Lt. Johnny Cloud - Navajo Ace (P-51 Mustang)

Greg Baker
Now that my man cave is at least functional, I thought I'd start a fresh new project to get me back into the groove. Working off the "Haunted Tank" theme (a project which is still alive), I decided to tackle another DC Comics WWII hero - Johnny Cloud, the Navajo Ace and his P-51 Mustang.

1/72 airplanes are really my comfort zone, so instead of diving back into the trickier 1/700 scale diorama projects, the Tintin die cast car projects, or the haunted tank/civil war ghost projectsI have already started, I decided to go with something easy. The Academy WWII planes make up the bulk of my stash, so it doesn't get much easier than this. I can spend more time on the process flow, figuring out where my "go to" tools need to be rather than getting frustrated by that while trying to do something finicky at the same time.

bughunter
Greg is back to the (new) bench on the new old house 👍 Have a lot of fun!

Daniel Klink
Back in Business... Hi Mate and a korean Mustang watching!

Łukasz Gliński
Good to see you back 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks Łukasz! I was never completely gone... just lurking for a while.

Greg Baker
So, it didn't take long to get the cockpit more or less sorted out and the fuselage put together. I stumbled across a small motor, so I couldn't resist putting it in. The only question is do I do this project wheels up "in flight" or do I do it wheels down and taxiing on the runway? Not sure what to do... hmmm...

Erik De Smet
Flying would be more in the style of your other projects, Greg. Nice mancave you have now.

Greg Baker
By popular demand... "in flight" it is. That means a bit more putty work, but I was leaning that way anyway, so off we go!

Spanjaard
Have fun!

Alec K
Somehow missed this one. Taking a seat 👍

Greg Baker
Ok. Lt. Johnny Cloud, the Navajo Ace, is now in the cockpit and ready for action.

Juergen Klinglhuber
👍 great

Greg Baker
First coat of XF-16 aluminum paint on. Looks like I need to fill a few gaps and sand down a few seams a bit better...

Greg Baker
I did a bit of hairspray chipping... not sure I should have though..

Maciej Bellos
Pretty fond of the Academy Mustang. It was my first completed kit upon my return to the hobby and my first airbrushed. And it was a decent kit (bar the decals).

Looking good!

bughunter
The matt black looks like it was punched out of the picture, there is a deep hole! I suppose there will be clear varnish on the model?

Lode Schildermans
Great to see another project to fill in the cabinet 🙂

Cuajete
Electric engine... Good idea!

I made this kit a few years ago, with the Red Tails version. I found it nice to build despite some bugs.
P-51D "Red Tails" Project | Album by Cuajete (1:72)
I plan to go back, but with the Tamiya kit and another paint scheme

Well done so far, Greg... Following!

Daniel Klink
Watching 👍

Greg Baker
Yes bugsy, you're right. But we're not done yet! I've been checking out Cuajete's build for inspiration.

Greg Baker
Okey dokey... back to this one. I didn't like how the chipping turned out, so I stripped it off and repainted. After a coat of Future and some panel line wash, it's time for some custom decals.

Łukasz Gliński
Love that NMF, how did you get that satin faded look?

Greg Baker
Thanks Łukasz! I didn't do anything really special. I only use Tamiya acrylics for painting, so the NMF is basically just XF-16 Aluminum which I then rub down with a microfibre cloth to straighten the "grain" and take off a bit of the shine. Then I use a thin coat of Future to give back some of the shine... and then us a sparing amount of Tamiya black panel line wash to a) give it a more "comic book" feel with the panel lines and b) try to dull down the shine and give the paint a bit of depth. I'm used to 1/144 scale planes, so the panel lines on a 1/72 scale one felt super easy to fill.😉

Cuajete
Looking so good 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks Cuajete. Decals (a mix of homemade and kit) are on... so just a few finishing touches here and there left to do.

Daniel Klink
Looking really beautiful a typical Greg 👍

Spanjaard
looks really nice
what is the issue with the canopy? it looks a bit foggy in the last picture

Łukasz Gliński
It's the pilot called "Cloud", isn't it? 😛

LucLuke B
similar to that famous painting by Roy Lichtenstein, is that on purpose?

