Model Airplane International - June 2018

Issue 155 - http://www.modelairplaneinternational.com 33

The main gear doors are moulded as one piece should you wish

to build the model with the wheels up, but will need cutting up if

you want the wheels down. Follow the instructions with a razor

saw and you’ll not go wrong.

All the undercarriage legs and doors were sprayed Super

Metallic Chrome Silver. The knock-out panels on the inner

main doors were lightly sprayed with Alclad Magnesium, this is

pointed out in the instructions.

The undercarriage doors needed to be held in place with blu-tac

and some tape to ensure the black and white invasion stripes

match the wings, they also double as masks for the wheel bays

at the same time.

The yellow nose section was painted fi rst before being masked

off. Lacquer thinner helped speed up the drying and ensured

a smooth fi nish for the yellow enamel. Although somewhat

unconventional, Japanese ID Yellow was the shade I used being

the closest match in my paints stocks.

The fl aps were temporarily attached with Blue-Tak at this point

to enable the underwing invasion stripes to be painted with

continuity.

When painting large areas of white my “go-to” solution is

Tamiya Fine White Primer. I decant it for the airbrush and thin

it slightly but otherwise it really is foolproof. When dry it gives

a rock solid, opaque and smooth fi nish that can be masked or

sanded if needed.

Although decals are supplied for the black invasion stripes, I

thought it was hugely optimistic of Revell to believe they all

would line up correctly. To that end I followed the painting guide

and masked off the white sections.

The black invasion stripes were carefully airbrushed on using

Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black. The amount of masking may seem

overkill, but I was taking no chances with overspray.

With some paint on it the work of fairing in the windscreen

section came to light and it looked far better. This would now

need to be masked up before the fuselage could be sprayed

silver.

would line up correctly. To that end I followed the painting guide

and masked off the white sections.

overkill, but I was taking no chances with overspray. need to be masked up before the fuselage could be sprayed

silver.

Before the silver can go down, all the

invasion stripes were masked off, as were

the stripes on the horizontal stabilisers. I

also removed the fl aps here too as they

kept falling off!

P-51.indd 41 04/05/2018 16:02