Model Airplane International - June 2018

Issue 155 - http://www.modelairplaneinternational.com 35

fabric and have excellently

printed stitching which really

shows up when you paint a

thinned artists oil wash over them

once they are installed. The rest of

the cockpit was also treated to the same

wash and then I added some chipping using

a sharpened silver pencil. The cockpit and

oil radiator housing along with the tailwheel

bay all fi t perfectly inside the fuselage, the

exhausts being left out as with care, they can

be fi tted at the last minute.

The building of the major airframe was

fairly straightforward with everything fi tting

pretty much as advertised. There were a

few issues around the intake fi t to the lower

fuselage and the wings seemed to be more

than a little snug. The intake mouth needed

some fi lling with thick CA and then sanding

back to achieve a smooth transition. The

wings however were a bit of a mystery

as they seemed perfect when I did a dry

run without the fuselage interior sections

installed, but when I brought them together

to fi t permanently it was a different story. I

found that the mating surfaces of the insides

of the wings where they met the fuselage

needed a bit of sanding on both sides. I did

it a bit at a time repeatedly dry-fi tting until I

achieved a smooth, neat fi t between the wings

and fuselage. Care needs to be taken when

bringing the wings and fuselage together as

the control column sits atop the wings and

thus has to be carefully lined up as it passes

through the cockpit fl oor.

The ailerons and horizontal stabilisers all

fi t excellently as do the fl aps. The fl aps can

be modelled dropped or raised, when parked

up the Mustang bleeds off hydraulic pressure

and the fl aps and inner gear doors drop down

under the pull of gravity.

The only real fi t issue reared its head

when it came to attaching the windscreen

section, a gap appearing at the front just

behind the cowl top and a not insubstantial

step on both sides where it met the fuselage.

These issues needed some Milliput to blend

everything together - not diffi cult, but unwanted

The main fl oor panel of the real Mustang was made

using laminated plywood. Sometimes they were painted

and sometimes varnished, I opted to go with the latter

for effect. To that end it was airbrushed in a random,

patchy fashion using a mix of Tamiya Brown shades

which could be weathered and scratched later.

The rest of the cockpit along with the seat mountings and

instrument panel forward sections needed to be Interior

Green so the wooden ‘fl oor’ was masked off fi rst.

All the cockpit components were airbrushed US

Interior Green in one go, the instrument panel and

radio boxes were airbrushed matt black with a few

details picked out. The sidewall panels are 3D so the

sides of the fuselage walls also needed to get the

interior green treatment also. These areas are marked

out in the instruction sheets.

details picked out. The sidewall panels are 3D so the

sides of the fuselage walls also needed to get the

interior green treatment also. These areas are marked

out in the instruction sheets.

fabric and have excellently

printed stitching which really

fuselage and the wings seemed to be more

than a little snug. The intake mouth needed

instrument panel forward sections needed to be Interior

Green so the wooden ‘fl oor’ was masked off fi rst.

A few details were picked out in acrylics following

the excellent full coloured instructions. This was

all the major interior painting done so it could be

moved on to weathering and washes to add some

defi nition and depth.

The fabric seatbelts from Eduard have been added here, needing their buckles threading through can test the

patience of a saint but the results speak for themselves. Scratches and chipping were added to the fl oor and

side consoles using silver and watercolour pencils. Also of note here are the data placards, all of which are

decals as is the instrument panel.

P-51.indd 35 04/05/2018 16:00