Fubuki4 Posted December 30, 2018 Share Posted December 30, 2018 John Brooke England enlisted in the Army in April 1942 and was accepted into flight training, graduating in March of 1943. After starting on the P-39 with the 357th, he would transition to the P-51 upon landing in England in November of 1943. The 357th first combat mission came on February 11th 1944 with an escort mission for bombers striking at V1 sites in Northern France. England would score his first victory a month later on March 8th when he shot down a Bf 109 near Steinhunder Meer. He would become an Ace 48 days later. In August he was transferred to command the 362nd FS and would end the war there as it's commanding officer with 17.5 victories and 2 damaged. He would later add one more damaged to that tally, hitting a MiG 15 over Korea in January 1952. In 1954 after returning from a training mission, he ran out of fuel attempting to land in bad weather at Toul AFB and was killed in the crash. Alexandria AFB was renamed England AFB in his honour. The kit is the older Hasegawa P-51, it has inaccurate dept in the wheel wells, but oh well. I picked it up pretty cheap at a swap meet many years ago and it's just been kicking around the stash, but what the hell, I might as well break it out for this GB. I've been trying to build some of those stash queens that have been around for years. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fubuki4 Posted January 1, 2019 Author Share Posted January 1, 2019 Made a start today after cooking the BBQ for new years. Some paint on the interior, I don't bother much with the small details in 1/72, you will hardly see anything once the canopy goes on apart from the basic colours. Lower wing fit is really nice. It looks like the top wing will fit just as well, but that's enough for today. Nice to start the year off with a good little Hasegawa kit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ichitoe Posted January 1, 2019 Share Posted January 1, 2019 Off to a great start! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fubuki4 Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 Upper wings clamped, so far so good. Tail fits nicely. Ran into some issues here. The front of the radiator intake was solid, looks like slag had filled it in, so that had to be drilled out. I also put the inner gear doors in the up position, I know not technically incorrect just not often seen like this. It hides the very shallow gear bays mostly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nspreitler Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Looking good, look forward to seeing it finished. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WymanV Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 If I'm not mistaken, as long as the flaps are up those gear doors should be up. The hydraulic pressure that holds both up fades after time and flaps & doors drop. And seeing your progress I have to ask-is it done yet?😀 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fubuki4 Posted January 4, 2019 Author Share Posted January 4, 2019 6 hours ago, WymanV said: If I'm not mistaken, as long as the flaps are up those gear doors should be up. The hydraulic pressure that holds both up fades after time and flaps & doors drop. And seeing your progress I have to ask-is it done yet?😀 Ah ok good, I knew it had something to do with the hydraulic pressure. Haha not done yet, was busy watching Australia get smashed all around the ground in the cricket today and besides, it was 43C painting was out of the question. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fubuki4 Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 A little more work. It's been rather hot here so airbrushing has been difficult then I got some stomach bug over the weekend which was not fun, but feeling better now so I got some modelling done. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fubuki4 Posted January 20, 2019 Author Share Posted January 20, 2019 Finally some cool weather, so I applied the natural metal with a base of gloss black. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fubuki4 Posted January 21, 2019 Author Share Posted January 21, 2019 I really hate decals that wrap around fuselages or wings, so I decided to paint the spinner and front cowling. It's not perfect, but looking at pictures of other aircraft, neither are they, probably painted by hand and eye. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nspreitler Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 Looks good, nice work on the spinner and cowling Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fubuki4 Posted January 23, 2019 Author Share Posted January 23, 2019 Thanks nspreitler. With the weather a little cooler (going to be 40C later this week) I got some more painting done.The olive drab went on well. Now masking for the white in the invasion stripes. I did the fuselage and wings separately. That worked well. There is a little bit of overspray but I'll fix that up later. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fubuki4 Posted January 23, 2019 Author Share Posted January 23, 2019 On the home stretch now. I also threw on some gloss tonight while I had the chance before the hot weather. Decals will be on tomorrow. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lost_Erik Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Good stuff! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fubuki4 Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 I decided to finish things off today. The hot weather had everything drying very fast. More pics in the GB Gallery. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
swbailey Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 Looking sharp! Great job on the finish. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan buysse Posted January 26, 2019 Share Posted January 26, 2019 Wow, you turned this into a little gem! I love it. Cheers, Stefan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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