Betty Jane

[jeaton01]

There's more here, Bruce:

http://www.yolo.net/%7Ejeaton/Propplanes/p51/p51.htm

[speedgraflex]

John, you are an incredible resource! Thank you so much for sharing the link to your page! Thank you, thank you, thank you thank you thank you!

[cbaltrin]

My goal is to build a project honoring the kit as much as the aircraft

I like that Idea. Looks good so far. I like Tamiya gloss aluminum!

[speedgraflex]

Thank you very much, sincerely!

I took this shot in shadows to show some upper edge potential issues, but overall this is a very good design. Notice there is a step issue (mismatch) with the alignment of the halves around the cockpit. Painting anything silver makes the issues really jump. I will need to fit the canopy to see how well this sits on top. However, if I seem down or critical I am not down on the kit at all. This is a dry fit with the wings and no dihedral until the wings are glued. The kit is beautifully designed, engineered and produced, holding together without tape.



My plan is to paint the wings in Tamiya’s “other” silver which is a bit more grey and opaque. Let’s see what happens!

[Medicman71]

Very cool! Looks like that mismatch is pretty minor all things considered.

[speedgraflex]

Yes, you’re right. It’s not a big deal. I was sort of kicking myself for finessing the line from rear of the cockpit to the tail and missing the canopy issues.

[BlackSheep214]

[Duke Maddog]

Wow, I finally caught up here and what amazing work you've done so far. I have to say that is an intriguing idea painting the two fuselage halves before joining them. It will be interesting to see how well that works. Your silver coat is brilliant! Amazing smooth application! The cockpit step seems a quick and easy fix. I just swiped the step with a rounded needle file a few times when I encountered that. Then I test fit the canopy, adjusting the sanded area as needed.

It might be too late to offer suggestions for pilot painting; but I usually do as Carlos said: paint the face first with a flesh color; then wash with a dark brown semi-thick wash to fill in the eyes and mouth areas for depth. I will paint the jacket a dark, gloss brown from the Testor's square bottle paints with a sand colored collar; and the pants I would paint a Field Drab or Military Brown (both Testor's Model Master colors). Of course, you don't use them so maybe something similar enough among the paints you use. Boots of course are black, and gloves a similar brown to the jacket.

Just my two cents; adjusted for inflation....



I am so thrilled to see how well this is turning out! Keep it coming my friend!

[speedgraflex]

Duke Duke Duke

Apologies dear sir I’ve been away from the forum due to well a plethora of reasons such as life happenings and such but I am slowly circling around the wagons once again.

Thank you for your figure painting suggestions! Truly. I’m going to try some primer on the figure first because I don’t think there’s enough “grab” between the kit plastic and brush on enamel which I’ll be using. I certainly appreciate the call outs! I’ll root around the forum to find any new posts before I go.

Oh! I just checked the deadlines so I’m not going to make the grade—I could move this build out of here and stick it in general aircraft I suppose.

[Stikpusher]

Bruce! Great to see you back on here!