered a set mainly to get the exhausts. This set however comes with a nice reference manual which really comes in handy, as well as a couple of other items that the Dragon kit is missing.

The kit's spinner isn't bad, and if the replacement spinner (right) wasn't part of the propeller set, I probably wouldn't have bothered. There is a slight difference, though.

One of the biggest issues with the kit pointed out by the scale modeling community was the shape of the propeller blades. On the right you can see that the kit's blade is narrow and much taller than the (accurate) replacement parts.

The kit wheels are way too narrow.

I actually quite like the kit's exhausts, but the Tar Heel had the unshrouded type. The problem with the replacement parts from Red Roo is that they're not quite accurately aligned.

I believe that the crazy amount of rivets is the issue the kit has been criticized about most. Mustang wings were smooth, so much of the surface detail has to be filled up. Nothing a bit of filler and sand paper can't fix though.

This is the airplane I'm going to build: P-51D 44-72152 6N-X "Tar Heel". I've been wanting to build a plane with a name referencing my home state in law for quite some time, not to mention my in-laws being big Carolina basketball fans. Oh and my girlfriend actually bought this kit for me, too, and paid for several of the aftermarket items :-)

Edited June 13, 2010 by elger

[elger]

With this project I want to be smart, so I'm starting with some things I don't like doing. The one thing I hate the most usually is adding the landing gear. So in order to avoid procrastination, I started with that.

The replacement Rutman parts were cleaned up, and I added a brake line. The next step was painting.

I've become a huge fan of the Games Workshop acrylic paints, especially the metallics. I created an aluminium color by mixing their "mithril silver" with "chain mail". The tires were first painted black ("chaos black"), then highlighted with "graveyard earth" and finally misted with a coat of "scorched brown" which is a nice reddish leather like brown.

The picture of Starnes' plane that I'm building shows that a part of the landing gear leg was painted red. Most likely the red thing is the towing ring at the bottom. You can see it in the color photo, just to the left of the mechanic's leg in the background.

This was the first time by the way that I used Eduard placards, I think they add a nice touch of realism.

The propeller is another thing I hate making for some reason. First I painted white ("skull white"), then the thing was masked, and subsequently the red band was painted with "blood red".

Photos of Starnes' aircraft show fairly heavy weathering on the back part of the spinner. I simulated this with some umber oil paint.

The finished result :-)

Next I'm going to start work on the fuselage. I'll keep you posted.

[toadwbg]

I'm lovin' this already. Your taking the exact same steps I was planning on with the aftermarket stuff. I will probably be using the kit cockpit however.

[Aigore]

Cool aproach to building! I always leave the boring stuff until last ;)

Great progress!

[elger]

finally another update :-)

working on the cockpit at the moment. the rutman detail set is exquisite, but I just felt like adding some of the eduard parts (especially the switches and instruments panels are great).

thanks for looking!

comments and suggestions are welcome, as always.

[dodgem37]

Very nice work.

Tell me about the brown to the rear of the cockpit. Did the aircraft have wood panelling?

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mark

[elger]

Very nice work.

Tell me about the brown to the rear of the cockpit. Did the aircraft have wood panelling?

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mark

they are indeed wood panels, apparently functioning as a sort of cushion between the fuselage and the fuel tank.

[HOLMES]

COOL..Totally COOL !!

I love the Interior panels and the cockpit...I think your seat looks STUNNING.

The deatiling on the seat and the coloring is just flawless...SUPERB....

[Isaac]

What do you thin your games workshop acrylics with and what ratio? Any retarders and do you have any issues with clogging or the like?

Great progress btw!

[elger]

What do you thin your games workshop acrylics with and what ratio? Any retarders and do you have any issues with clogging or the like?

Great progress btw!

thanks!

I thin the Citadel paints with alcohol (I've used 70%, but 96% might also work)... for spraying simply the thinner the better.

[elger]

getting ready to glue the fuselage together

and the fuselage is ready!

[elger]

turning to the wings, the next step is to fit the landing gear bays. they need some persuasion, but the rutman parts fit quite well after clean up.

I opted to paint the wells yellow zinc chromate

thanks for looking!

Edited April 4, 2010 by elger

[sharkey]

That wheel bay is just gleaming ! WoW

[theseeker]

Nicely done and well thought out.

Rocky

[elger]

here's another update

possibly due to the addition of the detail sets, I had quite a lot of difficulty attaching the wings. There were huge gaps especially between the upper right wing and the fuselage. A lot of filling and sanding followed. in the end, I won:

the front air intake lacked any form of detail, so I cut a little bit out of an old pair of pantyhose of my girlfriend (not mine, honest! :-) ) and glued it to the back of the kit part.

When the glue had dried, I cut it to size and fitted it.

With all the necessary bits added, it was ready to be masked and painted.

I used Citadel acrylics again: Mithril silver for the main body, a mix of Mithril Silver and Chain mail for the wings and fabric covered control surfaces, and straight Chain mail for the panel around the exhausts.

[Impatient Pete]

SWEET build!

I really like the Mithril silver too.

Nice work so far. Looking forward to the next update.

Pete

[CW4 Erick Swanberg]

WOW nice one are the games paints expensive or compairable to other paints you use, have always loved the Mustang and you are doing an awesome job cant wait to see this finished

[elger]

WOW nice one are the games paints expensive or compairable to other paints you use, have always loved the Mustang and you are doing an awesome job cant wait to see this finished ;)

Thanks! The Games Workshop paints are just about as expensive as Tamiya paints, but they're very thick so they need a lot of thinning (which means that they last pretty long)

[CorsairMan]

Thanks! The Games Workshop paints are just about as expensive as Tamiya paints, but they're very thick so they need a lot of thinning (which means that they last pretty long)

They are also the nicest paints to drybrush. Drybrushing is so much easier with these paints.

[richter111]

Great job! Can't wait to see the end result

[strikeeagle801]

Great looking job so far. I agree about the Citadel paints. They are an absolute dream to hand-paint with. I've not tried to airbrush with them yet...maybe some day. There's not a GW anywhere around here, so I usually only get a few basic colors for cockpits and such.

Aaron

[Aggressor Supporter]

The details inside looks amazing! The finish is looking good so keep it up.

[elger]

it's finally getting somewhere :-)

I used the profile of "tar heel" found on mark styling's website (http://www.markstyling.com/) and copied it to 1/32 scale and used it as a guide for the markings. the code letters were the first I painted on

next up were the white and red markings

I used the same principle for the name.

the L was a bit too thick, but it has since been retouched.

the following picture shows all the markings that I painted on; the rest will be decals

[elger]

with decals:

weathered, and ready for final assembly:

thanks for looking!

Edited May 23, 2010 by elger

[Blackcollar]

Wow Elger that looks nice, the riveting also adds to the look of the overall project. Nicely done with your markings.

-Al