Slavo Hazucha
Very nice indeed. I really like seeing Greg work in "big scale"😉 - not that I would not like what is presented in small scale - not at all - but I think he has a thing or two to say which is specific to larger builds too 👍

Looking great, obviously we can expect a spinning prop - any other gems hidden in the clouds? 🙂

Lode Schildermans
With Greg, there is always a surprise. That is what his builds make so unique and spectacular

Greg Baker
@Spanjaard - I made the mistake of spraying Future on the canopy. I'm going to try to fix that - fingers crossed.

@Slavo - Thanks very much. Now that I've got a much bigger work space, you can expect to see some bigger builds for sure. The prop on this one already spins, but I didn't really have any plans for the clouds, other than to make them nice and fluffy~

@Lode - unique is one word for them. Sometimes I surprise even myself though. 😉

@LucLuke - You've got a very sharp eye and win the prize for being a renaissance man appreciate the finer arts. Roy Lichtenstein's famous pop art painting "Whaam!" is based off a panel from All-American Men of War #89... by Irv Novick and my reference panel (used in the project header) is from All-American Men of War #86.

comicsvault.blogspot..-never-heard_07.html

LucLuke B
Ace, thanks for the reference, an interesting read.

Spanjaard
i had the feeling it was that... i made that mistake on my 250GTO.... if you are going to try to fix it, i would suggest to try first in another canopy from spares box. I tried some things in mine, and i only made it worse....
i have read that maybe you can clean it with Windex, but that will require to remove it from the plane.

Greg Baker
Well, I WAS going to try to fix it... until you told me that horror story. I decided it was a model for Flying Cloud, Lt. Johnny Cloud, the Navajo Ace... so a cloudy canopy is on message. 🙂

Anyway, she's all done now. Not my best work I don't think, but she's the first one done, start to finish, since I moved back to Canada. I'm still trying to find my groove in my new work space, but this one helped me get settled at least.

Łukasz Gliński
I suggested it from the very start (canopy)😉
In the last pic it looks like a cropduster😉

Spanjaard
it looks great 🙂 best cropduster ever 🙂

Greg Baker
Yep. Łukasz, that was what swayed me. I should've made that more clear. 🙂

I didn't think about the crop duster bit, but you're right. In the comics, there's sometimes a cloud shaped like a rider on a winged horse that appears. I made a half-hearted attempt at doing that, but cotton balls are an unforgiving medium to work with. I basically ended up with the same clump I used.

LucLuke B
Maybe experiment with polyester or kapok to see if it works better than cotton?

Neuling
I agree with Mike!

Daniel Klink
Lovely, Beautiful and so lively presented... Congrats Greg 👍

Matthew A
Looks fantastic

Alex K
Another great lesson in pop art and culture! 👍

Guy Rump
Great build 🙂

Greg Baker
Thanks guys! It feels good to get back into the swing of things and this project was the one that kind of got me back in a groove.

Łukasz Gliński
Sad to point it out, but there's one inconsistency in the markings (I just spotted it) - the tail says USAAF and the top wing says USAF😉

David Januska
Nice flight above the clouds. Perfect result 👍.

Greg Baker
Good eyes Łukasz. However, in my defence, that's what it says in my reference image (the header on the project page). I actually did know it was wrong, but decided to go with it for two reasons - a) because it's the reference image, and b) I had USAF decals😉.

The Roundel in the reference image is wrong too I believe (not a WWII marking), but I compromised with one that had a red stroke around the outside (which I think is still WWII) but not with the red USAF bar in the middle.

I blame Irv Novak for not doing his homework when he drew the issue.😉

Łukasz Gliński
Sure, understandable. I'm curious what is the little black button/switch for?😉

Greg Baker
That's the button for the propellor. Hold it down... it spins~

Łukasz Gliński
Cool 👍

Slavo Hazucha
That spinning propeller de´finitely looks better than a photoshopped one! 👍😉

And the cloud looks pretty heavenly too!