North American P-51D Mustang

[daddyrabbit1954]

[HotRodTom]

Great job! Excellent metalizing of the panels. Is that Alclad, Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya, or some other "super secret sauce"? And, is that a HobbyBoss kit?

[daddyrabbit1954]

Apr 6, 2024 15:26:19 GMT -5 HotRodTom said:

Great job! Excellent metalizing of the panels. Is that Alclad, Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya, or some other "super secret sauce"? And, is that a HobbyBoss kit?

The kit is the 18 year old Dragon Models offering. I use Tamiya X1 gloss black as a base, then shoot the entire model with Alclad chrome. I cover the Alclad with Pledge to protect it and maintain the shiny aluminum look, then I mask off certain panels and paint them with Mr. Color super silver 2, and some with AK Extreme Metal flat aluminum. This breaks up the monotone of silver to make it more interesting to look at. The only part of the model that's not box-stock are the wheels & tires, which are Eduard. The kit wheels and tires are terrible and do not fit, the rubber tires being too large for the wheels. 

I only finished this model to get it out of my stash of unbuilt kits. It was sitting unfinished for 18 years until I picked it back up to work on in the past few weeks. It's an ill-fitting kit. The Tamiya or even the Revell kits are much better fit and a more modern tooling. I do not recommend the Dragon kit. To finish the model, I need to add the landing gear doors (I have misplaced one of them), add the wingtip lights, and add the antennae from the cockpit, through the canopy, and attach to the vertical stabilizer.

[HotRodTom]

Most excellent work. I was suspecting Alclad. I didn't think about pledge as a "filter" or mask. Makes sense when seeing the result. I have heard that dragon kits can hit on 7 cylinders but fail on the 8th. I have experienced some issues with their armor kits in the past, but they are usually fixable if your a kit-bash builder or one that can scratch build. Very admirable work with this kit sir!

[daddyrabbit1954]

Thanks for the nice comments. The Pledge takes care of the fingerprint problems that come with handling an Alclad finish. It also prepares the Alclad for decals. Without it, the clear carrier film of the decals will stick out like a sore thumb when applied on top of an Alclad finish.

[Faust]

Wow! That looks fantastic!

Excellent job, and kudos for not just building the latest and greatest, but making an older kit work!