Scale Aviation Modeller International — February 2018

the buildup. This was a long and

slow process, but it worked out

perfectly, and I was left with a

nicely painted yellow surface.

I used the kit supplied stencils

printed by Cartograf, which reacted

very well to the gloss surface. I’ve

yet to really have any troubles

with decals printed by Cartograf.

For the RCAF decals, I needed

to look elsewhere. I was able to

find a set of 442 Squadron decals

on IPMScanada.com. These are

produced by “The Sweating

Beaver”, and one sheet features four

different RCAF P-51 markings. All

of them look spectacular. Another

nice feature is that they include

the vented covers for the front

of the nose. However, I got these

too late in the build and decided

to omit them from my P-51.

The Sweating Beaver decals

were really fantastic. They have

nice bright colour to them and are

quite thin. I only ran into a snag

with two of the roundels,

as I couldn’t get

them to conform

as properly as I

wanted, and they

both have a wrinkle

in them. I tried for

a few days to get this

out, but to no avail.

I kept the weathering to

a minimum, as the photos I

studied showed that these

P-51s were cleaner than others. I

made an enamel wash from Testors

Rubber and applied it to the panel

lines, cleaning it with mineral

spirits. I added some chipping

using Testors Enamel Steel. This

was added to areas that would

have the most use, again keeping

it subtle. Tamiya Weathering Kit

B provided the exhaust stains

on the sides of the nose.

THE FINAL HURDLE

I now have to mention the

landing gear. This was

probably the biggest

disappointment of the

entire build. The landing

gear is really fragile, and

with the weight of the

kit it tends to wobble.

Once it was added

to the build I was

in constant worry

that I’d accidentally

break it off. Should a

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