Scale aviation modeller international

remove the pips from the tailwheel

leg that attach to the sidewalls, it

can be popped into place later.

Now I moved onto the fuselage

halves by adding the separate

tail fin and the cooler intake on

the side of the nose. As there are

two alternative styles for both

of these, make sure you use the

part numbers supplied on the

instructions to use the correct ones

Now you can join the fuselage

halves; the fit is excellent, with

no filler needed at all. I really like

the way that Airfix have supplied

the upper nose cowling as a single

piece, thereby avoiding one area

were a seam would be really

noticeable. Another nice touch is

that the windscreen also includes

a large area of the fuselage, which,

combined with the near perfect fit,

really makes the clear area looks

seamless – just like the real thing.

With the fuselage completed,

I moved on to the wings. Here you

have to make some choices early

on as to what weapon load you are

going to have under the wings.

You are supplied with racks that

can carry either paper or metal

fuel tanks (the kit also supplies

500 lb bombs, but these are not

mentioned in the instructions),

or my choice, the three-pack of

3.75 inch rocket tubes under each

wing. There are a number of semi-

recessed holes under the wings

and the instructions clearly show

which holes need to be opened

up for your desired option.

It is at this stage that another

decision needs to be made: the kit’s

wings have some very nice engraved

detail, but as any Mustang expert

will tell you, the Mustang’s wings

were smooth, with all joins filled

and sanded at the factory. The only

engraved area would be around the

gun bay and fuel filler caps. At least

that’s what the experts would say.

In fact, if you look at period

photographs, some do have a super

smooth wing surface, but certainly

not all, as on other photographs

you can see traces of panel lines. I

chose to fill the panel lines on my

model. It took under 10 minutes

to apply typewriter correction

fluid using Pental’s Microcorrect

pen to all the engraved detail.

After leaving this for 20 minutes

I wet-sanded the wing to obtain

a super smooth finish. (I will

say that, after applying a silver

finish, I did have to reapply more

fluid, as a few spots that looked

perfect in the raw plastic were

not under the silver paint coat.)

Once that was done, the wings

assembled very easily, after

first painting the undercarriage

bay in zinc chromate yellow,

followed by a thin oil wash to lift

out all the moulded detail. With

the wing assembled, I used the

packing foam that Aires use in

their aftermarket sets to fill the

undercarriage bay, the tailwheel

bay on the still separate fuselage,

and the void under the cockpit

area where the wing will fit later.

I also masked off the windshield

with Tamiya tape, and used one

of the alternative canopies to

mask off the cockpit by tacking

it in place with white glue. The

canopy I was going to pose on my

model had its inside lower edge

thinned with a sharp scalpel until

it sat properly over the fuselage

rather than perched on top of it.

This was now masked with more

Tamiya tape, while the insides

were filled with Play-Doh to protect

the interior from overspray.

36 • JANUARY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

036-41-QB-Mustang-0118.indd 36 08/12/2017 17:01